With Thanksgiving right around the corner, you need this recipe for dairy-free – and even vegan! – mashed potatoes flavored with rosemary, garlic and olive oil. You won’t miss the dairy!
Dairy has been a tricky issue in my household since forever. My daughter, now 18, was allergic to dairy for years. Today, she is no longer allergic – it is common to outgrow a dairy allergy – but she still finds that dairy doesn’t agree with her. So she prefers not to consume very much dairy, if any.
There are many people who, like me, find themselves needing to cook and bake without dairy. Perhaps they keep kosher, which requires not serving dairy at meals containing meat. Perhaps they have a family member who is vegan or who has a dairy allergy. Whatever the reason, today it is possible to make many of our favorite dishes without dairy.
I have even cracked the code for making the best dairy-free mashed potatoes. No kidding! I’m talking flavorful, fluffy mashed potatoes that are well worthy of a place on your Thanksgiving table without a speck of butter, milk or cream. Rather, these mashed potatoes are flavored with extra-virgin olive oil, garlic and rosemary.
Originally, I created this dairy-free mashed potato recipe for my new cookbook Instantly Mediterranean because I wanted a version of mashed potatoes that incorporated olive oil – the signature fat of Mediterranean cooking. My thinking was that this Italian-inspired mashed potato recipe would be the perfect accompaniment to some of the other Italian recipes in the book, like the Italian Sausage Ragù.
That recipe not only has the advantage of tasting absolutely delicious without an ounce of dairy, it is also very easy to make because you steam the potatoes in the Instant Pot for a mere 8 minutes to make them tender enough to mash. Then, you can mash them directly in the inner pot of the Instant Pot, which also keeps the potatoes warm without drying them out. It has turned out to be one of my favorite recipes in the whole book.
But I know that not everyone has an Instant Pot or other type of electric pressure cooker. So I challenged myself to recreate this vegan mashed potato recipe for the stovetop. The stovetop version is not quite as quick and easy as the Instant Pot version, but it is not difficult to make at all and, boy, is it delicious.
Photo Credit: Leigh Olson
The other reason I was really anxious to make a version of mashed potatoes flavored with olive oil this year in particular is because Thanksgiving is really close to Hanukkah. As in, Hanukkah starts the weekend after Thanksgiving. That’s going to be a lot of celebrating for Jewish families. And, as you may know, one of the most important Hanukkah traditions is to eat foods made with oil.
The festival of Hanukkah commemorates the victory of a small group of Jews, the Maccabees, over the army of the Syrian-Greek King Antiochus in the second century BCE. After the Jews drove the Greeks out of Judea, they attempted to restore their temple only to discover that there was just enough oil to light the lamp that held the eternal flame for one day. A miracle occurred and the small amount of oil lasted for eight days. That is why Hanukkah lasts for eight days and why we eat foods cooked in or made with oil on Hanukkah.
So, with Thanksgiving and Hanukkah so close together this year, it seems like the perfect time to make olive oil mashed potatoes for either (or both?) holidays. Besides the lack of dairy, the other slightly unusual thing about this recipe is that it calls for you to steam the potatoes, not boil them. I find that steaming the potatoes results in better flavor and an especially fluffy texture, so I urge you to try this method.
What about you? Do you think you would serve dairy-free mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving?
Ingredients
- 3 pounds waxy potatoes, such as Yukon Gold, peeled and cut into 2-inch cubes
- 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 9 cloves garlic, peeled
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt plus more as needed
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add 1 to 2 inches of water to a large, tall pot, such as a stockpot. Place the potatoes in a steamer basket or colander. Set steamer basket in the pot - raised on a trivet if necessary - so that the water doesn’t touch the potatoes.
- Bring the water to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, until the potatoes are cooked through and tender, 25 to 30 minutes.
- While the potatoes are cooking, heat the olive oil in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Add the peeled garlic cloves and rosemary and toss to coat with the oil. Turn the heat down to low and cook, allowing the garlic and herbs to infuse the oil, for approximately 20 minutes. Remove the rosemary and garlic cloves with a slotted spoon. Discard the rosemary, but reserve the garlic.
- Drain the potatoes, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water. Return the drained potatoes to the pot over low heat. Cook the potatoes, tossing them gently, for 1 to 2 minutes to dry them out.
- Gradually add the infused olive oil to the potatoes while mashing. If the mashed potatoes seem too thick, add a splash of the reserved cooking water and continue to mash. Season with salt and pepper.
- Mince some or all of the oil-poached garlic cloves, as desired, and stir them into the potatoes. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more salt, if needed, and black pepper to taste.
