With a mountain of dishes to make for Thanksgiving, sometimes it’s necessary to take a shortcut or two.
Despite usually swearing by homemade mashed potatoes, I decided to try out a variety of instant mashed-potato brands and flavors to determine the best option at the grocery store — and to see if any were good enough to earn a spot on my Thanksgiving table.
I tried five options. Here’s how they compared, from my least favorite to my favorite.
I tried multiple mashed-potato varieties from three brands.
I tried potatoes from Big Y, Bell’s, and Idahoan. The flavors included classic butter, roasted garlic, and sour cream and chive.
Since I first tried the products, one of the flavors — Bell’s sour cream-and-chive flavor — appears to no longer be available, so my ranking only considers the remaining five options.
For the comparison, I followed the instructions on the packaging for each. Almost every kind of instant mashed potatoes I tried required only a microwave and water.
Ultimately, I was surprised to find that instant mashed potatoes were a decent alternative to homemade ones.
Idahoan’s classic mashed potatoes and other flavors made slightly more servings than the other brands.
A 4-ounce bag of Idahoan instant mashed potatoes costs $1.79 and makes 4 ½ servings. Like the Big Y brand mashed potatoes, Idahoan instant potatoes require only a microwave and 2 cups of water.
I really appreciated the ease and not having to take up precious stove space, and I imagine I would appreciate that even more if I were actually cooking these for Thanksgiving.
The potatoes had a good, fluffy consistency.
Despite being made from a powder, they weren’t grainy or thick.
The classic version of Idahoan instant mashed potatoes looked and tasted like homemade mashed potatoes.
If someone had told me they had come from a packet, I probably wouldn’t have believed them. The butter flavor was prominent, in a good way. My only criticism of the Idahoan classic mashed potatoes was that they were slightly salty for my liking.
I also tried Big Y’s butter mashed potatoes.
The store-brand instant mashed potatoes cost $1.79 for a 4-ounce bag, which serves four people.
The Big Y butter mashed potatoes were super light and fluffy.
Giving the bowl a stir, I found the potatoes had a similar consistency to “real” mashed potatoes.
The flavor was satisfying overall.
The butter flavor was slightly stronger than that of the Idahoan brand, and it also tasted distinctly creamier. Big Y really came out on top, however, with its consistency — the potatoes were so light, they practically melted in your mouth.
However, I wondered how such a light mashed potato would hold up against thick gravy on top. You probably couldn’t make mashed-potato volcanoes with this one.
I also tried Idahoan’s sour cream-and-chive flavor.
A 4-ounce bag cost me $1.79 and contained 4 ½ servings.
Idahoan’s sour cream-and-chive mashed potatoes had a light and fluffy texture.
I could also spot specks of chives mixed into the potatoes which gave them an authentic appearance.
The sour cream-and-chive flavor really came through.
I was again impressed by both the texture and flavor of Idahoan’s mashed potatoes. Unlike the classic flavor, I didn’t find this flavor too salty at all. Rather, they were creamy and seasoned perfectly.
Bell’s classic mashed potatoes were the most complicated to make.
This brand of mashed potatoes required the use of a stove and additional ingredients. To make them, you will need 1 tablespoon of butter, ¾ cup of milk, 1 ½ cups of water, and a teaspoon of salt.
Making these instant potatoes felt a little bit more involved, but I thought they came out great.
The texture was a nice balance between fluffy and thick, and the milk added a wonderful creaminess I didn’t get from the other brands.
These were my favorite classic mashed potatoes.
I appreciated knowing the amount of real butter used, and I thought these would be a good base for people looking to elevate their instant potatoes.
However, despite tasting better than the other two classic butter instant potato brands, they created a little more mess. Part of the appeal of instant mashed potatoes is saving precious stove space, which is where this brand falls slightly short.
My favorite flavor of instant mashed potatoes was the Idahoan roasted-garlic mashed potatoes.
Just like the brand’s other flavors, a 4-ounce bag cost me $1.79 and contained 4 ½ servings.
Right away after mixing, I could smell the garlic — I even saw flecks of it in the mashed potatoes.
The potatoes also had a light, fluffy texture while still holding their shape.
These mashed potatoes were buttery and extremely flavorful.
Even for someone who can be a little sensitive to garlic, the garlic flavor was strong but not overpowering. I thought this kind would pair well with gravy and other Thanksgiving foods.
Think garlic bread meets mashed potatoes — what more could you want on the holidays?
Editor’s note: A version of this story was first published in November 2022. It was most recently updated in November 2025.
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