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Give new life to your leftover mashed potatoes with these Mashed Potato Muffins. Each muffin is only 58 calories with 3 grams of protein, making them a great low-calorie side dish and a fun way to enjoy leftovers.
Quick Summary: Mashed Potato Muffins
- Why Make This Recipe: Enjoy your mashed potatoes with a crispy outside in a controlled portion with these fluffy muffin tin mashed potatoes. They can be made from scratch or using your holiday leftovers.
- Nutrition: 58 calories, 3 grams of protein
- Diet: Low-Calorie, Gluten-Free
- Time: 10 minutes of prep time, 30 minutes of bake time, 40 minutes total
- Method: Baked
- Best for: Using up leftover holiday potatoes, pairing with your favorite comfort foods, and a fun side dish for your holiday meal
- Tip: Don’t overblend your mashed potatoes, or they will turn gummy and ruin the texture of your potato muffins.
These healthy mashed potato muffins are an excellent appetizer or side dish for a healthy Thanksgiving meal, and can also be enjoyed for breakfast with eggs. They’re also the perfect way to use up your holiday leftovers before they go bad in the refrigerator.
Baking them in a muffin tin helps control the portion size, which is helpful when youre trying to lose weight. Each muffin has only 58 calories and 3 grams of protein, so these are a low-calorie alternative to regular mashed potatoes.
If you like recipes with potatoes, you will love my ham, potatoes, and green beans and low-fat potato salad!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- No Butter, Cheese, or Flour: These muffins don’t contain any butter, cheese, or flour, which contributes to the low calories. The recipe uses Greek yogurt to make the potatoes creamy, and it also adds protein.
- Freezer-Friendly: You can make a large batch of mashed potato muffins, then store them in the freezer. Then you always have a delicious side to warm up for breakfast or dinner.
- Excellent for Portion Control: Creating food in a muffin tin is a simple hack for portion-controlled eating. It’s the perfect serving size, especially with delicious foods like mashed potatoes where it’s easy to go overboard.
Table of Contents
Ingredients
- Potatoes: Use white potatoes for this recipe; Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes will work. Yukon potatoes make a creamier, denser muffin, while Russet potatoes yield a fluffier texture.
- Eggs: The eggs act as a binder to hold the muffins together and add a little protein.
- Greek Yogurt: Replace the butter in mashed potatoes with Greek yogurt for a creamy texture, plus a little extra protein.
- Milk: Use any kind of plant-based or low-fat dairy milk to thin the potatoes a bit. Just remember you want thick, scoopable potatoes, not runny ones.
See the recipe card below for exact ingredient amounts, nutritional information, and detailed instructions.
Can You Use Leftover Mashed Potatoes?
Yes, you’ll need about 3 cups packed leftover mashed potatoes for 12 muffins. To keep the calories low, use my healthy mashed potatoes recipe for a lightened-up version. Here are some more tips for making mashed potato cups with leftover potatoes.
- If your leftovers are already creamy, skip the milk and yogurt and just mix in the egg.
- You may not need to add any additional salt or seasonings depending on how seasoned your leftovers are. Give the leftovers a taste to determine if they are missing anything before adding the egg.
- If your leftovers are a bit thin or runny, you can add a little more Greek yogurt or an extra egg to help. You may also need to bake the mashed potato cups a little longer.
- Use your leftovers cold, straight from the fridge. Cold potatoes scoop cleaner and won’t start cooking the egg.
- Depending on whether you used butter or cream in your leftovers, the nutritional information for your muffins may be different. The information in my recipe card was calculated for using fresh mashed potatoes.
Variations & Dietary Modifications
- Load Them Up: Turn these into loaded mashed potato muffins by mixing chives, cheddar cheese, and crispy turkey bacon into the potatoes with the egg. You could also top them with an extra dollop of Greek yogurt when serving.
- Add Veggies and Herbs: Mix finely chopped spinach or broccoli into your potatoes to sneak in some more vegetables. You could also add roasted garlic, rosemary, or thyme to subtly change the flavor.
- Try with Sweet Potatoes: If you don’t like potatoes or want a muffin with more fall flavors, make these muffins using mashed sweet potatoes instead.
How to Make Mashed Potato Muffins
This mashed potato muffin recipe makes a great last-minute side dish for dinner because you can keep them in the freezer. Preheat your oven to 375°F and generously grease a muffin tin with cooking spray before you start cooking.
- Step 1: Wash, Peel, and Boil Potatoes. Wash and peel your potatoes, then place them in a pot of boiling water. Boil until fork-tender, then remove from the pot and roughly chop.
- Step 2: Blend the Potatoes. Add the chopped potatoes, milk, salt, Greek yogurt, green onions, and Italian seasonings to a food processor and blend them on high until they are smooth.
- Step 3: Add Egg and Divide Into Muffins. Add the mashed potatoes to a large mixing bowl with the egg. Whisk them together until the egg is fully incorporated. Then use an ice cream scoop, or spoon, to add the potatoes to the muffin tin cavities. Be sure to fill them to the top because they won’t really rise.
- Step 4: Bake. Bake the muffins at 375°F for 30 minutes, or until they turn golden brown around the edges. Take the muffin tin out of the oven and let them cool for about 5-10 minutes. Run a mini spatula around the edges to help you remove the cooled muffins from the tin. Enjoy with your favorite meals like a low-calorie pot roast.
