Would someone please tell me the best way to reheat mashed potatoes if you don't have a microwave oven?

hey, we didn’t have a microwave til i was 17, and my mom used to reheat them with a little milk on the stovetop with a sauce pan.

another option is to make an ad hoc potato pancake, and fry the leftover potatoes into patties (or one big one) on the stovetop.

Put them in a pan with a little bit of water. Low-medium heat. Cover. Stir the water in while it heats.

Do you have a double boiler? Reheating them in the top pan over hot water should work well – you could stir in a little milk if they are too stiff.

A double boiler was just what I was going to suggest, too. That way they won’t scorch.

Mix with a tin of sweetcorn, a bit Of flour to bond & make less sticky then mould into balls, flatten and create potato cakes! Pop them under the grill YUMMY!

I thought about potato pancakes actually, but I have been wanting mashed potatoes an gravy now for a really long time so thought I would ‘satisfy’ my craving and save the other idea for another time.

@heartbrainscourage and @jbfletcherfan
I don’t have a double boiler unfortunately, so I guess it is on the stove top on low maybe and add milk as needed till warmed enough….

Thank you everyone for your ideas. If you have any others I am open to hearing them.

By the way, I do not like not having a microwave and yes I didn’t have one for many many years and then did for quite a few years so all the ways of doing things the ‘old fashion’ way have left my ‘thoughts’ so it is hard to remember what I used to do ‘pre-microwave’! UGH

Try boiling the milk 1st in a seperate pan before adding it to the mash, maybe adding a egg too, as this can give dried potatoes a little more taste and texture?

@lollipop if you have a pyrex bowl and a sauce pan, you can use that as a faux double boiler. just be careful not to let the pan boil out.

A double boiler is not necessary at all. I reheat my ‘taters in a pan with water all the time. Just make sure you don’t turn the heat up too high.

I am eating some leftover rice right now, which I heated the same way, but once it was mostly ready, I sprinkled some cheddar cheese over the top and let it melt through to the (non-stick) pan to get a few cheese crispies. Delicious!

Edit: I use water, instead of milk because milk will burn easily.

@eponymoushipster That’s a good idea, I will have to remember that for future uses. A double boiler is one of those items you don’t need very often but then when you do….so doing that is a great idea! Especially, for me as I have a very tiny kitchen and am limited on what ‘accessory’ type items I can keep on hand to make cooking easier.

Thanks

Either in a pan on top of the stove with added milk or water on low to medium (the higher the temperature the more often you need to stir them), or wrap them in a bit of foil, seal the edges by folding tightly, and warm them in the oven.

Or use the gravy, some browned ground beef, and some mixed veg to make Shepherd’s Pie with the potatoes spread on top as crust (sprinkle with a bit of good cheddar cheese for color and flavor if you have some) and bake it in the oven.

Here is the best thing ever: Take left over mashed potatoes (they have to be at least one day old), add an egg, a chopped onion, and sage. Make hamburger patty sized patties and fry them. Unbelievably good.

Put them in a saucepan with a fair amount of butter, as they will have likely dried up . Warm through like that and it’ll taste great and crisp up a little bit :)

Thank you everyone for all the great ideas! I will have to remember them for future reference. I heated them last night on really low heat and they came out fine.

@lollipop Hooray! I’m glad you had a good dinner.