Greek Yogurt Mashed Potatoes is an easy and deliciously creamy healthy mashed potatoes recipe you can make ahead. Learn about the best potatoes for mashing, how to add lots of flavour, and why I love to make mashed potatoes with skin on for an extra nutritious side dish!
Welcome to the potato party!
Friend, let me ask you a question—is there anything more comforting than a bowlful of mashed potatoes? Well, a bowlful of mashed potatoes smothered with our internet-famous Vegan Gravy of course, but that's just going from good to great.
I've taken what I learned about how to make the best mashed potatoes, and combined it with what I know about nutrition and food science to make this crazy delicious healthy mashed potatoes recipe.
These Greek Yogurt Mashed Potatoes? Yes. They are as good as they are good for you. Here's the deal: we're going to replace all of the cream and most of the butter you'd typically find in mashed potatoes with Greek yogurt and a bit of vegetable broth. We're actually going to cook the potatoes in the broth, which adds flavor before we've even started mashing.
Trust me on this one. You need these healthier mashed potatoes in your life/face/belly. Leftover mashed potatoes (is that even a thing?!) can be used in this super moist vegetarian mashed potato stuffing or these crispy chickpea and potato fritters. Trust me on this one. You need these healthier mashed potatoes in your life/face/belly.
Step 1: gather up your ingredients!
You're going to need some nice waxy potatoes, Greek yogurt, vegetable broth, a bit of butter, and some fresh chives are optional, but delicious.
What are the best potatoes for mashing?
Excellent question! While many people think that a floury potato varietal like Russet are the best potatoes for mashing, when I'm making healthy mashed potatoes I prefer to use a waxy varietal like Yukon Gold.
Why? The drier, fluffier Russet potatoes will soak up a TON of liquid, and you keep having to add more butter and more cream to get that perfect mashed potato texture. Waxy potatoes like Yukon Gold not only have a great, buttery flavour to begin with, they require less liquid and fat to be added to the mash.
Step 2: chop, boil, and drain
Dice up your potatoes and add them to a pot with the vegetable broth. The broth won't cover the potatoes, but that's ok. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until the potatoes are fork-tender.
Step 2: Drain the potatoes, but (this is important!) make sure you RESERVE THE BROTH.
Step 3: smash and mash!
Now it's time to mash 'em up! I use an old-school potato masher because I like to make mashed potatoes with the skin on them. More on that below!
Once mashed, add the butter, Greek yogurt, and salt and pepper to taste. If your mashed potatoes are on the dry side, add a little bit of the reserved broth. It's full of flavor and nice and thick with potato starch, so it's the perfect thing to mix in.
Top your potatoes with chives, green onions, or whatever else you're into, and serve!ini. Sauté for 3-5 minutes more, or until the vegetables are heated through. Add the corn, stir in the salt and spices, and remove the pan from the heat.
Should I leave the skin on mashed potatoes?
This is a matter of personal preference, but when it comes to making healthy mashed potatoes, I am firmly on team skin. When you make mashed potatoes with skin, you leave a ton of nutrients in the dish, as much of a potato's nutrition is concentrated in the skin.
Leaving the skin on also significantly increases the dietary fiber, which is good for your gut. Also, I am lazy and seriously can not be bothered to peel a bunch of potatoes that are just gonna get mashed up. You do what you will.
Seriously, The Best Greek Yogurt Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- ½ cup full-fat Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives or green onion
- Sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Place the diced potatoes in a pot with the broth. Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce to a simmer, and steam for about 15 minutes, or until potatoes are fork tender.
- Drain, and reserve the remaining broth.
- Transfer the potatoes to a large bowl. Roughly mash the potatoes using a potato masher.
- Add the butter, Greek yogurt, and chives. If the potatoes seem dry, you can add the reserved vegetable broth a couple of tablespoons at a time.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.
Notes
- Nutrition values are an estimate only.
- If you're making the mashed potatoes in advance, reserve the cooking broth to add when reheating so they don't dry out.
- Can I make mashed potatoes in advance? You bet you can! Simply re-heat in the microwave or in the oven. If they seem a bit dry on re-heating, you can add a little bit of your reserved vegetable broth back in. See? Moisture AND flavour. Boom!
- What kind of yogurt is best for mashed potatoes? Please go and find yourself some full-fat Greek Yogurt or other Balkan style yogurt for these healthy mashed potatoes. Remember that we're replacing a ton of butter and cream here, and a full-fat yogurt is going to result in much more delicious mashed potatoes than low-fat or fat-free.
Gina says
I made these and loved them! I was looking for a way to make mashed potatoes healthier. My husband is not a huge fan of mashed potatoes, but he even said they were amazing and ate them again the next day. I made this recipe exactly as written. So good I’m making them again tonight!
Katie Trant says
Hey Gina! So happy to hear you enjoyed these as much as we do. It's my favourite mashed potato recipe for sure.
Lori says
OMG!!!!! These mashed potatoes are so incredibly good! I never comment on recipes but like I said...OMG!! I would actually prefer these to regular mashed potatoes because they have more flavor.
I haven't been making mashed potatoes since my husband changed his diet to low fat for health reasons. But I decided to try these because we both love them. I used NONFAT Chobani yogurt and just a little butter and all the broth and they are delicious! I also added garlic powder and lots of green onions. Yummmm
Katie Trant says
Hey Lori! So glad you loved these mashed potatoes as much as I do! Regular mashed potatoes just don't cut it anymore, these have so much flavour.
Charlotte says
I loved this recipe - so nice to use up things in the house, and in such an easy and tasty way.
Frances says
This was our New years day potato--did in pressure cooker two pounds yellow potato just cut in half with the chicken broth on bottom and potato in steamer. Took about 9-10 minutes. Didn't add butter to whole thing--just can do individually to save calories. Saved chicken broth to use to loosen them up when we have them again. Used some seasoned Penzey Justice pepper blend and a bit of salt. Great recipe. Thank you.
Emily says
Amazing! So good. We have soooo many potatoes at the moment, what a relief to find a quick and tasty way to use them up.
Claire says
HOLY MOTHER OF MASHED POTATOES! Why aren't there literally 1 million comments on here about how good these are? I made these to top your Lentil Shepherd's Pie, which I will comment on separately. For now, let's focus on these beautiful taters.
These mashed potatoes are the creamy, delectable potatoes of my dreams. The broth method is genius. The broth concentrates and mixes with the potato starch so wonderfully; it almost becomes like gravy. I used a little over half my reserved broth then stirred a little into leftovers as needed. Listen to Katie, SAVE THE BROTH!
I can't believe I only put 5 Tbsp of butter into 5 lbs of potatoes. I also used non-fat greek yogurt (that's the only kind we ever have) and they were still so amazing. I thought I might have to add some more butter or olive oil, but no. They were perfect. I love the skin on for the texture, the flavor, the extra nutrition, and because like you I am lazy and ain't nobody got time to peel 5 lbs of potatoes.
I gave some leftovers to a pregnant, very nauseous friend who gobbled them up. They were the biggest meal she had been able to eat in several days and they made here feel like a person again. You hear that? These potatoes will give you life!
sustainable cooks - sarah says
So good and creamy it was hard to believe there wasn't a crap ton of butter in these!