By Lisa Esile, MS,
Potatoes are one of the most obliging vegetables: readily available, affordable, delicious, and healthy. If you haven't heard about the health benefits of whole-food carbs like potatoes, check out Why Starch Should Be at the Center of Your Plate. These 50 healthy potato recipes are simple to make and mostly use pantry staples. You'll find soups, salads, tacos, pizza, curries, mashed potatoes, and, of course, fries. A potato in the cupboard is a meal on the table!
Waffled Smashed Potatoes with Creamed Spinach
These scrumptious flour-free potato waffles are made using steamed potatoes mixed with plant milk, Dijon mustard, and paprika. The fun part comes when you spoon the seasoned potatoes into your waffle maker and slowly close the lid to smash the potatoes. Topped with creamed spinach, these crispy golden waffles make a comforting and deeply nourishing meal at any time of the day. Notes a commenter, “Thank you for a stellar recipe. Creamy and crispy textures are a treat.”
Potato-Spinach Casserole with Trumpet Mushrooms
In the mood for comfort food? This hearty potato, spinach, and mushroom casserole features a fingerlicking-good vegan cheese sauce that will please even the pickiest of eaters. Throw it all in the oven and let the flavors meld together to create a showstopping meal. Serve with a green salad.
Vegan Moussaka
In this ultra-comforting casserole, baked rounds of eggplant and potato are layered with a tomato-lentil sauce that gets intense umami flavor from trumpet mushrooms. Top with a fingerlicking good vegan cheese sauce that dribbles down between the layers. Delish!
Vegan Potato Gnocchi with Mushrooms and Greens
New to gnocchi? You’ll love this Italian delicacy; it’s like pasta made with mashed potatoes! Here, the airy, pillowy nuggets of gnocchi are paired with wilted spinach, tender mushrooms, and a lemon-tahini sauce for a true melt-in-your-mouth experience.
Indian-Spiced Potato Salad
If potato salad ever needed a makeover, this is it. The soft, earthy tones of potato come to life with the crunchy addition of cucumber and bell pepper, while finely chopped onion adds that “just-hot-enough” feeling. Fresh tomato keeps every mouthful juicy, lime juice lends a touch of sour, and cumin and fresh jalapeño warm things up again. Make plenty—it tastes even better the next day and travels well for packed lunches.
Vegan Niçoise Salad Bowls
Looking for a new favorite one-bowl meal? With classic niçoise ingredients such as fingerling potatoes, beans, fresh thyme, and olives, this vegan take on the French salad switches out tuna and egg for artichoke hearts and chickpeas, with delicious results. Top with a creamy, tangy tahini dressing, and dig in. Bon appetit!
Sicilian Rice Balls with Mushrooms and Peas
Just looking at traditional Sicilian rice balls, aka arancini, will clog your arteries! Not so this whole-food, plant-based twist on the Sicilian favorite. For the outer casing, mashed potatoes combine with rice to give creaminess without needing actual cream. Plant milk and nutritional yeast add rich and cheesy flavor. Baked, not fried, these golden balls are filled with a savory mix of mushrooms, peas, and onion. Pass another, please!
Moroccan Chickpea-Potato Tagine
Steamed cubes of potato lay over this tantalizing tagine, soaking up the beautifully balanced flavors below. Dried apricot adds tang and lemon rind lends a subtle citrusy bite, while the warming aromatic spice blend of ras el hanout turns this into a restaurant-quality meal. Note: You can find ras el hanout in many supermarkets or you can make your own.
Potato Burrito Bowls with Salsa Fresca
Spicy roasted potato wedges and homemade salsa add delicious Southwest flavor to these brown rice and black bean bowls. Pro tip: To make potato wedges crispy without using oil, par-boil first before baking.
Delhi Chaat
Transport yourself to the streets of Northern India with these spiced potato cakes, also known as alu tikki (which translates to potato patties). A warming chickpea curry provides a toothesome sauciness, while homemade chutney punches up the flavor.
Best-Ever Beefless Stew
Everyday veggies such as potato, onion, peas, and carrot combine with a generous serving of mushrooms to create a rustic stew that’s so satisfying even the most ardent of carnivores will be asking for the recipe. As one reader notes: “‘Best-Ever’ is an understatement! I made this stew last night, and it was a huge hit with my family!”
Vegan Potato “Cheese” Sauce
Simple, affordable, and free of oil, this potato-based vegan cheese sauce is so much better than store-bought. Potatoes and plant milk combine to give a sleek and creamy texture, while nutritional yeast adds robust cheesy flavor. This sauce is nut-free and gluten-free. One fan enthuses: “This is a delicious sauce that was so good it got my children to smother an enormous amount of steamed broccoli with it and devour it.”
