The Best Vegan Milk To Choose For Creamy Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Everybody loves mashed potatoes — even vegans. Some might even argue they're the best thing on the Thanksgiving table, and by using the absolute best ingredients and taking the necessary steps to actually pull them together, no one will be able to tell if they were made with dairy-free milk and butter. But, if you're mashing sweet potatoes, you're going to have to choose the right milk alternative to pull them off: coconut milk.

Coconut might not sound like a flavor you look for in your mashed potatoes, especially classic ones. But, sweet potatoes are a little different because they're sweet and the coconut actually complements them nicely. Plus, most of the coconut taste gets overpowered by other ingredients and seasonings, especially if you use a carton variety over a canned one. It's really more about the texture.

Coconut milk is the absolute best vegan milk to choose for mashed sweet potatoes because it's full of fat. Warmed and melted with your vegan butter, your sweet potatoes will mash up just like your mom's did — without any of the usual dairy. Just like with regular mashed potatoes, when it comes to picking an alternative milk, the creamier the better. With that in mind, always opt for the full-fat variety if you can.

People avoid using coconut milk as an alternative because of their fears about the potentially inherited coconut flavor it will bring to recipes, which is understandable. It doesn't go with everything, and it can definitely throw off a dish if it isn't paired with the right seasonings — your vegan sweet potato mash included. Fortunately, the sweet potatoes already have a sweet flavor to complement the nutty, and almost tropical taste of the coconut milk. Still, you'll want to be intentional with the rest of your ingredients.

Most potato mashes call for a healthy amount of salt. You'll definitely want to include some element of saltiness into your sweet potato mash along with your coconut milk, just to avoid it coming across like a dessert (unless that's what you're going for, of course). But it's also important to give them some dimension. For that, a tablespoon or two of white miso paste will do just the trick. To complement that umami and give it even more flavor depth, you can never go wrong with garlic, as is shown in our garlic-mashed sweet potatoes recipe.

Crushed, scooped, and stirred into your mashed sweet potatoes, your dish shouldn't taste anything like coconut. But, if you're mixing and you feel like you need a bit more milk, you can stir in something more neutral tasting after they've been mashed, such as full-fat oat milk. Then, garnish with parsley, scallions, and even more of your favorite vegan butter, and serve.