This easy carrot and swede mash with garlic butter is a lighter alternative to mashed potato but tastes delicious!
A creamy mash swirled with garlic butter is comfort food heaven, served with vegan sausages and gravy, or topping a rich shepherds pie. And whether you're trying to cut down on starchy carbs, or trying to increase your five-a-day vegetable intake, this deliciously creamy carrot and swede mash is for you!
Both carrots and swedes are incredibly cheap, and also packed with nutrients. Once you've tried this buttery mash it will become a regular weeknight staple. Why not make a big batch in one go, and freeze individual portions for speedy weeknight suppers?
This creamy mash contains almost half the calories and half the carbohydrates that an equivalent made with the same quantity of potatoes would contain, but is still creamy, garlicky and delicious. What's not to love?!
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🥕 How to serve your mash
This creamy mash is incredibly versatile, you can use it in all the same ways as you would mashed potato. How about:
- With vegan sausages and gravy A regular family dinner in our house, with some lovely vegan sausages (Richmond, Naked Glory or Sainsbury's 'Shroomdogs' are all firm family favourites), and a rich mushroom and onion gravy.
- Topping a Vegan Shepherds Pie - you could even turn it into 'colcannon' to top my Vegan Cottage Pie with Colcannon Mash - just sub in the carrot and swede mash for the potato. If you're planning to pipe it into pretty swirls, just make sure you have made it thick enough - keep it cooking for a few extra minutes to get rid of more moisture.
- Serve alongside a Vegan Sausage Casserole to add some vegetable goodness
- Or try it with my Mushroom Bourguignon - the rich red with gravy is a great pair with this creamy garlic mash.
How will you serve yours?
📝 What you need
Ingredients
Carrots are incredibly cheap and very good for you, so a perfect base for this creamy mash. This is a great way to use up surplus carrots, if you've grown too many in your veg patch or have a load in your veg box. The mash freezes well too so make as much as you can.
Swede (or Rutabaga) is an under-rated vegetable from the turnip family. Whilst it smells quite strongly whilst cooking, it actually has a very mild flavour, so is perfect for bulking out this mash, and taking on the flavour of the garlic butter.
Vegan 'butter' Use a good quality block margarine (rather than a tub of spread) as it has a lower water content which will make a creamier mash. I like Flora Plant Butter or Naturli Block, which both have a very buttery flavour.
Dairy-free cream adds a richness to the mash, but you can use plant milk if you prefer. Use an unsweetened cream - Elmlea Plant Double Cream is ideal.
Garlic It is up to you whether you use a freshly peeled and crushed garlic clove or ready-chopped garlic from a tube or jar.
Equipment
A stick blender is the easiest way to blitz your carrot and swede mash to a smooth and silky purée. No pouring into a blender, just stick it in the pan and blitz. Mine is by Dualit and has served me well for many years, but any good quality stick blender will do the job well.
You can of course mash it by hand with a standard potato masher, but you will never achieve that smooth consistency of a restaurant-standard mash without a blender.
👩🏽🍳 Variations
You can use this basic mash recipe to take on all sorts of other flavours:
- Nutmeg is a simple but delicious addition - just grate through when you add the cream at the end of cooking.
- Orange works really well with the carrot and swede - use grated orange zest instead of (or as well as) the garlic in the butter, and a splash of orange juice instead of the cream.
- Curry spices I've made this to serve alongside curried chickpeas, and stirred 1 tbsp of korma curry paste through the butter at the same time as the garlic. It was really delicious!
- Herbs This would be delicious with lots of fresh herbs stirred through - parsley or coriander would be a good match with the carrot.
- Coconut milk would be a delicious addition in place of the cream in the recipe - you may need to add 3-4 tbsp for the flavour to really come through.
❄️ Freezing
This mash freezes really well, so whilst you're at it you can make up a double (or triple!) batch and freeze portions for another day.
You can defrost and reheat in the microwave or on the hob. Freezing may slightly affect the consistency, so check before serving and cook for a little longer to remove more water if it is a little sloppy, or add a splash of plant milk or cream if it is too thick.
🔪 What else can I use to make lower-carb mash?
For those who are choosing to avoid white potatoes, there are lots of alternatives that you can use to make a creamy mash with fewer starchy carbs.
Use the same basic recipe below to make mash (or purée) out of:
- Cauliflower (see my Cauliflower Mash recipe)
- Butternut Squash
- Celeriac
- Turnips
- Broccoli
- Parsnips
- Sweet Potato
Which will you try first?!
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📖 Recipe
Carrot & Swede Mash
Ingredients
- 500 g carrots
- 1 swede
- 25 g vegan 'butter' (block margarine)
- 20 ml dairy-free cream or milk
- 1 garlic clove or 1 tsp ready-chopped garlic
- salt and black pepper
Instructions
- Peel and chop the carrots and swede into chunks.
- Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and cook the carrot and swede for 20-25 minutes until they are both tender. Drain well and tip into a bowl or jug.
- Use a hand blender (or food processor) to blitz the carrot and swede to a very smooth purée.
- Back in the saucepan, add the vegan butter and peeled and crushed garlic clove. Cook gently for 1-2 minutes until the butter is melted and the garlic has softened, (but don't let it brown or it will turn bitter).
- Stir the puréed carrot and swede through the garlic butter, add the vegan cream, salt and black pepper and cook gently, stirring constantly. Keep cooking until the mash has thickened to the right consistency. Taste and adjust seasoning as required.
Video
Nutrition
I'm linking this post with the CookBlogShare challenge, hosted this week by Kate at Gluten Free Alchemist.
Love swede and carrot mash - so underrated! Thanks for this recipe, will definitely be trying
I am always looking for ways to keep our side dishes new and exciting, and this recipe is just the way to do it! Thanks for sharing!
My hubby and son are going to be all over this recipe! So excited to give this a try today! Looks so tasty and so delicious! Such a great way to eat veggies!
I have everything I need for this dish, can’t wait to make it this weekend!
What a great way to eat more vegetables. It looks like a really comforting mash.
I love non-potato mash... Lighter, sweeter and always a beautiful colour. We often use sweet potato, swede or butternut squash, but I have never tried carrot. It sounds perfect!
Thanks you for sharing with #CookBlogShare
I love carrot and swede mash, it's such a great light alternative to potato. The additional of garlic butter makes this dish even more delicious.