I have a serious problem I am about to own up to. When I make mashed potatoes, I have a terrible time estimating how much I will need. Loaded Mashed Potato Cups are my solution for too many potatoes.
Why You’ll Love These Mashed Potato Cups
A classic favorite turned into a fun portable snack with the same homemade taste- what’s not to love!
- Reimagined traditional comfort food – I love putting a modern spin on classic dishes, and these potato cups do just that.
- Use up Thanksgiving leftovers – When you’re tired of eating leftovers, turn them into something fun like these potato muffins!
- Use as snacks or sides – This is a great way to pack the flavor of a classic flavor into work-time lunch sides because they’re so portable.
Ingredients
You only need a handful of simple ingredients to make these loaded mashed potato cups.
- Mashed potatoes – You can use homemade mashed potatoes or the pre-made ones from the grocery store. But you want them to ne cold either way.
- Eggs – They’re easier to work with when room temperature. These act as the binder and hold these cups together.
- Cheddar cheese – You want this to be freshly grated. I like using sharp cheddar cheese for the best flavor.
- Scallions – Also known as green onions, these add both color and flavor to these mashed potato cups.
- Bacon – I prefer to use center cut bacon. It’s easier to crumble when you cook it until crispy.
- Salt and pepper – I prefer to use fine sea salt and white pepper, but you could use black pepper too.
Variations
There are plenty of ways you can make these mashed potato cups your own. Here are a few suggestions.
- Seasonings – Other seasonings I love include: garlic powder, onion powder, dijon mustard, hot sauce, smoked paprika or seasoned salt.
- Toppings – You can top these cups with things like fried onion strings, crumbled bacon, scallions, chives, sour cream, shredded cheese or butter.
- Mashed potatoes – You can use any variety of mashed potatoes you’d like. From scratch, from a box, loaded with cream cheese, made from sweet potatoes, it doesn’t matter.
How to Make Mashed Potato Cups
- Prepare oven and pans. Preheat your oven and lightly coat a muffin tin with cooking spray.
- Combine ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, blend together mashed potatoes, eggs, cup cheddar cheese, scallions, crumbled bacon, fine sea salt and white pepper.
- Add to pan and bake. Spoon into muffin tins. Bake. Remove, evenly top with remaining cheddar cheese. Return to oven until cheese has melted.
- Remove and serve immediately. They should pop out of muffin tins easily with a fork.
Storage and Freezing
How to Store Mashed Potato Cups
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge. These are great to make ahead and reheat. I suggest reheating in the oven.
Can I Freeze Mashed Potato Cups?
Sure thing! Freeze them in an airtight bag and take them out as needed. Thaw in fridge before reheating.
More Delicious Potato Recipes
If it were up to me, potatoes should be their own food group! Here are some of our favorite potato recipes.
Mashed Potato Cups
Loaded Mashed Potato Cups are the best way to use leftover mashed potatoes. Mixed with cheese, eggs and a few other ingredients, you load them into a muffin tin and poof, you’ve got finger food mashed potatoes!
Servings:
Ingredients
- 2 cups mashed potatoes , cold
- 2 eggs , room temperature and beaten
- 1 cup cheddar cheese , grated and divided
- 1 bunch scallions , whites with a little bit of greens, chopped
- 5 slices center cut bacon , cooked and crumbled
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
- Cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly coat a muffin tin with the cooking spray.
- In a large mixing bowl, blend together the mashed potatoes, eggs, 3/4 cup of the cheddar cheese, scallions, crumbled bacon, fine sea salt and white pepper.
- Spoon into the muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove, evenly top the Mashed Potato Cups with the remaining 1/4 cup of cheddar cheese. Return to the oven for 2-3 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
- Remove and serve immediately. Mashed Potato Cups should pop out of muffin tins easily with a fork.
- If you've tried this recipe, come back and tell us how it was in the comments or star ratings.
Nutrition
Calories: 122 kcal, Carbohydrates: 8 g, Protein: 5 g, Fat: 7 g, Saturated Fat: 3 g, Cholesterol: 43 mg, Sodium: 188 mg, Potassium: 147 mg, Vitamin A: 145 IU, Vitamin C: 8.3 mg, Calcium: 75 mg, Iron: 0.4 mg
Did you make this recipe?I’d love to see your recipes – snap a picture and mention @savoryexperiments or tag #savoryexperiments!
I just made these for the first time tonight and they were a huge hit. Thank you for sharing this
Thank you for coming to let us know! Have a great evening!
Hi Jessica
First time with you made the potato muffins. Absolutely will make more mased spuds than I need from now on. Topped with chopped Jalapeño and shred provolone. Had these for desert. Thank you. Made ahead can I just reheat?
Thanks
Hi Dano- glad you loved them! Yep, you can make ahead and even freeze them, and just reheat in the oven for 5 minutes or so on 300. If you freeze them, pop in the oven while still frozen and bake for twice as long as the original cooking time.
Hi, are you using the normal muffin tin, or the mini-muffin tin.
Recipe looks lovely and will be trying it.
Many thanks, my first visit to your site.
Hi Clive, great and welcome! I used a standard size muffin tin, but you could do minis, just adjust cook time a little, I’d start at 12-15 minutes.
Made them with leftover mashed garlic potatoes and ham. Unfortunately I didn’t have cooking spray so I used bacon fat and flour; no sticking! Flavor was amazing and so easy to tweak the recipe.
Well, I’m a little jealous because bacon fat is WAY More delicious than cooking spray! LOL. Glad you liked them 🙂
Can these be frozen?
Sure can! After they are cooked. 🙂
Tastes good, but even after cooking for forty minutes, these did not “pop out”. In fact, they fell apart simply by looking at them.
I’m sorry to hear that! Did you use homemade mashed potatoes or a boxed/instant version? Just trying to troubleshoot for others. Thanks!
I had to make a few adjustments to your recipe – I didn’t have bacon and my husband won’t eat onions/scallions. I used onion powder, seasoned salt and roasted garlic & pepper seasoning. We really liked them, I even got a ‘good choice on the potatoes’ from my husband. Thank you for the recipe – it is going into my ‘tried and make again’ recipe binder.
Great, Lorraine! So glad to hear that you were able to make it work! This one is fun too because you can make each cup different for everyone who has different tastes.
Thanks for the update, is there any way I can get an email sent to me every time you publish a new article?
Hi Renea- sure can! I’ll add you to the list manually.
I had ham instead of bacon and it so good! Will definitely make again so delicious and very easy to make. Great way to use leftover foods! Thanks for sharing! Also put a square of cheddar cheese on top before baking.
Yum! Great substitutions!
What a great way to use up the leftovers! Sounds like you make potatoes like I make spaghetti-enough to end world hunger. Every time.
I do the same with spaghetti- I’m terrible at estimating how much dry will produce what cooked 🙂