Easy Mashed Purple Sweet Potatoes with Roasted Parsnips
I love to cook with food that has bright, bold colors. A plate of all brown food is so unappetizing (and usually unhealthy). Nothing adds a pop of color like these mashed purple sweet potatoes with roasted parsnips and garlic. This recipe is vegan-friendly, but you could substitute real dairy products where I call for the vegan version.
I served these mashed purple sweet potatoes with roasted parsnips and garlic with seared scallops, micro arugula, toasted pine nuts, and a confit of asparagus and carrots. You can pair it with seafood as we did, or make this recipe to brighten up your Thanksgiving plate.
Purple Sweet Potatoes are very similar to regular yellow sweet potatoes, but their bold purple color makes a really beautiful presentation. They do tend to be a bit drier and starchier than yellow sweet potatoes, but the flavor is mild and delicious, and the color is all-natural. While there are more than one kind of purple sweet potato, I tend to find the Stokes variety by me. It’s grown in Central California and its skin has a purple hue. There are other purple potatoes that are purple on the inside, but the skin is white or beige. This variety is more common in Hawaii and the Philippines, but either one will work great for this recipe.
I combine the sweet potatoes with roasted parsnips. Doing this adds a unique flavor profile and complexity to the mash. I’ve done this with regular potatoes before and it works great for that, too. Parsnips are one of my favorite root vegetables, and in general, I think they’re under-utilized. When roasted, they become sweet and have just a hint of earthly goodness.
Mashed Purple Sweet Potatoes with Roasted Parsnips and Garlic
Equipment
- Mixing bowl
- Baking sheet
- food mill
Ingredients
- 2 purple sweet potatoes cut into 2-inch cubes
- 2 parsnips woody core removed, cut into 2-inch cubes
- 4 tbsp vegan butter
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 1/2 cup almond milk half and half
- 1/2 cup vegan cream cheese
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400. Remove the skin from the sweet potatoes and cube them into 2-inch pieces. Clean the parsnips, remove the inner woody core, and cube them into roughly the same size as the potatoes. Place both parsnips and sweet potatoes onto a baking sheet in a single layer, throw in a few garlic cloves for good measure, drizzle the whole thing with canola oil, and place into the oven for approximately 40 minutes. They should be soft and easily pierced with a fork.
- Alternatively, you could boil the potatoes and parsnips, but roasting them brings out a better, sweeter flavor.
- When they're done, remove the potatoes and parnsnips from the oven and use a ricer or food mill to puree the potatoes and parsnips into the mash. If you don’t have one of these devices, you could use a potato masher, but you won’t get the same consistency. I highly recommend a food mill. It produces the best consistency when making any kind of mashed potatoes.
- After everything has gone through the food mill, you want to add the vegan butter, almond milk, and vegan cream cheese. I don’t ever use precise measurements for this. I aim for getting the right consistency and the amount you use all depends on how big the potatoes and parsnips were. I’ll give you approximations, but you really have to use your judgement and add more or less as you see fit.
- Add approximately ½ cup milk, 4 Tbsp of vegan butter, and ½ cup of vegan cream cheese. I tend to increase the butter before the other two things, because even though it’s vegan butter, it’s still delicious! Add salt and pepper to season it to taste.
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