I love taking a classic comfort dish and turning it into a healthy superfood that you don’t feel guilty about eating. My mashed potato loving husband can’t get enough of my Garlic Smashed Sweet Potatoes and Parsnips and I’m pretty sure you are going to love them as well!
Here is how I transformed this traditionally fat-laden side into a flavorful and nutritious dish:
How to make mashed potatoes healthy
Swap White Potatoes for Sweet Potatoes
By making this simple swap, your blood sugar will spike by 30% less! You also gain the nutritional benefits of sweet potatoes including a whole host of vitamins and dietary fiber.
Add Parsnips for flavor
Not only are parsnips full of flavor, but they contain a variety of B vitamins, minerals, potassium, and dietary fiber.
Use garlic instead of butter:
Instead of relying on sticks of butter for flavor, roasted garlic adds a sweet and caramelized taste to the dish without a lot of extra calories. And of course, we all know that garlic fights cancer, prevents diabetes and reduces your risk of heart disease. But really, it just tastes fantastic.
Swap sour cream with Greek Yogurt
Loaded in protein and calcium, this thick and creamy ingredient is the perfect substitute for sour cream without all of the cholesterol and saturated fat.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Do I have to use low-fat yogurt?
No. It will be just as delicious with full fat
Enough said. Your fork is waiting.
Garlic Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Parsnips
Ingredients
- 1 head garlic
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 3 parsnips (peeled and cut into 3 inch pieces)
- 2 sweet potatoes (peeled and cut into 3 in pieces)
- ⅔ cup plain Greek yogurt
- ½ cup milk
- 2 tablespoons butter (unsalted)
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
- To roast garlic, use a sharp knife to slice off the top of the bulb to expose the top of each clove. (Hold it at the base/stem which keeps everything together.) Place garlic head on a piece of tin foil and drizzle with olive oil and a pinch of kosher salt. Wrap foil on top of garlic and pinch to close. Roast in oven for 30 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- Meanwhile, place peeled parsnips and sweet potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil then simmer for 15-20 minutes or until fork tender. Strain and add back to warm pot.
- Use a potato smasher to start mashing the parsnips and potatoes. Add yogurt, milk, butter and continue mashing.
- Push out the roasted garlic from the cloves and add to pot; mash to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm.
Could make this the night before and reheat on Thanksgiving?
Yes absolutely!!
This does look healthy for the most part and yummy. But skip the fat free and make it whole fat. Read up! Fat is healthy! Fat doesn’t make you fat. It’s hard to understand that but healthy whole food fat is needed for the body on a cellular level. Fat is where most of the vitamins are found in foods. It give you energy, strengthens your brain power, gives you healthy skin and bones, and makes you feel full. Many studies now have proven even saturated fat is actually very very good for you. So good that they sell butter oil supplements because it’s hard to consume as much as your body could use of fat soluble vitamins. Vitamin k2 is primarily found in grass fed animal fats and is an extremely important vitamin most Americans are depleted in. You can learn more about this recently more understood vitamin k2 and many other important nutritional information at the Weston price foundation. He studied why native and aboriginal people with out dental care had perfect teeth compared to modern city people. Vitamin k2 is in charge of distributing calcium in your body and was one of the many nutrients contributing to there health and especially perfect teeth free from cavities.
Studies show that fat is not what makes you fat and even shows a low fat diet can actually be unhealthy and make you gain weight. I can see where people think fat might give us fat on our bodies but it doesn’t. Sugar and carbs make us fat. Bad fats like vegetable oil, corn oil, hydrogenated oils give us cancer. But good old wholesome fats that are in the plants and animals the way nature made them are NOT bad for your health.
Hi Carolyn – I agree completely! This post was written 7 years ago in 2011 if you can believe it. :) Feel free to use whichever type you prefer!