Vegan Mashed Sweet Potatoes

These vegan mashed sweet potatoes are made with oat milk and are sweet without being too sweet.

They are fluffy, creamy, and delicious with a variety of meals!

If you leave out the brown sugar, they are even healthy.

Mashed sweet potatoes can be sweet or savory. My dairy free mashed sweet potatoes are definitely sweet and kind of remind me of sweet potato casserole.

These mashed sweet potatoes call for oat milk, and while I always use a neutral flavored oat milk, I thought I’d aim for something a little less sweet.

I also wanted something simple like my mashed potatoes with white and sweet potatoes.

Personally, I find the idea of adding onions and garlic to sweet potatoes a little strange, so I didn’t take it that far.

My regular mashed potatoes with oat milk are delicious but have garlic and an option for buttermilk made from oat milk, so that probably wouldn’t translate to these sweet potatoes with oat milk either.

Instead, I made these mashed sweet potatoes more similar to my mashed potatoes with coconut milk, which are your classic styled mashed potatoes and taste just like the dairy kind.

However, if you want them a little sweeter, I do give the option of adding brown sugar.

If you like these vegan mashed sweet potatoes, you may also like my vegan mashed potatoes.

About Dairy Free Mashed Potatoes

While mashed potatoes don’t have to contain dairy, they almost always do.

Most mashed potato recipes include milk, buttermilk, cream, butter, sour cream, and/or cheese.

You can make mashed potatoes without milk by replacing it with another liquid such as almond milk, oat milk, coconut milk, reserved starchy water, regular water, chicken stock, or vegetable stock.

It doesn’t really make a difference if you use milk, water, or any other liquid because one isn’t necessarily better than the other.

To replace buttermilk in mashed potatoes, substitute it with dairy free buttermilk by using buttermilk made with oat milk or buttermilk made with almond milk.

To make mashed potatoes without butter, you need to substitute the fat in butter with another form of fat, like oil.

Mayonnaise is also a surprisingly good substitute for butter and sour cream in mashed potatoes.

How to make creamy mashed potatoes without milk?

Additions like dairy free milk, coconut cream, almond cooking milk, water, and mayonnaise can all help make something creamy without dairy.

What you use really depends on what you are making. With dairy free mashed potatoes, any of these options work.

Milk actually doesn’t make mashed potatoes super creamy. It mostly just adds liquid so that the potatoes aren’t dry.

It is the addition of fat that makes mashed potatoes and other dishes creamy.

This fat usually appears in the form of butter or sometimes cream cheese or even sour cream.

However, you can use other forms of fat, such as oil, to get that creaminess.

To make them extra creamy, add a little bit of mayonnaise, like I do in this recipe. You won’t taste the mayonnaise, but the mashed potatoes will be oh so creamy!

Choosing your Brand

I have tried a handful of oat milk brands and I can tell you, not all oat milks are created equal.

Some brands taste like oats and have the consistency of water. Other brands have a milder taste and are slightly reminiscent of milk. Oatly and Alpro are my two go-to brands.

When I visit New York, I really like Oatly, which I find to taste like regular milk and to be a little extra creamy. I’d assume this is true in Canada too.

In Israel, I only use the barista version of Oatly, which is still more watery than the regular Oatly in the States. I expect it is the same in Europe because that is where it is imported from.

For Israel and Europe, I find the Alpro oat milk indistinguishable from the Oatly Barista. However, the Alpro “Not Milk” oat milk I find to be almost identical to milk but a little sweeter – which I like.

Do I peel sweet potatoes before boiling?

Unlike many types of white potatoes, which can be boiled with the skin on and even mashed without removing the skin, sweet potatoes should be peeled before boiling.

WATER TEMPERATURE

Believe it or not, it’s best to begin cooking potatoes in cold water. It doesn’t have to be chilled, just the cold side from the tap.

While this may sound counterintuitive, cold water helps the potatoes cook more evenly.

How to Store  

Store the leftover mashed sweet potatoes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four days.

Reheat on the stove or in the microwave. 

How to Freeze Mashed Sweet Potatoes 

Allow the mashed sweet potatoes to cool completely, then transfer them to zip-top bags or other freezer-safe containers.

Freeze flat for up to six months. After six months, the mashed potatoes are still safe to eat, but the quality begins to degrade.

Thaw in the refrigerator.