Mashed Potato Cups Recipe

There are very few foods out there quite as versatile as the potato. Transforming from a humble tuber into crunchy, fluffy french fries, comforting Polish pierogis, and crispy, golden hash browns, the potato has seemingly endless culinary possibilities. Mashed potatoes specifically are even more versatile yet, and if you thought they were limited to being a simple dinner side, you're missing out on some truly delicious and creative dishes.

This mashed potato cup recipe is a great example of how simple mashed potatoes can transform into something unique, fun, and tasty. Featuring mashed russets mixed with spicy chorizo, bell peppers, cheese, and sour cream, this recipe combines Mexican-inspired flavors into a compact, crispy cup of potato filling that is perfect at any time of day. Easy to mix, bake, and reheat, these mashed potato cups are yet another delicious way to transform a potato into a flavorful bite-sized snack. While we will walk you through the steps for making the mashed potatoes from scratch, you can definitely use up any leftovers you might have, and we'll touch more on how to do that down the line.

Mashed potato cups only require a few ingredients. If you don't have mashed potatoes already made, you'll need about four small russet potatoes (or two large potatoes) and some salt. From there, you'll need chorizo, red and green bell peppers, egg for binding, sour cream for moisture, and shredded pepper Jack cheese (or cheese of choice) for crisping the exteriors of the cups.

Preheat the oven to 400 F and thoroughly grease a mini muffin tin.

Add the peeled and diced potatoes to a large pot or saucepan and fill with water, covering the potatoes by 1 inch.

Bring to a boil and cook until soft, about 15 minutes.

Drain the potatoes.

Add the salt and mash into a mostly smooth consistency using a potato masher.

In the meantime, add the chorizo to a skillet over medium heat.

Crumble and brown for about 3 minutes, then add the peppers and continue cooking until chorizo is deeply browned and peppers are soft.

Add the chorizo mixture to the potatoes along with the egg, sour cream, and cheese.

Mix to combine well.

Scoop the potato mixture into each cup of the muffin tin, pressing down to fill.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.

Serve the mashed potato cups warm.

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Just like latkes, pierogies, or crispy fried croquettes, this recipe is well suited for repurposing leftover mashed potatoes. Extra-creamy mashed potatoes are typically made with plenty of butter, which makes them delicious, but this is also what makes them hard to hold together when baked in the oven. Milk, cream, and butter all add moisture that causes the potatoes to remain soft and even break apart when trying to remove from the muffin cups. 

If you are using leftover mashed potatoes with this recipe, there are some things you need to know. First, you'll need about 2 cups of mashed potatoes. Use chilled leftover potatoes, which have less moisture than warm, buttery potatoes. Next, skip the sour cream that this recipe calls for, which adds even more moisture to the potatoes. If the potato mixture still seems wet or thin, you can also add flour to hold the cups together, which binds them in a similar way to cake or muffins. Use just enough flour to make the batter thick, and stir well to combine with the potatoes smoothly.

These mashed potato cups can be made in a regular-sized muffin tin if you'd prefer larger bites, and you'll just need to make a few simple tweaks to the recipe. Because regular-sized muffin tins are about double the size of the small ones, the recipe as written will make about 12 potato cups instead of 24. With the larger size, the cups also need more time in the oven to fully crisp and hold together, so you'll want to pay close attention to how your larger cups are browning.

Grease the pan well, then press the potato mixture into the muffin cups, filling nearly to the top. Transfer to the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the edges are deeply brown and crispy and the tops are golden. When going with the larger size, you may want to add a bit of flour to the potato mixture right off the bat. This step will help keep the larger cups bound together and will help prevent any breakage when you try to remove them from the tin.

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