Wasabi Mashed Potatoes
Wasabi mashed potatoes add a gently spicy, Japanese-inspired twist to a classic American side dish. Vegan, gluten-free, and make-ahead friendly.
Servings: 4
Calories: 101kcal
Ingredients
- 2 pounds (900 grams) Yukon Gold potatoes
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon fine sea salt divided
- 12 cloves garlic
- ¼ cup (60 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon wasabi powder prepared with water according to package OR
- 2 tablespoons wasabi paste
Instructions
- Fill a medium pot halfway with cold water. Stir in the tablespoon fine sea salt.
- Peel potatoes and cut into 1-inch pieces, adding to the pot as you go.
- Bring water to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer, uncovered, until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.
- Scoop out and reserve 1 cup of cooking water, then drain potatoes and return to pot.
- Meanwhile, peel garlic, smash cloves with the side of a chef’s knife, and mince.
- In a small pot over medium-low heat, simmer garlic in olive oil for a few minutes without browning.
- Off the heat, stir wasabi paste into oil.
- Mash potatoes until smooth.
- Pour in garlic wasabi olive oil, along with some of the reserved cooking water to loosen the consistency to your liking. Stir until creamy.
- Taste and adjust for salt and wasabi.
Notes
- Pure wasabi powder is washed, cut, and dried wasabi (Japanese horseradish). To use it, mix with a bit of water to form a paste, according to the instructions on the package. Many of the wasabi powders sold in the U.S. are made from a combination of wasabi, horseradish, and mustard seed. They taste a little bit different from pure wasabi powder, but either version is okay here.
- Wasabi paste comes in a tube and is ready to use. It tends to contain additional ingredients like oil, sugar, and starches.
- Yukon Gold potatoes or a similar gold-fleshed potato variety have just the right ratio of creaminess to waxiness to starch to yield unfussy mashed potatoes that everyone will love.
- Made with the quantities listed in the recipe card, these potatoes have a gentle, complex heat that won't overwhelm. If you like things really spicy, you can add as much more wasabi as you prefer.
- Contrary to what you may have heard, it's perfectly fine to make mashed potatoes in advance. The starches will relax a bit as mashed potatoes sit, and this is a perfectly good thing. If you've used a heavy pot, you can pop a lid on it and expect the potatoes to stay hot for quite a while as you finish up other tasks. If not, you can easily reheat mashed potatoes in the microwave. We love our good old Corningware lidded casserole for this purpose, but really any microwave-safe serving bowl will do.
- Leftovers will keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for a week and can be reheated per the microwave instructions above.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 | Calories: 101kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 539mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g