8 Vegan Mashed Potatoes Recipes That Don't Need Butter To Make Your Mouth Water
Just as holiday season dessert tables wouldn’t be complete without slices of pumpkin pie, dinner spreads wouldn’t be the same without a large, ceramic bowl full of fluffy mashed potatoes at the center of it all. But if you’ve recently converted to a plant-based lifestyle, or you've been experimenting with healthier alternatives to holiday indulgences, odds are you’ve cut out butter and margarine from your cooking staples. Rest assured, though, there are plenty of vegan mashed potatoes recipes to follow and tweak to your liking that don’t require sticks of the stuff in order to make the decadent side dish.
Starches are a vegan’s best friend, so don’t think for a second they’re skimping out on mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving dinner just because the traditional recipes usually call for loads of butter. Contrary to what all those chefs on your favorite cooking shows preach, you can cut out dairy and still indulge in equally delicious mashed potatoes, too.
Trust me when I say I understand if you’re a little skeptical here, especially if you grew up in a household where Mom whipped up her specialty mashed potatoes with a recipe that strictly called for milk, eggs, and butter. Fortunately, plant-based peeps have navigated their way through holiday recipes that traditionally required animal products, and have established delicious alternatives anyone can enjoy.
Check out the following vegan mashed potatoes recipes if you're looking to indulge in the fluffy stuff dairy-free this Thanksgiving.
01Soy Milk And Spices Are Your Saviors This Year
High Carb Hannah's creamy mashed potatoes get their fluffy consistency without a single drop of cow's milk or slice of butter to boot.
Instead of using animal products, this health guru uses a flax egg and soy milk to enhance her recipe's taste and texture, along with a ton of spices like Italian seasoning, fennel, onion powder, cayenne, nutritional yeast, and onion powder.
Soy milk, Hannah explained, is the secret to making her side dish super creamy. However, you want to make sure you aren't using a sweetened variation of any plant-based milk you choose.
"You can use an almond milk, you can use a cashew milk. Just make sure you aren't using a milk that's sweetened or has flavoring," she warned viewers. "A lot of people make the mistake of using, like, a vanilla soy milk and it totally ruins everything."
02Take Advantage Of Additives
The base of any quality mashed potatoes is actually super basic. You've got your boiled potatoes, plant-based milk of choice, and salt and pepper to taste. That's all fine and good, but while I could personally probably live off mashed potatoes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, the key to whipping up batches that aren't bland is to get creative with additives and toppings.
Caitlin Shoemaker, YouTuber and founder of From My Bowl, makes a standard vegan mashed potatoes recipe with soy milk, garlic powder, nutritional yeast, and chopped parsley. To make this dish a little more festive, however, she drizzles a mushroom gravy on top to enhance the flavoring. Bring this dish to Friendsgiving, and I guarantee everyone will be fighting for seconds.
03Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes Are Where It's At
I've noticed that my plant-based peeps love themselves some cauliflower, and there are a ton of creative ways to implement the veggie into recipes like faux Alfredo sauce, chick'n wings, and, apparently, mashed potatoes.
Most of Nikki Vegan's recipes are super easy to follow along with, and basic enough where you can add or subtract ingredients as you please. This mashed potatoes recipe is, in my opinion, incredibly unique, as it mixes together boiled potatoes, cauliflower, and Nikki's delicious secret ingredient: almond milk cream cheese.
04Mix Different Kinds Of Potatoes For More Decadence
You know this guy's mashed potatoes have to be good if the Hallmark Channel's calling him in to cook 'em up on the air.
Brian Patton, otherwise known as The Sexy Vegan on social media, has mashed potato perfection down to a culinary science, and you'll definitely want to recreate his version of the side dish for Thanksgiving this year.
To start, the vegan chef makes a buttermilk substitute by combining cashew milk and apple cider vinegar for a "contrasting tang." What's different about Patton's mashed taters, though, is that he uses not one, but two kinds of potatoes, and prepares them separately. He boils Yukon golds (because these types of potatoes only absorb a little bit of water) and baked russet potatoes (because russet taters soak in a lot of water).
Like I said, science is on our side here, and the result is the creamiest, mashiest potatoes you've ever tasted.
05Make Them Minimal If That's Your Thing
If this is your first time whipping up a bowl of plant-based mashed potatoes for family or friends, don't feel like you have to get super fancy with the side dish. Remember, just because a recipe is simple, doesn't mean that'll translate to the taste, too.
The Minimalist Baker's best damn vegan mashed potatoes recipe only calls for six ingredients: potatoes, salt and pepper to taste, garlic, vegan butter, and fresh chives. It doesn't matter how small the ingredient list is; what really matters are the key ingredients you're using to magnify the flavor.
06Switch Things Up With Celery Root
If you didn't know celery root was a thing, trust me, you're not alone.
The Hungry Hutch blogger Aaron Hutcherson is shedding some light on the forgotten produce, describing the root of a celery plant as "relatively neutral in taste," making it a "great supplement or replacement for potatoes."
In his recipe, Hutcherson boils celery root and potatoes in a saucepan and simmers to combination until tender. Once the water is drained, he adds a drizzle of olive oil, mashes it all up, and seasons with salt and parsley to taste.
07Go All In On The Garlic
Babe Made founder Christina ditched box mix years ago to create her own cilantro garlic vegan mashed potatoes that are sure to be way better than any powder mixture you've ever tried.
Her signature potluck dish only requires one pot to make, and the whole thing can be done in 30 minutes flat.
The recipe calls for minimal ingredients, with russet potatoes as the base, while seasonings like salt, garlic, ground pepper, and cilantro add a little zest to the equation. For a bit of cheesy flavor, Christina sprinkles in some nutritional yeast, but you could always add in or top the final product with vegan cheese shreds if you prefer.
08Go Raw By Passing On Potatoes Entirely
Whether you're actually plant-based or just looking for a healthier take on the traditional side dish, mock mashed potatoes are an option, too.
If you've been chewing on this idea of raw vegan alternatives, FullyRawKristina's take looks mighty tasty, if I do say so myself. It's also a quick recipe to throw together if you're low on time before joining in on the festivities.
All you'll need to (figuratively) whip up these faux mashed potatoes is a head of cauliflower, green onion, sage, lemon juice, garlic, and dry spices. Throw all of your ingredients into a food processor, and pulse until you've reached a similar consistency to the real thing. This dish may be deceptive, but that doesn't make it any less decadent or delicious.
