These vegan almond milk mashed potatoes require just 15 minutes of hands on time and are completely fool proof! All you’ll need is 7 ingredients and you’ll have the creamiest potatoes. Instant Pot and stovetop instructions below.
I’ve made this recipe several times and it never fails!
If you have an Instant Pot, I highly recommend using it to make these mashed potatoes. It’s far easier (no potato chopping) and you can walk away from the pot while it cooks without worrying about overcooking the potatoes!
In this post, I am going to discuss how to make these potatoes in the Instant Pot, but I will give full instructions for stovetop method in the recipe card.
Why This Recipe Works
Gold potatoes are naturally so creamy and buttery in texture and have a soft skin that doesn’t need to be peeled before cooking. They are the PERFECT potatoes for mashed potatoes and do not require heavy dairy milks to make them creamy. I won’t make them any other way now.
I have tried this recipe with russet potatoes, and it does work, however russet potatoes are usually a lot larger and contain more starch and will take longer to cook.
Gold potatoes are the way to go here.
Ingredients and Substitutions
All you need is 7 simple ingredients.
- Gold potatoes – the star of the show. I don’t recommend using any other potato.
- Water – for steaming!
- Cashew sour cream – I love adding this to my mashed potatoes to make them extra creamy, but you can substitute in any store bought vegan sour cream or skip it entirely.
- Almond milk – Makes our mashed potatoes creamy without the need for heavy dairy milks or added cholesterol. If you skip the sour cream, add an additional few splashes of almond milk to keep your potatoes creamy!
- Salted vegan butter – Helps add fat and makes these mashed potatoes so savory!
- Garlic powder – If you love garlic mashed potatoes, don’t skip this! I love the flavor this gives it. If you prefer a more plain mashed potatoes, you can skip it!
- Salt – to taste and preference.
Step by Step Instructions
As mentioned above, the step by step instructions here are for the Instant Pot method, but full instructions for the stovetop are down below in the recipe card.
- The first, and optional step is peeling the potatoes. I skip this 9/10 times because the skin on gold potatoes is so thin and mashes very easily into the potatoes.
The skin also contains additional nutrients and fiber!
If you prefer extremely smooth mashed potatoes with no bits of skin, I recommend peeling them.
- Next, add the trivet and 1 cup of water to the Instant Pot.
It is important to make sure you add the trivet to the bottom of the Instant Pot so the potatoes do not sit in the water at the bottom of the pot.
If they sit in the water, they may get too soft and over cook.
- Add the potatoes and the lid and cook the potatoes on manual high pressure for 12 minutes with a 10 minute natural release. Make sure the valve is set to SEAL to insure the pot will come to pressure correctly.
In total, the potatoes will be in the pot for 32 minutes (it takes the pot about 10 minutes to come up to pressure).
- After a 10 minute natural release, release the rest of the pressure and carefully drain any excess water at the bottom of the pot.
- Add the cashew sour cream, almond milk, vegan butter, garlic powder, and salt and mash the potatoes until smooth and creamy!
FAQS
Yes! If you are out of milk or prefer to use water, you can! I would recommend not draining the excess water out of the Instant Pot and just mashing it directly into the potatoes! Simple and easy.
You can use any dairy-free milk like almond milk or even full fat canned coconut milk to make them extra creamy!
Yes! You can absolutely skip the vegan butter. If you do, you may find you want to increase the salt this recipe calls for as vegan butters are salted.
This is a result of over mashing the potatoes. Mash them just enough until creamy and stop there. Don’t use an immersion blender or stand mixer – the potatoes will certainly be overworked.
Yes, you can make these potatoes up to 48 hours in advance. If making them ahead of time, wait to add the butter until after reheating and right before serving. This will help them feel fresh!
Expert Tips
- Do not over mash the potatoes! Mash them using a large fork, potato masher or potato ricer until just mashed. If you continue to mash they will get gluey and sticky.
