Thanksgiving Leftovers Recipe: Mashed Potato Puffs

Most Thanksgiving leftovers are perfectly good reheated. We don't need too many ways to eat leftover stuffing, for instance (although pan-frying it is pretty sublime). But mashed potatoes often aren't as good reheated as they were fresh. We've got a mound of them left over, too, and here's what we're going to do: Make crispy, creamy, cheesy mashed potato puffs.

These are a quick-as-a-snap breakfast side dish or appetizer. People love them — they are bite-sized and yummy, warm and creamy inside and crispy on the outside. I mean, it doesn't get any better than that!

I used this Lift-and-Serve pan with 12 little rectangles in it. But you can also make these in mini-muffin pans, or regular muffin pans.

Mashed Potato Puffs
makes between 12 and 24 puffs, depending the size of the pan used

2 cups mashed potatoes
3 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup grated Parmesan or Gruyere, divided
1/4 cup minced chives
1/4 cup diced ham (optional)
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Heat the oven to 400°F and lightly grease the cups of a regular muffin tin, or a mini-muffin tin.

Whisk together the mashed potatoes, the eggs, 1/2 cup of cheese, the chives, and ham. Taste and season, if necessary, with salt and pepper.

Put a spoonful of the mixture in each muffin cup. Sprinkle the top of each potato puff with grated cheese. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the potato cups are set, browned on top, and hot through and through. Serve immediately.

(Images: Faith Durand)

Comments (10)

What an awesome idea! Totally making these plus pan fried stuffing for lunch today.

mine just came out of the oven! yummy, and super-easy!

made them this morning. so good! definitely need to be taken out of the pan RIGHT when they come out, though. i made the mistake of pausing to nom a few, and the others totally suffered. so i may or may not have ended up eating the stuck parts right out of the pan with a fork. shameful, but oh so yummy.

Totally made these yesterday with regular mashed potatoes and a modified version with mashed sweet potatoes. An absolute hit!

Pan-fried stuffing was a hit, too!

Great way to use leftover mashed potatoes! Don't have any ham or chives left but will substitute with scallions and some bacon - Can't wait to try them!

Thanks for sharing. www.jax-dining.com

These look great I wonder if whipping the egg whites and folding in would make them even fluffier.

I just made them and they were delicious. I took hrhprincessfiona's suggestion and whipped the egg whites first before folding them in at the end.

Note: Grease the mini-muffin tins really well. Even in my non-stick one, the little buggers wanted to stick very badly.

I didn't like these. Bland, boring, and a weird texture. My husband, mother, and I each had one. The other 9 went into the compost. Next time I'll just stick with pan-frying any leftover mashed potatoes.

you put meat and cheese in your compost? i didn't know you could do that.

I just made these and changed a few things. I used 1 and 1/4 cup of mashed potato per egg, and 1/2 cup parmesan cheese per 1 1/14 cup potato-egg in the mixture. I used LOTS of Pam spray or they will stick, as others have noticed. I've gotten the best results using a mini muffin pan.