Milk, butter (and lots of it), salt, pepper, boiled potatoes… do you have these key ingredients on hand for today’s post? They’re the basics needed to whip, mix or mash up a creamy bowl of mashed potatoes. But what’s the special something in your bowl of mashed potatoes?

Baker2lm brings an unconventional ingredient to the mix with her Baked Mashed Potatoes with Parmesan Cheese and Bread Crumbs. The bread crumbs caught my attention. I love baking mashed potatoes after cooking them on the stove, all for that golden crust… I have a feeling the bread crumbs add a bit more color and crunch, though.

Cdrier’s Kicked up Bacon-Cheese Mashed Potatoes certainly wouldn’t last very long at my house. I don’t know if we can call bacon the secret ingredient in this tasty recipe :). I have a feeling everyone will know what’s cookin’ as soon as it starts to crisp up in the pan! These mashed potatoes are cheesy and buttery, too.

Stuart suggests that you can even dress up mashed potatoes, in his recipe for Elegant Mashed Potatoes with Blue Cheese. Sour cream is an ingredient I don’t hear enough about in mashed potato recipes!

What other savory ingredients should I add to my next batch of mashed potatoes?