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The easiest, most delicious dairy-free mashed potatoes! Russet potatoes blended with creamy vegan butter, garlic, & dairy-free milk. The BEST side dish for all of your holiday meals!
What Makes This Recipe Work
Ooey, gooey, creamy mashed potatoes chock full of butter, milk, and garlic are what Holiday dreams are made of. But you don’t have to sacrifice your diet (or how you feel after) to get all that creamy goodness! This is one of my favorite recipes to make during the holiday season. They will make your taste buds sing!
Mashed potatoes are one of my favorite side dishes of all time. These creamy dairy-free mashed potatoes have all of the texture and flavor of regular mashed potatoes without any of the butter or heavy cream! Instead, I use almond milk (or coconut), vegan butter (or ghee if you prefer), salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and top them with chives for a punch of flavor. This potato recipe will make all of your Thanksgiving dinner dreams come true!
In fact, with this mashed potatoes without milk recipe, I bet you can’t even tell the difference! With a few easy (& healthy) swaps, these dairy-free mashed potatoes will delight your guests and go easy on their digestion! Try these dairy free mashed potatoes in my Loaded Mashed Potato Bowls.
Recipe Highlights
- Simple ingredients
- 20-minute recipe
- Multiple cooking methods
- The best mashed potatoes ever
- The perfect side dish that all family members will love
- A healthier spin on the classic dish without sacrificing any flavor!
- Creamy, classic, and traditional mashed potatoes, without milk!
Ingredient Notes
Potatoes: You can use Russet, Yukon Gold, Yellow potatoes, red potatoes, or white potatoes for this recipe. All types of potatoes will work.
Butter Alternative: If you are allergic to dairy or if you prefer to stay 100% vegan, you can use coconut oil, olive oil, avocado oil, or dairy free butter or vegan buttery spread like Miyokos (the best dairy-free butter in my opinion) or Kite Hill. If you are not allergic to dairy, ghee is a great option. Ghee is clarified butter, where the dairy proteins and casein have been removed. My favorite ghee is 4th and Heart. Unfortunately, traces may remain, so if you have a dairy allergy, definitely avoid ghee. You can also stir in some dairy free cream cheese for a fun twist.
Milk Alternative: Mashed potatoes without milk are actually super easy! Simply use your favorite plant-based dairy-free milk alternative. My favorite coconut milk is Native Forest (I use full-fat). You can also use unsweetened almond milk if coconut milk isn’t your thing! You really can’t taste the coconut in this recipe though – just FYI. Make sure you mix up the coconut milk prior to measuring, as it separates in the can. Soy milk or any plant-based milk will work.
How To Make Non-Dairy Mashed Potatoes
Stove Top
- Fill a large pot with water and add peeled potatoes. Bring potato pieces to a boil and cook until fork tender, about 12-14 minutes. Drain and return the cooked potatoes to the pot.
- Add remaining ingredients (minus the chives) to the pot and use an immersion blender to blend until creamy. Alternatively, you can use a potato masher – they will just be a little chunkier! Add more salt and black pepper to taste. Serve topped with chives if desired. Enjoy!
Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
- Add Potato chunks to the Instant Pot. Add water to cover potatoes completely (about 4-5 cups).
- Lock the lid and turn the vent to “sealing”. Cook on manual high pressure for 8 minutes.
- Manually release the steam. Drain the potatoes then add them back into the pot.
- Add in the remaining ingredients and mash well using a potato masher. Make them even creamier by blending with an immersion blender or electric hand mixer after mashing.
Mary’s Tips & Tricks
Consistency: If your mashed potatoes without milk are too thick, slowly add more dairy-free milk of choice until they reach the desired consistency! These are seriously the creamiest mashed potatoes ever – no cow’s milk needed.
Storage: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days.
Recipe FAQs
Yes. While I haven’t tested this myself, you can store leftovers in an airtight container and freeze them for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight and reheat in the microwave for 2-3 minutes or on the stove over medium heat for 5-7 minutes.
Yes! Using the ingredients I have listed here, these dairy-free mashed potatoes are gluten-free. Be sure to check all labels if you swap an ingredient.
Yes! The ingredients in the vegan butter listed above (as well as ghee) are Whole30-friendly. I bet your guests will have no idea these Whole30 mashed potatoes have no dairy!
