These fluffy garlic mashed potatoes are the perfect comfort food! Whether you’re serving these fluffy spuds for Thanksgiving or dinner, they’re great as a side dish.
My favorite way to serve these mashed potatoes is with main dishes, including lentil loaf, lentil meatballs, stovetop tofu meatballs, and mushroom pernil.
If you need a second side with your mashed potatoes, I’d go with creamy, vegan mac & cheese.
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Why You’ll Love This
- It’s a SUPER EASY recipe to whip up! No peeling, minimal prep work, and it’s we’re working with just 6 plant-based ingredients.
- They make for the perfect Thanksgiving dinner side. Along with mushroom gravy, gluten-free onion gravy, zucchini stuffing casserole, and vegan mac and cheese, you have the perfect display of holiday sides.
- This recipe is 100% dairy-free, vegan, plant-based, gluten-free, and made with REAL ingredients.
Mashed potatoes are made with boiled potatoes. Any high-starch variety of potatoes will work for mashed potatoes.
I choose to use russet potatoes for 3 reasons:
- Due to their high starch content, they yield soft and fluffy mashed potatoes.
- They are relatively cheaper than their counterparts. A 5-pound bag can easily cost just a couple of bucks, or even cheaper.
- Russet potatoes are very easy to find and should be available at most grocery stores.
Yukon potatoes will work, too. The trick is using potatoes that have high to medium starch content.
Low-starch potatoes like waxy are high in moisture and sugar, which means they can yield a wet and gluey texture.
However, if waxy potatoes are used in addition to starch potatoes, that’ll work.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Vegan Butter – Use creamy, soft vegan butter. Melt Organic butter and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter are both great options.
- Garlic – Use more or less, depending on your love for garlic. Feel free to also use garlic powder.
- Russet Potatoes – Peel or don’t, it’s up to you. I choose to leave the peels on to keep their nutrients and cut back on prep time. For creamier mashed potatoes, feel free to peel.
- Soy Milk – You’ll want to use plain, unflavored + unsweetened soy milk. Any other non-dairy milk will work, too.
- Salt – To take it up a notch in the flavor department, go for garlic salt.
Recipe FAQs
How To Mash Potatoes Without A Masher
Mashing potatoes without a potato masher can be done with a fork. I am sure this was the way to do it before having a masher was mainstream.
It’s just as effective, it just might take a little more work.
If you’re looking for a potato masher to buy, they can be found at Target, sometimes ROSS, or online at Amazon.
How Long To Boil Potatoes
Boil time will depend on the size of the potatoes and whether or not you are opting to roughly chop them or boil/steam them whole. It’s best to occasionally check with a fork if they are tender.
You’ll want them to be fork-tender, but not so soft that they fall apart and crumble.
I prefer to roughly chop my potatoes because this cuts the boiling time significantly. Most days, I just need to get the food done quickly and this is one way I do that.
Chopped potatoes take about 10-15 minutes to boil, while whole potatoes take about 25 minutes or longer to become fork-tender.
How To Store
It’s best to serve mashed potatoes right away. The longer it sticks, the thicker and less fluffy they become.
Recipe Tips
- Peeling the potatoes is entirely up to you. For this recipe, I decided to keep the skins on. Keep in mind both ways have their pros and cons. Peeling potatoes takes some work and you’re omitting some of the fiber coming from the potato peels. However, if you peel the potatoes, you have a creamier and uniform mashed potato texture. I’d say go for what you prefer. You can always save the peels, drizzle some oil, and pop them in the oven for a few minutes at 400 degrees F until crispy.
- For this recipe, feel free to use any kind of vegan butter you prefer and enjoy. I either use Melt Organic butter or I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter. I find these two brands to have very creamy vegan butter, which I prefer.
- Don’t hold back on the butter and soy milk. This is what’s going to help create a smooth batch of garlic mashed potatoes.
To top off your mashed potatoes, go for chopped mushroom bacon, green onions, chives, vegan sour cream, salsa, corn, rosemary, or parsley.
More Potato Recipes:
If you’re looking for something sweet, check out our mashed sweet potatoes with brown sugar.
Tried out this Vegan Fluffy Garlic Mashed Potatoes recipe?
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Fluffy Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a large pot or dutch oven, pour enough cold water to cover potatoes by an inch. Add 2 tablespoons of salt.
- Cover the pot with a lid and bring to a boil. Once at a boil, remove the lid and reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 10-15 minutes, or until fork-tender
- Drain potatoes in a colander. Mash potatoes with a potato masher or fork. Next, gently fold in soy milk and garlic butter mixture into the mashed potatoes. Stir until creamy.
- Serve. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add more butter or toppings if you like.
Notes
- Peeling the potatoes is entirely up to you. For this recipe, I decided to keep the skins on for added texture and nutrients. For creamier mashed potatoes, peel the potatoes.
- For this recipe, feel free to use any kind of creamy/soft vegan butter you prefer and enjoy. I either use Melt Organic butter or I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter.
- Don’t hold back on the butter and soy milk. This is what’s going to help create a smooth batch of garlic mashed potatoes.
10-Ingredient Dairy-Free Mac and Cheese
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Sahil Saini
I have never used that specific brand of vegan butter but I am curious to try it out. Thank you for sharing the recipe!!
plantbasedandbroke
For sure! Let me know how you like it when you try it out. 🙂