Spinach-Potato Tacos
Made with pantry staples like frozen spinach, corn tortillas, and potato, these pass-me-another-one tacos are great for when you're out of fresh greens. If you don't have cilantro, leave it out or try parsley instead.
Potato-Onion Pizza
Sweet-tasting roasted garlic combines perfectly with mashed cannellini beans and potato in this primo pizza. The Homemade Oil-Free Pizza Dough only takes 20 minutes to make, but a store-bought crust or other base would work too.
Cilantro-Sauced Roasted Potato Bowls
At the heart of this five-star, one-bowl meal are lime- and chili-infused baby potatoes baked with bell pepper and onion. Black beans add an earthy heft, while a creamy cilantro sauce ties it all together. For extra kick, roast a few jalapeño peppers with the spuds and veggies. As one reader says, “Flavors are spot on. Very filling and satisfying.”
Vegan Potato Bread
Major props to the Irish for coming up with such a carbohydrate-rich feast as potato bread. This vegan version is oil-free yet still moist and loaded with the yeasty taste of good homemade bread. Use it as a base for your favorite sandwich; spread your favorite toast toppings over a slice; or simply enjoy it on its own, maybe with some homemade corn butter.
Potato-Cauliflower Curry
This comforting curry dish is great for when you have a hankering for curry but you only have basic spices. No fancy pastes or multitudes of spices required. This is one of our favorite potato dinner recipes.
Potato Waffle Sandwiches with Herbed Tofu Cream
For a simply sensational, anytime meal, load crispy grated potato waffles with tomato, lettuce, and a tangy Herbed-Tofu Cream that’s lick-the-plate good!
Indian-Spiced Cauliflower and Potato Casserole
This everyday curried rice-veggie casserole is packed with frozen corn, canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, and chickpeas. Make it as hot or as mild as you like by dialing the cayenne pepper up or down.
Potato Broccoli Mini Frittatas
Satisfy your egg craving with these delectable mini frittatas: They’re great for brunch, lunch, or dinner. Pro tip: Make a batch and eat all week. They’ll keep refrigerated for a few days and they travel well—perfect for a make-and-take lunch.
Festive Vegetable Pot Pie
Try this pie once and you'll fall in love with the gluten-free crust, which is made with mashed potato. Have fun adapting the filling to suit what you have on hand.
Vegan Minestrone Soup with Potatoes and Kale
Loaded with white beans, potato, mushroom, and kale, this hearty soup is comfort in a bowl.
Spicy French Fries
The trick to getting fries crispy without using oil is to boil the potatoes first before you bake them in the oven.
Vegan Potato Leek Soup
Typically, leek and potato soup is filled with dairy, but here, smoked paprika and dried thyme give an appealing, almost grilled flavor.
Vegan Chili Cheese Fries
Topping fries with chili is always a good idea. The real genius of this recipe is the use of potato to add creaminess to the vegan cheese sauce.
Roasted Red Potatoes and Cabbage
The mild flavors of potato and cabbage get a luscious lift when baked with a sprinkling of oregano, lemon juice, chili powder, and black pepper.
Potato-Edamame Hash on Toast
Great as a brunch, lunch, or dinner meal, this colorful potato-edamame hash is as satisfying as it is delicious.
Southwestern Potato Bowl
This spicy vegan potato bowl from former firefighter Rip Esselstyn will keep your engine running for hours. Added bonus: It's ready in 20 minutes!
My Mama’s Potato Salad Recipe
With crunchy celery, creamy tofu, and sweet-tangy dill pickle relish, your taste buds will flip over this tantalizing potato salad.
Irish White Bean and Cabbage Stew
Perfect for rainy days, this is one hearty soup you'll come back to again and again.
Green Bean and Potato Knishes
These vegan knishes are well worth the effort. The dough is made with potato flour and the filling is just potato and green beans. If you don't have green beans, you could use spinach, Swiss chard, corn, peas, mushrooms, or kale.
Chickpea Curry Stew with Kale
This 25-minute stew has a little heat and a lot of tender-sweet flavors—one of our go-to healthy potato recipes for busy weeknights. Make an extra batch; it tastes even better the following day.
Vegan Chickpea Chili on Baked Potatoes
This rustic baked potato topped with spicy chickpea chili is the perfect comfort food meal. If you don't have dried chickpeas, use double the amount of frozen or canned chickpeas.
Garlic Hash Browns with Kale
Once again the combination of garlic and potato works. These baked hash browns are great for brunch, but also for that evening meal that you didn't plan but should have.