- Use room temperature cashew sour cream, almond milk and butter. When these ingredients are warmer, they meld with the potatoes much better than very cold and straight from the fridge. I recommend leaving them on the counter while the potatoes cook to warm up!
- Double the batch for larger gatherings. The great thing about the Instant Pot is you can double this recipe without increasing the cook time! Perfect for holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Additional Vegan Side Dishes to Try
- Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup
- Vegan Jalapeño Cornbread with Maple Butter
- Instant Pot Vegan Collard Greens
- Vegan Cheesy Garlic Bread (Pull Apart Bread!)
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Almond Milk Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 3 pounds gold potatoes
- ¼ cup vegan butter - room temperature
- 1 cup cashew sour cream - room temperature
- ¼ cup unsweetened plant-based milk - room temperature
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp garlic powder
Instructions
Instant Pot Instructions
- Remove the cashew sour cream, almond milk and vegan butter from refrigerator so it can come to room temperature while potatoes cook.
- Rinse the gold potatoes well and peel, if desired.
- Place the trivet in the bottom of the Instant Pot and add in 1 cup of water (for steaming).
- Place all of the gold potatoes on top of the trivet in the Instant Pot.
- Twist on the lid and set the valve on the lid to SEAL. Cook on manual high pressure for 12 minutes.
- After the instant pot has naturally released pressure for 10 minutes (the screen should read L10), manually release the rest of the pressure and remove lid.
- Carefully drain the remaining water out of the bottom of the Instant Pot and remove the trivet.
- Add in the vegan butter, almond milk, cashew sour cream, salt and garlic powder and mash with a large fork, potato masher or potato ricer until just mashed. Do not over mash the potatoes or they will become gluey and sticky.
- Add additional salt to taste. Serve immediately.
- Storage: Allow to cool completely, then store in an airtight container in the refriferator for up to 3-5 days.
Stovetop Instructions
- Remove the cashew sour cream, almond milk and vegan butter from refrigerator so it can come to room temperature while potatoes cook.
- Rinse the gold potatoes well and peel, if desired.
- Chop the potatoes into quarters.
- Add potatoes to a large pot and cover completely with cold water.
- Cover the pot with the lid and bring the potatoes to a boil over medium heat. Cook the potatoes until they are easily pierced with a fork without resistance, about 12-15 minutes.
- Once soft, drain the excess water out of the pot and mash the potatoes directly in the pot with the vegan butter, almond milk, cashew sour cream, salt and garlic powder with a large fork, potato masher or potato ricer until just mashed. Do not over mash the potatoes or they will become gluey and sticky.
- Add additional salt to taste. Serve immediately.
- Storage: Allow to cool completely, then store in an airtight container in the refriferator for up to 3-5 days.
Recipe Notes
- If you prefer to make these with water instead of almond milk, do not drain the excess water out of the Instant Pot and just mash it directly into the potatoes. If using stovetop method, reserve ¾ cup boiling water for mashing potatoes before draining.
- How to make ahead: You can prepare these potatoes 48 hours in advance. Just make the recipe as written, but reserve the vegan butter until serving. Reheat on stovetop or in microwave and mash in vegan butter just before serving.
- Making potatoes oil free: Use an additional ¼ cup cashew sour cream instead of butter to make oil free.
- Making without cashew sour cream: Without the sour cream the potatoes will be less creamy but you can add an additional 1 cup of water or almond milk instead.
- How to make the potatoes even creamier: Use full fat coconut milk from a can instead of almond milk.
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Nutrition
Disclaimer: The Nutritional Information provided for this recipe is only an estimate. The accuracy of the facts listed is not and cannot be guaranteed.
I’ve never made mashed potatoes in my instant pot before but that’s the only way I’ll make them going forward because this was beyond easy!! I also made your cashew sour cream recipe to add to the mashed potatoes and can’t wait to use it to top the oven baked tacos!! Great recipes, thanks so much for sharing them with us!!