These ultra-creamy and ultra-tasty Healthy Mashed Potatoes feature a surprise ingredient that makes them delicious every time!

This blog post was originally published on August 20, 2020. It was updated on September 2, 2021.

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Article summary:

In this blog post, we will be making healthy mashed potatoes. These creamy, light, and fluffy mashed potatoes are low in fat, high in nutrition, and made without any butter or oil! Read on for illustrated instructions, serving suggestions, recipe tips, and more.

To skip straight to the recipe, just click "Jump to Recipe" at the top left of this post. To browse the post quickly, just click the headings in the table of contents below.

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Luscious mashed potatoes don't need to be a fat bomb in order to be flavorful. This one-pot Mashed Potato recipe is ready in under 25 minutes, only takes four ingredients, and has less than 1 gram of fat per serving!

For someone who grew up not liking mashed potatoes, I sure seem to make them a lot.

For the holidays, for potlucks, family dinners, and more. Somehow they just keep sneaking onto the menu.

I used to gladly make them at family members and dinner guest's requests. After all, what is Thanksgiving or Christmas without a bowl of the creamy mash?

But lately, a tide has been turning: I've started making them because I like them too.

A big shift in this complicated relationship happened when I decided to start playing around with the potato ingredients. After all, who said that mashed potatoes have to have butter, milk, or sour cream.

And it's not even that I have anything against these ingredients -- because I definitely don't. But there was something about those ingredients in mashed potatoes that just didn't sit right with me. The mouthfeel? Possibly. How they tasted like baby food? A big part of it. That they left me feeling a bit of a food coma? 100%.

When I created my Twice Baked Mashed Potato Souffle last year, I first started dipping my toe in with new ingredients. With eggs, a touch of flour, shredded cheese, chives, leavening agents, and just a small amount of butter and milk, the souffle offered a crunch and creamy and light, yet substantial texture which I was surprised to find hard to get off my mind.

As much as I love that souffle, it can be a bit of an undertaking for weeknight dinners and more impromptu dinner parties. So, I decided I needed to go back to the drawing board to discover an essential mashed potato recipe I could also get behind.

And then one day, as fate would have it I was set off down another rabbit hole. The host of one of my blogging podcast briefly mentioned adding eggs to mashed potatoes. I was instantly a woman obsessed.

With just this goal to drive me, I started testing out multiple different ways to make mashed potatoes with eggs instead of butter.

I tested out the ratio of potatoes to eggs; discovered how much salt I needed to bring out the flavor of the potatoes; researched ways to keep mashed potatoes from getting too gluey; and used trial and error to land upon the perfect amount of garlic the recipe needed.

After all my calculations, I'm proud to say that I now have for you my new favorite mashed potato recipe that I actually and gladly eat at holiday meals, weeknight dinners, and dinner parties alike. A potato recipe that is by most considerations healthy (around 125 calories, 1 gram of fat, and 5 grams of protein per serving) and by popular consensus, delicious: my healthy mashed potatoes without butter!

This recipe is...

• Fluffy
• Creamy
• Light
• Savory
• Buttery (but without butter!)
• Garlicky

All of that in less than 25 minutes! I'm not sure it gets much better come dinner time!

Recipe ingredients

• Potatoes - Yukon gold or russet potatoes are the best. New potatoes are too waxy to mash successfully.
• Garlic
• Large Eggs - the secret ingredient in this recipe; eggs had luscious creaminess and flavor to these potatoes without adding excess fat and calories
• Salt - makes or breaks the flavor of mashed potatoes; not enough salt will leave the potatoes tasting lifeless so salt adequately.

How to make mashed potatoes healthier:

Here is how I made this recipe healthier:

• Removed the butter - butter adds saturated fat and extra calories to the dish, so we removed it and substituted in the eggs, which add in richness without the heaviness.
• Removed the dairy milk - we don't need dairy milk to make these potatoes creamy and luscious! Eggs add a light custard-like quality to these potatoes that give them an incredible mouthfeel.
• Used leaner seasonings - garlic just the right amount of salt add flavor without adding unnecessary fat or calories, helping us to not even miss traditional mashed potato recipes.

How to make healthy mashed potatoes:

1. Rinse the cubed potatoes with cold water in a colander.
2. Add the potatoes and garlic to a stockpot or Dutch oven and cover with cold water.
3. Simmer the potatoes until tender and easily pierced with a fork.
4. Drain the potatoes and remove a few or all of the garlic cloves, depending on taste.
5. Immediately move the potatoes to the cooking pot or a mixing bowl. Add the eggs and salt.
6. Mash or whip the potatoes until the eggs are thoroughly mixed in and the potatoes are your desired texture.

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Recipe pro-tips:

• Rinse the potatoes before boiling - a thorough, but quick rinse with cold water helps to remove the potato starch, ensuring that the end result is light and fluffy!
• Start the potatoes in cool water - this will help lock in the starch and keep the potatoes from getting gummy or tacky. So, cover the potatoes completely in cool water before bringing to a boil.
• Drain the potatoes well - I speak for all the mashed potato critics out there, soggy and wet mashed potatoes are just not good. So, do the world a favor and drain those potatoes well before whipping them up!
• Have the eggs cracked and ready to go - we want to add the eggs to the hot potatoes as soon as they're done draining. Having them accessible and ready to go makes this step that much easier.
• Salt the water adequately - just like pasta, salty water gives the potatoes the best flavor. Follow the recipe directions to salt the water sufficiently.
• Salt the potatoes - similarly, salt bring out the flavors of this dish and ties it all together, so don't be bashful about seasoning the potatoes before mashing. I recommend adding ¾ teaspoon salt to season these mashed potatoes.
• Removing the garlic cloves before mashing or whipping - the garlic in this recipe functions to add savoriness and dimension to the potatoes, more than garlic. To reach this effect, I recommend removing about half of the garlic before mashing or whipping. If you prefer garlicky potatoes, however, leave the garlic cloves in with the potatoes.
• A note about mashing vs. whipping - mashing the potatoes with a potato masher gives them a thicker and chunkier texture. Whipping them with a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment makes the potatoes light and fluffy. Mash or whip according to your preference.

A note on using raw eggs:

If you add the eggs immediately to the steaming hot drained potatoes, they should not be raw after the potatoes are mashed.

We're going to be making these mashed potatoes just like how you make pasta carbonara -- i.e. you toss the boiling hot pasta with eggs and cheese. The heat of the pasta and potatoes should cook the eggs without scrambling them.

If you are uncomfortable with this thought or cooking technique, however, check out another potato recipe like my Air Fryer Garlic Smashers or Easy Baked Home Fries.

Recipe FAQs:

Dietary adaptations:

This recipe is naturally gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegetarian. It's rich in carbs and whole foods.

Unfortunately, because the eggs are such a critical ingredient, these potatoes cannot be made vegan.

Serving suggestions:

These potatoes last covered in the refrigerator for 4-5 days. They do not freeze well.

Reheat each serving of the potatoes in the microwave for 1-2 minutes, at 50% heat, stirring halfway through reheating.

Tools needed to make this recipe:

• Cutting board
• Chef knife
• Measuring spoons
• Colander
• Dutch oven or stockpot
• Potato masher, handheld mixer, or stand mixer

More healthier side dish recipes:

• Mashed Butternut Squash
• Corn Soufflé
• Orange Salad with Honeyed Hazelnuts
• Mashed Potato Casserole
• Brown Rice Salad with Cranberries & Edamame
• Air Fryer Green Beans
• Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole
• Blistered Green Beans

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