One Pot 30 Minute Vegan Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

Learn how to make super easy one pot 30 minute vegan mashed potatoes and gravy from scratch.

One of the most requested recipes – vegan mashed potatoes and gravy. But not only are we giving you that, we are giving you 30 minute vegan mashed potatoes and gravy.

And by one of the most requested recipes, we mean in our house. But we also hope you all love it as well. In fact, we are sure you will.

Mashed potatoes are one of the most popular side dishes ever.

For some, it’s literally not a holiday meal unless there’s delicious mashed potatoes on the table.

It’s also one of the easiest comfort foods to make and, if you can perfect them (like we show you below), they can be the creamy and delicious mashed potatoes of your dreams.

No one will even notice these are vegan mashed potatoes. Trust us, we’ve served these to plenty of omnivores and they don’t even notice.

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ONE POT VEGAN MASHED POTATOES AND GRAVY INGREDIENTS:

Below are notes about the ingredients before we get into the full recipe located lower in this post on how to make the best vegan mashed potatoes recipe:

• Russet Potatoes – classic russets are what we use in our vegan mashed potatoes recipe
• Vegetable Broth – We love adding more flavor into the recipe by cooking the potatoes directly in vegetable broth instead of water. We then use that leftover stock to make our gravy. Some of the starch from the potatoes is left behind which results in a richer gravy in the end as well.
• Vegan Butter – mashed potatoes need vegan butter. The oil yields fat and richness that make the potatoes creamier and delicious.
• Non-Dairy Milk – creamier non-dairy milks work best, like soy, creamy oat, and cashew, but any unsweetened, unflavored non-dairy milk will work. We’d recommend avoiding coconut milk here (canned or carton) because of the taste affect.
• Salt and Pepper – these are really the only seasonings you need to make traditional mashed potatoes. One of the biggest mistakes in making mashed potatoes is not salting enough. Potatoes absorb far more salt than their other starch counterparts and because of that it may seems like you need a ridiculous amount of salt, but you likely need more than you think
• Flour – this is for making the gravy. We use traditional all-purpose flour for this recipe.

Substitutions and Variations:

• Potatoes – Yukon gold could also be used
• Vegetable Broth – You could use bouillon, homemade stock, or just water though using just water will omit some of the flavor
• Flour – a 1:1 gluten free flour blend would also work, as would chickpea flour. We don’t have other recommendations at this time. You may need more stock with the chickpea flour.

We don’t personally recommend omitting the vegan butter, non-dairy milk, salt or pepper from this recipe.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Best mashed potatoes mix-ins

There are a ton of different ways to make dairy free mashed potatoes, but here’s three delicious ideas. For all of them, make the original mashed potatoes as described above. Then, follow below as desired.

Garlic Vegan Mashed Potatoes

We love roasting garlic for mashed potatoes! You can roast or saute garlic and add as little or much as you want! Want a subtle taste – try 3-4 cloves of garlic. Want a super garlicky taste? Add the entire bulb of garlic. Note: we don’t recommend adding raw, uncooked garlic as it has a different taste.

Cheesy Vegan Mashed Potatoes

Once the original mashed potatoes are completed, add in 1 cup of dairy free shredded cheese that is meltable (we like Daiya Shredded Cheddar, specifically the cutting board blend) to warmed potatoes.

Stir gently until the cheese is mixed thoroughly. Top with ⅛ cup of chopped chives. 

Loaded Dairy Free Mashed Potatoes

To the original mashed potatoes recipe, add in 1 cup of dairy free shredded cheese that is meltable (we like Daiya Shredded Cheddar), ½ teaspoon of garlic powder, ½ cup crumbled bacon (use Lightlife bacon if vegan), ⅛ cup green onions, and ¼ cup vegan sour cream.

If you don’t have or can’t find vegan sour cream, you can add 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice to ¼ cup plain vegan yogurt and let sit for 5 minutes before adding as described above or even just swap with vegan cream cheese. 

Top with additional green onions and crumbled bacon as desired. 

Spinach and Artichoke Dairy Free Mashed Potatoes

To start this recipe, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet.  Add 1 cup uncooked spinach and ¾ cup chopped artichokes. Cook until spinach is wilted. Add in cooked ingredients to the original mashed potatoes recipe with 1 cup vegan parmesan cheese. 

If you do not have or can’t find vegan parmesan cheese, you can make your own homemade vegan parmesan cheese.

Tips for making the best vegan mashed potatoes without milk?

Just because you’re making mashed potatoes without milk or butter from a dairy cow, doesn’t mean that you can’t have perfectly creamy mashed potatoes.

We hope this answers all of the questions you have about perfecting these vegan mashed potatoes, but as always leave a comment if you have one we haven’t answered. 

• Only use Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes to make these dairy free mashed potatoes
• Potatoes are very bland. Cooking in vegetable broth yields a ton more flavor and this step shouldn’t be skipped. (Tip: Cook your rice in broth for more flavor too!)
• Don’t skimp on the salt! Potatoes need salt! They beg for it. 
• Don’t add salt to the pot.  I understand this is critical to making mashed potatoes when using water; however, the salt content in the broth is all you need. 
• Add your potatoes to a pot, then add the vegetable stock, then turn on the heat. Otherwise, you’ll end up with unevenly cooked potatoes.
• Add room temperature or warm butter and milk to your potatoes for best results 
• Process the potatoes as little as possible when mashing. We prefer using a potato masher, but smoother potatoes can be achieved if you use a mixer and we understand why you may want that. No matter which way you choose, do not over mash or over mix them. The more you do, the more you risk more starch being realized, which gives you gummy mashed potatoes.

How can I use leftover vegan mashed potatoes?

If you are anything like anyone in our household, then the answer is just off the spoon; however, if you’d like actual recipes for ways to use up leftover vegan mashed potatoes, then we have two fun ideas for you:

• Vegan Shepherd’s Pie
• Vegan Leftover Thanksgiving Pizza

What should I serve with Vegan Mashed Potatoes?

Again, they do well on their own with nothing else needed! But we get that you may want to make a full meal out of this! Here’s a few ideas:

• Vegan Fried Chicken
• Vegan “Honey” Garlic Tofu
• Mushroom Free Vegan Wellington
• Vegan Swedish Meatballs
• Cheesy Vegan Italian Meatballs
• Baked Tofu with Maple Blackberry Ginger Glaze

Pin this vegan mashed potatoes and gravy recipe for later: 

This post was originally written on 11/16/2020 and updated on 3/20/2022.