Mashed potato is a side dish that very little can go wrong with, and is usually a guaranteed table pleaser.

However, one woman’s unique recipe for making the squashed spuds has left people “traumatised”.

Social media user Elaine regularly shares her unusual meal ideas on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook but this particular set of cooking directions attracted a massive 40.2 million views and thousands of comments.

Sharing a video of the speeded-up method and ingredients, she wrote: “Favorite summer side dish.”

Starting with a saucepan of boiling water, Elaine began by adding two tubes of ready-salted Pringles — yes, Pringles — and then stirring them and allowing them to become soggy and melt together.

She then added a small amount of diced red onion, a large spoonful of pureed garlic, a sprinkling of paprika, and turmeric, and left it to simmer for a while. After everything has had a chance to mix, she took a potato masher and began to mash.

Elaine allowed it to cook through for a few more minutes until everything was nicely soggy, then drained the water from the mixture completely and returned it to the saucepan. After this, she added a large chunk of butter, “to season,” a dash of milk, dried garlic, and onion powder, and stir while on low heat.

The cook also said that she likes to grate a little cheese into the mixture to thicken it up a bit. Finally, once all the cheese and butter had melted and was stirred through, she sprinked some chopped parsley to garnish. Scooping a large portion she then presented it to her husband Marty, who appeared to be surprised when Elaine revealed it was made from Pringles.

People in the comments could decide whether the video was satire or serious with many remarking that lots of American recipes can be unusual and use lots of store-bought ingredients.

One user penned: “If you don’t have Pringles at home you can replace it with potatoes.” While another person added: “This is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen. It’s a crime!” A third person also wrote: “I don’t even watch car crashes on the highway but these have me stuck with a horrified expression, unable to move.”

While a fourth added: “This is the most odd and unskilled ‘cooking’ I may have seen my whole life. Please tell me it’s a fake.”