Expert Tips
- Don’t Overblend: If you blend mashed potatoes for too long, they will turn gummy and almost gelatinous. Stop blending or mashing once the potatoes are smooth but still fluffy.
- Let the Mash Cool: Don’t add your egg to a bowl of piping hot potatoes, or it will scramble instead of mixing into the potato batter. Let the potatoes cool until they are warm, not hot, to avoid cooking the egg.
- Get Crispier Edges: If you bake your mashed potato muffins in a dark metal muffin tin and add a few minutes to the bake time, your muffins will develop crispy golden edges.
- Storing: Store leftover potato muffins in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. If you want to freeze them, let them freeze in a single layer on a tray, then transfer the frozen muffins to a bag. Keep them in the freezer for 2-3 months.
- Reheating: Reheat your muffins in the oven at 350°F for 10-15 minutes. If the muffins are frozen, they need to bake for 20-25 minutes. You can also air fry them at 350°F for 5-7 minutes or pop them in the microwave for 30-60 seconds.
Serving Suggestions
I’ve never met a mashed potato that I didn’t like, and these leftover mashed potato muffins are no exception. They are rich, fluffy, and delicious. Plus, at only 58 calories without any butter or cheese, they can help me stick to my goals, even during the holidays. These are the ideal portion-controlled side dish any time of year.
- Put a unique spin on your holiday side dishes and make these mashed potato muffins instead of regular mashed potatoes. They go great with other fun and healthy sides like butternut squash macaroni and cheese and low-calorie sweet potato casserole.
- Use your leftover turkey to make turkey soup with wild rice and serve it with a side of these leftover potato muffins.
- Replace regular mashed potatoes with these portion-controlled muffins and serve them with healthier versions of classic dinners, like this turkey meatloaf without breadcrumbs.
Mashed Potato Muffins Recipe FAQs
If your muffins are falling apart, then either the potatoes were too thin, or they didn’t bake long enough. For thin potatoes, add another egg to help hold them together. If the edges aren’t set enough to remove them, extend the cooking time a few minutes.
You need to grease your muffin tin well to keep the potato muffins from sticking. Then let them cool for a few minutes and run a small spatula around the edges to help lift them out. You can also use cupcake liners to make removing them even easier.
If you don’t have a muffin tin, you can make this recipe in a baking dish instead. Spread the potatoes into a greased 8×8 dish and bake at 375°F. Bake the potatoes for about 40-45 minutes, or until the top turns a lovely golden brown. Let the potato loaf cool, then cut it into 12 equal squares.
More Delicious Side Dish Recipes
If you tried this Mashed Potato Muffins recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you go in the 📝 comments below.
Mashed Potato Muffins
Ingredients
- 3 medium White Potatoes
- 1 large Egg
- ½ cup Low-Fat Greek Yogurt
- 1 cup Unsweetened Almond Milk, or milk of choice
- ¼ cup Green Onions
- ½ tablespoon Italian Seasoning
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
To Make Mashed Potatoes
- Wash and peel the potatoes then place in a pot of boiling water. Boil until tender and soft. Pierce them with a fork to test.
- Remove from the pot, chop roughly then place in a food processor with milk, salt, greek yogurt, green onions and Italian seasonings.
- Blend on high until smooth.
To Make Mashed Potato Muffins
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Prepare a standard muffin tin with cooking spray. Be generous so they do not stick.
- Place mashed potatoes in a large mixing bowl with egg. Whisk together until the egg is incorporated.
- Using an ice cream scoop, scoop the mashed potatoes into the muffin tin cavities filling to the top.
- Bake at 375°F for 30 minutes until golden brown around the edges.
- Remove from the oven and let the muffins sit 5-10 minutes before removing them. Using a mini spatula to run around the edges helps to remove them.
- Enjoy immediately or keep in the refrigerator up to 7 days.
Notes
- Don’t overblend the mashed potatoes, or they will turn gummy, which makes the muffins dense and tough.
- Let the mashed potatoes cool for a few minutes before mixing in the egg; otherwise, the egg will cook and scramble.
- For crispier edges, use a dark metal pan and add a few minutes to the cook time.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi. I really want to use this recipe but I don’t like muffins so I don’t own muffin tins. Have you ever tried to make this recipe as just one loaf? It sounds so good! I’m hesitant to try it as one loaf in case it doesn’t work and I have to toss the lot.
No, I have never tried making it as one loaf.
How many cups of mashed potatoes is this? I have some leftover mashed potatoes. Thanks
It’s about 1 1/2 cups. The recipe is very forgiving though so if you have a little more or a little less it will be fine.
Can you freeze them and will still be good?
I haven’t tried, but I am guessing they would freeze well.
Can you sub vegan yogurt for the Greek yogurt?
I have not tried, but I’m assuming you could. Let us know how it goes!
I can’t wait to make these!!!!!
Hope you do!
Well these look fun! I love mashed potatoes and this is such a fun way to use leftovers.
I bet kids would love them!
HOLY YUM! Mash potatoes are my favorite part of Thanksgiving for sure, but I wouldn’t make mash potatoes like I do on Thanksgiving year around …. there wouldn’t be enough butter or half and half. These look lighter and healthier and perfect to satisfy year around cravings!
Exactly! I like the portion sizes.