Purple Mashed Potatoes: More Nutritious & Delicious!

Maybe you’re here for a great vegan mashed potatoes recipe. Or, maybe the fact that our potatoes are naturally purple caught your eye.

Either way, this dish is not only way cooler to look at but also loads more nutritious than regular mashed potatoes!

Purple sweet potatoes can be found in either your local health food store or a nearby Asian grocery store. There are actually three varieties you might see:

1. The kind which is purple on the outside and the inside.  I’ve seen these in health food stores, and they’re called Stokes Purple ® Sweet Potatoes.  These are similar in taste to orange sweet potatoes.

2. There’s also the ube, which is a slightly darker looking tuber with an inside that’s a bit paler in color.  These are used in Filipino dishes.  You very rarely will see these in stores.

3. The kind which is WHITE on the outside and people on the inside (more common in Asian grocery stores).  These are Okinawa purple yams, and people went crazy about them as a superfood a number of years back (and for good reason!).  High in vitamins A and calcium, they’re a great source of fiber and anthocyanins as well (Livestrong).  They are starchier and more similar to traditional potatoes – and that’s what I made my purple mashed potatoes with here at home.

Still confused?  Learn more than you might ever want to about classifying purple potatoes here:

No variety will be *wrong* for this, but Okinawa purple yams are the intended variety. Again, all could work, but with slightly different taste results.

Ingredients

• 6 c Okinawa purple yams, cut into 1″ pieces
• 1 c coconut milk beverage (or other milk of your choice)
• 1 TBS avocado oil
• 1 TBS garlic
• 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

• Wash the potatoes thoroughly. You can peel then if you want, but I prefer not to since the potato skins are fairly nutritious!
• Cut the potatoes into 1″ pieces.
• Boil or steam the potatoes until the they are soft enough to stick a fork through easily (about 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of your potato pieces).
• Drain any water from the potatoes and place into food processor
• Add remaining ingredients.
• Pulse the food processor until potatoes are smooth. Depending on the unit you have, you may need to stop it a few times and push the mixture back down with a spoon. You can add a tiny but of hot water if you *really* need more water to blend, but try and keep this minimal. (Hot water because it will evaporate back out faster)
• That’s it! Your gorgeous purple mashed potatoes are now ready to serve!