Potato and Onion Bake with Rosemary and Tomatoes
The fresh rosemary and vine tomatoes bring this simple vegetable bake to life. Serve as a starter or as a side dish to a main meal—you can’t go wrong!
Creamy Potato Curry
With a thick and creamy texture and irresistible flavor, this curry potato recipe is the ultimate comfort food dish.
Lentil Vegetable Soup
It's not hard to see why this hearty vegan lentil vegetable soup is one of our all-time fan-favorite recipes.
Vegan Potato Scramble with Hot Chile Sauce
This hearty scramble is an ideal brunch for those times when you want something special. The jalapeño, yellow mustard, red onion, and allspice create a rich depth of flavor. Also works well for lunch or an evening meal. Serve over toast, a salad, or both.
“Nacho” Vegan Baked Potato
This is one of those quick and easy meals that’s great when you’re low on bandwidth. You can use prepared salsa to save time. Author Andrea Duclos recommends baking a bunch of potatoes ahead of time. But if you can’t manage that, throwing a few spuds in the oven for 50 minutes is still a pretty no-stress way to cook!
Baked French Fries & Ketchup
Baking your own fries is such a wonderful trick to have up your sleeve. They’re perfect for an afternoon treat or for dishing up on the side of your favorite salad or bean burger. A meal the whole family will enjoy—because even the pickiest of eaters love a burger and fries!
Boulangere Potatoes
This creamy potato dish is a great alternative to traditional scalloped potatoes, which tend to be high in fat. Serve as a side dish or as a main meal with a salad. It really does make everything else on your plate taste better!
Italian White Bean, Kale and Potato Stew
You can’t beat a good stew when it’s cold out, and the white bean and potato combination in this one is delicious/ Just be sure to make plenty: It freezes well and it’s so handy to have leftovers in the fridge to scoop another meal from.
Potato Salad with Avocado and Dill
Isn’t potato salad one of the yummiest inventions?! Mashed avocado gives this dish a creamy texture without making it too rich, and the onion, celery and dill are the perfect potato bedfellows. The lemon juice stops the avocado from browning so it’ll keep in the fridge for a few days.
Potato Pancakes
These baked potato pancakes are so easy to make. They’re the perfect meal for when it seems like there’s “nothing to eat”—because there’s always a potato or two rolling around in the bottom of the cupboard. Great for brunch, lunch or a light evening meal.
Lotsa Vegetable Chowder
What a fabulous recipe: Grab whichever vegetables you have on hand, and before you know it you have a delicious chowder. And it’s a “lazy soup”: a bit of chopping at the beginning; then put your feet up or get back to whatever you were doing, and let the smells take over the house!
MASHED POTATO RECIPES
Mashed potatoes are one of the great comfort foods on the planet. Babies love them; kids love them; we all love them! These four tasty vegan mashed potato recipes use ingredients such as cashews, veggie broth, plant milk, and garlic to get scrumptious, creamy mashed potatoes—no butter, cream, or oil required.
Vegan Mashed Potatoes with Kale
This hearty dish combines two popular side dishes, mashed taters and garlicky kale, with spectacular results. For the full mashed spud experience, serve with your favorite View recipe
Heather’s Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Creamy Golden Gravy
For the ultimate side dish or snack, grab a plate of these garlic mashed potatoes, made with fresh garlic and plant milk. The gravy, which is just soy sauce, tamari, veggie broth, and brown rice flour, is amazing!
Ultimate Vegan Gravy
This recipe for mashed potatoes and gravy gets its star quality from the use of cashews in the potatoes and mushrooms and dried herbs in the gravy.
Vegan Mashed Potatoes
For the simplest vegan mashed potato recipe ever, just add garlic powder and granulated onion to the potato-cooking water. You’ll be amazed at the flavor.
Easy, Healthy Mashed Potatoes
Russet potatoes are a great mashing potato because they fall apart easily, unlike some of the waxier varieties. This is another wonderfully simple recipe: Boil your potatoes in veggie broth, drain, mash, and eat!
Vegan Shepherd's Pie Recipes
Looking for more mashed potato goodness? Check out these potato-topped pies: Shepherd’s Pie, Shepherd’s Pot Pie, Budget Friendly Shepherd's Pie, and Lentil Shepherd’s Pie with Rustic Parsnip Crust.
This article was originally published on April 6, 2017, and has been updated.
About the Author
About the Author
Lisa Esile, MS
As an author, Do Nothing meditation instructor, and wellness coach, Lisa Esile combines her love for food and nutrition with her mental health background and delights in helping people find a stress-free way to make lasting lifestyle changes. Esile has a master’s degree in human nutrition and is the co-author/illustrator of Whose Mind Is It Anyway? Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Life. Learn more at lisaesile.com.
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