If you prefer to make your mashed potatoes without milk altogether, feel free to use chicken broth instead. They will still have a creamy texture from the vegan butter, with added flavor from the broth. Remember, if you are vegan, substitute vegetable broth instead.
More Delicious Gluten Free Side Dishes
Creamy Dairy-Free Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2 lbs russet or white potatoes, 4 large potatoes or 6 small, peeled and cut into fourths
- ¼ cup ghee, sub vegan butter for 100% dairy free
- ⅓ cup dairy free milk of choice, coconut and unsweetened almond milk work great.
- 1.5 tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- chives, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
Stove Top
- Fill a large pot with water and add peeled potatoes. Bring potato pieces to a boil and cook until fork tender, about 12-14 minutes. Drain and return potatoes to the pot.
- Add remaining ingredients (minus the chives) to the pot and use an immersion blender to blend until creamy. Alternatively, you can use a potato masher – they will just be a little chunkier! Add more salt and pepper to taste. Serve topped with chives if desired. Enjoy!
Instant Pot
- Add Potato chunks to the Instant Pot. Add water to cover potatoes completely (about 4-5 cups).
- Lock the lid and turn the vent to "sealing". Cook on manual high pressure for 8 minutes.
- Manually release the steam. Drain the potatoes then add them back into the pot.
- Add in the remaining ingredients and mash well using a potato masher. Make them even creamier by blending with an immersion blender after!
Notes
Nutrition
All nutrition facts are an estimate and automatically calculated. While I fact check them using My Fitness Pal, please note that they may not always be 100% accurate and depend on ingredients used. Weigh your total and divide by the number of servings for the most accurate grams per serving size.
You may also like
Healthy Chicken Pot Pie Soup
Healthy Mississippi Pot Roast with Beef Gravy Recipe
Whole30 Harvest Sheet Pan Dinner
This post was originally published on September 16, 2019, and updated with new photos and copy on August 31, 2022. Updated again on October 20, 2023.
This recipe was great! tasted just like regular mashed potatoes. I would make these even when I am not doing Whole30!
Delicious! But the spot while we’re doing whole30. Kids loved it too!
*HIT the spot! ☺️
Excited to try these tonight with your Mississippi roast (which I have made several times!) Do you have an Instant Pot cooking method for this amount of potatoes? Thank you!
Made these for our steak night, they were sooo delicious! I loved using the coconut milk to bring them together – they didn’t have a noticeable coconut taste either (important to note!). I added a bunch of garlic powder to mine 🙂 my husband loved these too! So tasty! Thanks Mary!
Amazing to hear! Thanks Taylor!
Your mashed potatoes provided for a delicious Whole30 Easter side dish! We were really not looking forward to missing some of our non-Whole30 approved favorites, but my husband actually prefers your mashed potatoes to my traditional milk/cream/butter recipe. The best part – leftovers heat up perfectly!
I am so happy to hear this! Thanks, Lauren!
Made these for Easter yesterday and I absolutely love them!! I made a little too much and am wondering how long these will last in the fridge. Do you know if they freeze so I can save leftovers for a later date?
Sorry for the late response here Lauren! These last in the fridge for 4-5 days. I haven’t tried freezing them!
I love potatoes in all forms, but these potatoes had all things I didn’t know I needed from mashed potatoes. These potatoes with the Mary’s Mississippi Pot Roast? Complete comfort food heaven.
I would love to make these this evening if possible. Would you please let me know how many servings there are? Thank you!
This recipe feeds 3-4 people
We loved these creamy mashed potatoes! No gravy needed. A true comfort food that is full of flavor and oh so satisfying!! And Whole 30 compliant!! WOW! Thank you Mary!
Thank you Laura!!
I found this link on a Pinterest. These should not be labeled as “Dairy Free” because ghee is DAIRY. My son is severely allergic to milk… I clicked on this link, excited to check out a new “Dairy Free” mashed potato recipe… which these are not.
I labeled them as dairy free since the casein and milk proteins have been removed from the butter in ghee. I am sorry if this was misleading! You’re welcome to use olive oil or avocado oil in place of the ghee and these potatoes will still be delicious.