These creamy mashed potatoes are so easy to make, and take one thing off of your stovetop! Plus, dairy free friends, be glad, they worked so well when made without cream of milk. This Thanksgiving, I am trying to make as much as I can beforehand so that I am not running around like crazy finishing five dishes all at once. For example, my Grain Free Caramel Apple Tart is going to be made the day before Thanksgiving.
One of the dishes often made at the last minute are the mashed potatoes, so I was so excited when I saw this method of making slow cooker mashed potatoes. I knew I had to make a test run of it to see how it went (I especially wanted to do a test run as I was adapting the recipe to be dairy-free!).
The technique is simple: You cook cubed potatoes in broth, garlic and seasonings for 3-4 hours, and then you mash them with melted butter and milk of choice (I used coconut milk, and no one even noticed the coconut flavor, even my coconut hater of the family). Then it can keep warm for even hours in the slow cooker. Because I used my roasted “Hearth” broth (so good!), and then these potatoes are slow roasted (since they aren’t boiled) the mashed potatoes had a lovely roast-y flavor.
One thing that I noted was that the color was perfect when first mashed, but after being kept warm for 3-4 hours after mashing it, it started to turn slightly brownish, so for Thanksgiving, I am planning on not leaving it for hours on warm, but mashing it closer to when we serve it. I cooked mine on hot at first, so it cooked fairly quickly (at 3 hours they were well cooked), but if you wanted to cook them more slowly, you could certainly try it on low for longer.
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Note on Ingredients
If you’d like to use coconut milk, make sure you use full fat. If you’d like to use another dairy-free option, I’d recommend homemade almond “cream” (a thicker almond milk).
Simple Almond Cream Recipe
Let 1 cup of almonds soak for 1-8 hours in warm water with a couple pinches of salt. Rinse, and then blend in a high power blender with 2 cups of filtered water. Pour through cheesecloth or a nut milk bag, and squeeze gently to remove all of the liquid. This makes a very rich almond milk, perfect for savory and sweet dishes
We tolerate butter just fine, so I use butter. Those only a little sensitive can often tolerate ghee fine. But for truly dairy free mashed potatoes, I have been surprised at how lovely a very mild olive oil tastes in mashed potatoes. I mention that in this stove top dairy free mashed potato recipe.
What potatoes to use? There is a lot of debate on this issue. I tested this recipe with russet, but some love Yukon for mashed potatoes as well.
Tools
I definitely recommend using a potato masher (such as this one) to get the right texture. This is the large and inexpensive slow cooker I use.
- 5 pounds russet potatoes, or potatoes of choice, peeled
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced (optional)
- 1½ cups broth of choice (such as Hearth broth, or chicken broth)
- Salt and Pepper
- ½ cup melted butter or ⅓ cup mild olive oil (plus extra for oiling slow cooker)
- ½ cup canned full fat coconut milk, homemade almond milk (see above), or whole milk, cream
- Extra milk or broth for thinning down as needed.
- Oil the sides of the slow cooker. Cube the potatoes into ½- 1 inch pieces (uniformly). Place in slow cooker, and add the garlic cloves, if using, and the broth of choice. Salt with about 1 teaspoon unrefined salt, and a generous sprinkle of pepper.
- Cover, and put slow cooker on low, and cook for 3-4 hours, or until the potatoes are soft.
- If there are any potatoes on the side that browned at all, you can remove with a spoon, if desired, for a very smooth texture. Using a potato masher, mash the potatoes to desired texture (smooth or slightly chunky).
- Heat the butter and liquid of choice, and mix thoroughly into the mashed potatoes. If you want them thinned out at all, simply add more to taste/texture desired.
- Now keep the potatoes on "keep warm". I tested this for about 3½ hours on "keep warm". The texture near the end of that time started to get a little dry, so I would recommend adding a little more hot liquid before serving if you do. It also will start to turn a little less white as time goes on, so personally, I plan on keeping on "warm" just until serving, but not keeping it on warm for hours.
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Hi! Just what I’m looking for. Slow cooker mashed potatoes! I will make this. I will use a combination of yukon gold and russet. I know russet cooks fast, but I think I’ll get away with it since it’s all going to get mashed anyway. My son tolerates butter as well, but I am certainly intrigued by the use of a mild olive oil. I am a little worried about combining olive oil and coconut milk, though. Have you tried this combination? Even mild olive oil has an olive oil like taste. And yes, there are some coconut haters out there. Crazy, huh? Thanks for putting this up. Just perfect timing for Thanksgiving. 🙂
That’s an interesting question! I wonder if almond milk would be safer to use with the olive oil? I haven’t tried mixing the two (olive oil and coconut) yet myself.
I have been cooking for 2 years dairy and wheat free. Coconut milk and olive oil work fine together, though I have found certified dairy free clarified butter (ghee) that works for us.
For extra flavour and presentation….swirl in mashed pumpkin just before serving.
The potatoes have brown spots on them while cooking. Looking nasty. Thankfully I have another 5lb bag to take the more traditional route.
I made these for Thanksgiving the other day. They were full of flavor. But they didn’t cook in time and I had to put them on the stove for about 10min. They weren’t the prettiest mashed potatoes either. They also came out very starchy and hardened up quickly in the crockpot. Will I make them again? Possibly but I’ll cook them on high instead of low for so long.