Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes, a Classic Side Dish

Roasted garlic mashed potatoes is an easy way to elevate a classic side dish. Roasting a whole head of garlic makes it buttery soft and tempers its bite, leaving a soft, smoky flavor. A great side dish for your plant-based holiday table or cool weather meals!

Traditionally, russet potatoes have been the go-to for fluffy mashed potatoes, and they’re still a good choice. More recently, Yukon Gold potatoes have gotten a bit of the edge due to their lovely golden color, deeper flavor, and perfect, dense consistency. The choice is yours!

Serving ideas:

• As a vegan Christmas or Thanksgiving side dish option
• A perfect side for our wildly popular vegan meatloaf
• Make an already great side dish even better with Easy Vegan Mushroom Gravy

How to roast garlic

Aside from how it’s used in this particular mashed potatoes recipe, roasted garlic is also used as a spread for fresh bread or bruschetta. You can then go a step further, if you’d like, and add other toppings like fresh or sun-dried tomatoes, olives, chopped arugula, and more. It’s really easy; here’s how:

• Remove some of the papery outer layers from the garlic but keep the cloves intact. Cut about 1/4 inch from the top of the head so that the cloves are slightly exposed.

• Place the garlic head on a piece of aluminum foil, then wrap it up so that it’s covered. Place on a baking sheet and bake in a 400º F oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cloves are quite soft. For the last 5 minutes or so, you can open the foil to let the garlic caramelize a bit.

• When cool enough to handle, gently separate the cloves and squeeze the soft pulp out of each one into a small bowl and discard the outer skin. Or, you can squeeze out directly onto fresh bread or bruschetta.

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Yield: 4 to 6

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

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Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Ingredients

• 1 whole head garlic (or more, see Notes)
• 6 large potatoes (about 3 pounds), peeled and diced (use Yukon Gold or russet)
• 2 tablespoons vegan butter
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup unsweetened plant-based milk
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• Thyme sprigs or minced chives for garnish, optional

Instructions

1. Remove some of the papery outer layers from the garlic but keep the cloves intact. Cut about 1/4 inch from the top of the head so that the cloves are slightly exposed (refer to the photo above the recipe box).
2. Place the garlic head on a piece of aluminum foil, then wrap it up so that it’s covered. Place on a baking sheet and bake in a 400º F oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cloves are quite soft. For the last 5 minutes or so, you can open the foil to let the garlic caramelize a bit.
3. When cool enough to handle, gently separate the cloves and squeeze the soft pulp out of each one into a small bowl and discard the outer skin.
4. Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and cut into large dice.
5. In a large saucepan, cover the diced potatoes with plenty of water. Bring to a slow boil. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer gently until very tender, about 20 to 25 minutes. 
6. Drain the potatoes and transfer to a large shallow bowl. Add the vegan butter to them and stir until melted. Add 1/4 cup of plant-based milk and the reserved garlic pulp.
7. Mash the potatoes with a mashing implement or large fork until smooth and fluffy. If needed, add up to an additional 1/4 cup of milk to loosen the consistency.
8. Season with salt and pepper, then transfer to a serving container with a cover.
9. Provide some thyme sprigs or chives for garnishing individual servings, if you’d like. Serve at once, or keep warm until needed.

Notes

Since you have the oven going at 400º F. you may as well roast at least one more head of garlic at the same time. You can use it for spreading on bruschetta, or using extra if you'd like to make the mashed potatoes even more garlicky.

If you like mashed potatoes, you may also enjoy …

Maple-Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Pecans

Here are lots more tasty plant-based salads & sides.