These dairy free olive oil and roasted garlic mashed potatoes are creamy and absolutely delicious. Roasted garlic and fruity olive oil give these vegan mashed potatoes their great flavor and texture, so there is no need for butter or cream.
This may surprise you, but I've always made mashed potatoes without butter or cream. I use potatoes, olive oil, potato cooking water or broth, salt, and pepper. Sometimes I add finely chopped scallions, sometimes parsley or chives.
I love them this way. It's easy to make creamy, delicious dairy free mashed potatoes using olive oil. They have great flavor and they're healthier than traditional mashed potatoes which are loaded with cream and butter. I even make my Shepherd's Pie with dairy free mashed potatoes.
I recently discovered that roasted garlic is a great addition to dairy free mashed potatoes.
Making mashed potatoes is so simple, yet it's not. There are hundreds (maybe thousands) of treatises out on the web explaining how to make the perfect mashed potatoes. And with good reason. Potatoes look tough and rugged but they're actually very sensitive. If you don't treat them well, they will turn out bad. Have you ever made a batch of mashed potatoes that turned out watery, lumpy or gluey? Not fun. And there's no way to undo the damage once it's done. The good news is, there are some easy steps you can take to ensure a great outcome for your mashed potatoes every time. I've done loads of research on this topic and here are my best recommendations:
5 Tips: How To Make Perfect Mashed Potatoes:
- For even cooking, start the potatoes in a pot of cold water. If you add potatoes to boiling water, the outside will cook faster than the interior and you'll either have parts that are overcooked or parts that are undercooked.
- For full flavor, add salt to the potato cooking water
- For the Fluffiest Mashed Potatoes: To prevent the potatoes from being waterlogged, dry them before mashing: After cooking, drain them, return them to the cooking pot, and toss them over medium heat for a minute or two, until they're fluffed up and dry.
- For Great texture: Add the olive oil (or butter, if using) to the the hot, dry potatoes before adding liquid. The potatoes will absorb the fat and will have a silkier texture.
- To keep them light: Most importantly, don't over mash! Over mashing breaks down the potato's starch molecules. The less you mess with cooked potatoes, the better. Never use a food processor or you'll end up with glue. Best practice is to use a potato ricer, if you have one. If not, an old fashioned hand masher works well. Mash as few strokes as possible to keep the potatoes light and fluffy.
How to make excellent dairy free mashed potatoes
- Follow my 5 tips: how to make perfect mashed potatoes (above).
- Use good quality olive oil and the potato cooking water, in place of cream and butter.
- Dairy free mashed potatoes are seasoned the same way you would season traditional mashed potatoes, with plenty of salt and pepper.
- For added layers of flavor, mix in chopped scallions, chives, herbs or roasted garlic.
How to roast garlic
- Cut about a half inch off the top of a head of garlic.
- Place the head on a square of foil.
- Drizzle olive oil over the exposed garlic cloves.
- Seal up the foil and bake at 400ºF for 35 minutes.
- Once the garlic cools you can easily peel away the skin from the cloves or you can just squeeze out the roasted garlic cloves.
Roasting garlic mellows and sweetens the flavor, and makes it rich and creamy.
If you're open to trying something new, give these dairy free olive oil and roasted garlic mashed potatoes at try.
They're great with turkey and gravy, roasts, turkey meatloaf, classic meatloaf, or anything that calls for delicious mashed potatoes on the side.
If you have anyone at your table who's vegan, kosher, or dairy intolerant, you're all set with these dairy free mashed potatoes. You may also like our Vegan Red Skin Mashed Potatoes.
Here’s the dairy free Olive Oil and Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes Recipe. If you cook this, I hope you'll come back to leave a star rating and a comment. I'd love to know what you think!
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Olive Oil and Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
- Total Time: 50 mins
- Yield: 6-8 1x
Description
Delicious creamy olive oil and roasted garlic mashed potatoes are made with no cream or butter. They're dairy-free and vegan.
Ingredients
- 1 head of garlic
- ½ cup good quality extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 3 pounds yellow flesh potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
- 1 cup of potato cooking water - don't forget to save it before you drain the potatoes!
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt plus more, to taste
- Freshly ground pepper, to taste
- Optional Add-ins and Toppings:
- 12 scallions, ends trimmed, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley and a few parsley sprigs
- A drizzle of olive oil
Instructions
- Roast The Garlic: Preheat oven to 400ºF. Slice off the top ½ inch off the garlic head to expose a cross-section of all the cloves. (see photo in post) Drizzle a teaspoon of oil over the exposed garlic. Wrap tightly with foil. Bake for 35 minutes. When cool enough to handle, squeeze the roasted garlic out of the skins and mash them with a fork.
- Cook and Mash The Potatoes: Place potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water by a couple of inches. Add two teaspoons of salt to the water. Bring to a boil and cook for 12-15 minutes, or until potatoes are tender enough for a knife to easily slide in and out.
- Save a cup of the cooking water before draining. Drain potatoes. Return them to the cooking pot over medium heat, tossing them for a minute or so, until they're dry. Add the garlic. Mash the potatoes and garlic roughly, to combine. (I recommend using a potato masher) Add 6 tablespoons of olive oil and stir through with a fork or with the masher. Thin with potato water, a little at a time, until you're happy with the texture. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.
- Optional Additions: Stir chopped scallions and/or parsley into the potatoes, if using.
- To Serve: Serve hot. Transfer to a serving bowl. Drizzle with olive oil, if you like. (it looks nice) and garnish with some chopped parsley or parsley sprigs.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 35 mins
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: boil
- Cuisine: American
SaraORT
This year for Thanksgiving I am thankful for this recipe. It is simply delicious.
Mai-Reet Eljas Cartan
When I make mashed potatoes, I either boil peeled yellow potatoes, or bake, peel and spoon out russets. Then, after adding liquid and butter, I mash them with a hand held mixer (with the regular blades, not the whipping blades) as much as I can, then whip them just a few seconds, to get rid of the biggest lumps. (I agree, over doing it creates glue.) Fast and easy..
Stephanie
Exactly what I was looking for! Great on my vegan shepherds pie!! Thanks for sharing!
David Yavin
Funny to try a new recipe for a simple, "standard" dish you've been making forever. Couldn't resist trying this one and it came out great!
Lisa
Glad you enjoyed!
laura@motherwouldknow
You've combined two of my favorite fall/winter foods - mashed potatoes and roasted garlic. Like you, I much prefer olive oil to butter in my potatoes. But I do let my DH put in sour cream, which he loves. Maybe I can convince him to go vegan with this combo - the garlic is all you need for flavor.
allie
These look perfect Lisa! Great tips on how to NOT turn these into glue. Love the garlic in mashed potatoes!
Maggie
Love the idea of adding roasted garlic and olive oil into the mashed potatoes. It makes the dish so much healthier and still super flavorful. I want to try this out by combing Elizabeth's idea of adding cauliflowers. Believe it will make a great meal!