Healthy Mashed Sweet Potatoes Recipe (2024)

Published: Oct 30, 2011 · Modified: Mar 18, 2022 by Sally Cameron · This post may contain affiliate links · 17 Comments

Skip the marshmallows, brown sugar or maple syrup. Healthy mashed sweet potatoes make a terrific easy side dish. Simply simmer until tender, drain, mash and add a little butter or olive oil with fresh chopped rosemary. Sweet potatoes are a powerhouse root vegetable packed with flavor and nutrition so enjoy them year round.

Don't you love simple recipes? This is easy as peel, chop, simmer and whip. Whipping softly cooked sweet potatoes makes this dish creamy without cream, but you can certainly add some warmed heavy cream or half and half for a holiday indulgence.

Why You'll Like This Recipe

• Simple ingredients.
• Simple method.
• Great flavor.

Recipe Ingredients

• Sweet potatoes: Go for the orange fleshed sweet potatoes.
• Fat: Use either unsalted butter, plant butter, or extra virgin olive oil for no dairy and vegan.
• Herbs: Fresh chopped fresh rosemaryor fresh thyme.
• Garnish: Chopped toasted pecans, toasted or raw, are terrific, but optional.

Recipe Instructions

Step 1: Peel potatoes and cut into cubes.

Step 2: Place them in a large pot and cover them with cold water. Add a little salt and bring them to a simmer. Cook until the potatoes are very soft when pierced with a sharp knife tip. With the small size of the cubes, it won’t take long, about ten minutes.

Step 3: Drain, allow potatoes to steam dry for a few minutes in the hot pan, then whip with an electric hand mixer until creamy and smooth. Add a little butter or olive oil and rosemary. Sage is nice too.

Season with salt and pepper and serve. If you’d like more of a garnish, chopped, toasted pecans work perfectly.

How to Cut Sweet Potatoes

Large, long and rounded with pointy ends, sweet potatoes can be a challenge to safely cut up for cooking. Here's how to handle them while staying safe:

• Cut them in half across the middle for a more manageable size
• Cut a slice off the long side to give you a flat edge
• Lay the sweet potato flat on your cutting board for stability
• Cut those pieces into long planks about a 1” wide
• Cut the planks into 1" pieces

See Also

Sweet Potato Hash - A Quick Easy Sweet Potato Hash RecipeBlack Bean Savory Cupcakes” with Whipped Sweet Potato Frosting RecipeEclectic Recipes Fast And Easy Family Dinner RecipesA Savory Mashed Sweet Potato Recipe

Sweet Potatoes or Yams?

Sweet potatoes or yams? While many people use the term interchangeably, sweet potatoes and yams are two different root vegetables. What we buy here in the US are really sweet potatoes, not yams, so I am told by grocers. True yams do not grow in the US. More starchy and less sweet, you might find them at an ethnic grocer.

Health Benefit of Sweet Potatoes

One of the oldest vegetables known to mankind, sweet potatoes are filled with magnesium, potassium, vitamin C, iron, copper and the antioxidant beta-carotene, not to mention fiber. Sweet potatoes are a healthy carb to add to your diet. Anything with this much color is good!

Prefer using an air fryer? Try these air fryer sweet potato cubes for another method.

Chef's tip: Tools. All you need is a large pot, a good peeler, and a hand electric mixer. The best peeler for not just sweet potatoes but any vegetable is those inexpensive y-peelers you can buy almost anywhere for about $4.

Serving Suggestions

Make mashed sweet potatoes a day or two ahead and refrigerate until the day of serving. Get them out of the refrigerator to get the chill off. Re-heat in the oven or on the stove top over low, stirring occasionally so they do not burn or stick on the bottom. They might need a little more milk or butter to loosen up.

Leftovers keep for up to 4 days.

📖 Recipe