These Creamy Keto Mashed Turnips are a wonderful low carb substitute for mashed potatoes. This great side dish tells both potatoes and cauliflower to move over! Adding in lots of dairy, onion, garlic, and herbs makes for an incredible mashed turnip recipe.
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So you're missing potatoes on a low carb or keto diet huh? We've seriously got you covered. As much as we do truly enjoy cauliflower in its various forms, it's just not the same as a bowl of creamy mashed potatoes.
It works well riced, but as a mash? It's good, don't get us wrong, but this is SO MUCH BETTER! You're gonna wonder where this healthy side dish has been your whole life! Seriously. You can fool even the pickiest of eaters with this creamy deliciousness, and we mean that.
We're not gonna sit here and say that this is low calorie food. his is a comfort food item and it's packed with butter, cream, cheese and cream cheese, so flavor yes, and also, calories.. yes. 😂
Enjoy this delicious side as a part of any feast. It's the perfect holiday side, so add it to your Thanksgiving menu, or just add it in rotation for any night of the week.
Looking for more recipes with turnips? Try this loaded keto 'potato' soup, this low carb 'potato' leek kale soup, or this crispy turnip hash browns!
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❤️Why we love this recipe
- Simple ingredients - You can find most of these ingredients in your pantry or fridge. Anything you don't already have on hand can be found at nearly any grocery store.
- Naturally low carb and gluten free - This dish suits multiple diet types, and can be made to fit dairy free or vegan diets too!
- Perfect for meal prep - This recipe makes a large batch, and is perfect to store in the fridge and reheat throughout the week.
- Perfect side dish - Need the perfect low carb side for an air fryer ribeye, some pesto butter salmon or these keto Swedish meatballs? Mashed turnips are the perfect versatile side for any main course!
🧈Ingredients
✏️Ingredient notes
You can find the full quantities and nutritional information in the recipe card.
- Purple top young turnips - Make sure to get the smallest turnips you can find. The smaller they are, the younger they are. Younger turnips will definitely be the least bitter.
- Water - To boil the turnips.
- Unsalted butter- Melted, and still nice and hot when added to the turnips for the most fluffy texture.
- Onion & garlic - Technically optional, but they pack a huge amount of flavor into this.
- Savory herbs- Either dried or fresh work great. We generally opt for rosemary, thyme, and sage.
- Kosher salt & black pepper
- Heavy whipping cream- For the most creamy texture and taste. Can be substituted for half and half.
- Cream cheese- Allow to sit out at room temperature to soften.
- Shredded cheese- Anything you like, we usually opt for gouda, smoked gouda, Havarti, or low-moisture part skim shredded mozzarella. This gives the mixture a thicker consistency plus adds amazing flavor.
- Butter and herbs for garnish
📖Instructions
🔪Prep work
- Peel the turnips with a vegetable peeler, and cut them into bite-sized chunks.
- Broil water to a boil, and salt it heavily. The water should taste salty. There only needs to be enough water to cover the turnips by about half an inch.
Add turnips to a pot of salted water on the stove on high heat, or cook in your Instant pot until softened.
They will need to boil around 20-30 minutes on the stove until fork tender. In the Instant pot or pressure cooker, it will only need to cook for about half the time.
Meanwhile, in a skillet over medium heat, melt some of the butter, and add your diced onions to it with a pinch of salt. Cook until soft, about 5 minutes.
Next, add your herbs and garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Then remove from the heat and set aside.
In a blender, food processor, or in a large bowl with a potato masher, immersion blender, or hand mixer, add cooked turnips, cream cheese, onion and herb mixture, the heavy cream, salt, pepper, and about half of the shredded cheese.
Blend until smooth, then add the rest of the cheese and blend again. We sometimes use a tamper tool to help keep the mixture moving. It is very thick.
Blend until luscious and smooth. Again, if you prefer to use a hand masher or blend less for a more chunky, rustic texture, that absolutely works too!
Garnish with more melted butter, a pinch of salt, pepper, fresh parsley, thyme, or rosemary. Serve with whatever you like. We eat them with these delicious keto Swedish meatballs or a steak!
✨Tips & tricks
- Sometimes turnips have a slight bite or a bitter taste. Always choose smaller turnips or medium turnips over larger turnips to ensure a milder taste. The smaller the better!
- Make sure to add in the salt after you've added your cheese, as many varieties of cheese (like the smoked gouda we used) are a tad bit salty on their own. Salt to taste, and taste often to ensure it's to your liking!
- Cutting the turnip chunks into smaller pieces will help them boil and soften faster.
- Make sure the salt the water very well. This helps infuse some flavor into the turnips.
- For less food waste, cut off the top of the turnip bulb to remove the turnip greens. Clean them very well, or sauté them up as another nice dish dish, or store for later in the fridge.
🧈Substitutions
Follow a different diet type, or forgot to pick something up at the grocery store? We'll try our best to make this recipe fit!
- Dairy free or vegan - Yes, there is a lot of dairy in this recipe, but you can also replace all of the ingredients 1:1 with vegan substitutes. Swap the regular butter for vegan butter, cream cheese for a vegan version, heavy cream for full-fat coconut milk or cashew cream, and cheese for your favorite vegan cheese.
- Garlic and onion - Can be substituted for with garlic and onion powder.
- Heavy cream - Swap for half and half, milk, or unflavored nut milk.
- Cream cheese - Try adding more shredded cheese in combination with sour cream.
✏️Variations
- Roasted garlic - Want to add more sweetness and depth of flavor? You can never go wrong with roasted garlic.
- Brown butter - Want an extra rich and nutty flavor? Try browning the butter beforehand for extra flavor.
- Parmesan - A little parmesan cheese is never a bad idea.
When in doubt, combine all of these things for a flavor explosion in your mouth!
💭Frequently asked questions
You can definitely mash these turnips by hand. It will be a little bit more laborious than using a blender, but you can definitely do this. We do imagine that the turnips will come out a little chunkier since you will just be using a potato masher.
Yes, turnips are very low carb and keto friendly, as well as very nutritious. Turnips are loaded with fiber and vitamins K, A, C, E, B1 thru B6, as well as minerals like manganese, potassium, magnesium, iron, calcium and copper. They are also a good source of phosphorus, omega-3 fatty acids and protein according to this article.
One medium turnip also has only roughly 5.8g net carbs, making them much more suitable for a low carb or keto diet. It’s also very low in carbs, and high in fiber, making it an excellent choice for the keto diet.
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🧄More recipes to try
🥣Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat gravy gently in the microwave or on the stovetop.
These mashed turnips can also be frozen for up to 6 months.
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📖 Recipe
Mashed Turnips Recipe (Keto)
Ingredients
- 2 pounds small turnips, peeled and cut into chunks
- 2 cups water (to boil the turnips)
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted & divided
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 2 tablespoons mixed fresh herbs, minced (we used rosemary, thyme, sage and oregano)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 ounces heavy whipping cream
- 6 ounces cream cheese, full fat, room temperature
- 5 ounces shredded cheese
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt (add to taste as it depends on the cheese you use and your personal preference)
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper (or to taste)
- butter and herbs to garnish
Instructions
- Boil turnips in a stock pot or cook them in a pressure cooker with salted water until softened. Drain excess water, set aside.
- In a skillet, melt some of the butter, and add your diced onions to it with a pinch of salt. Cook until soft, about 5 minutes, then add the herbs and garlic, and cook for about one minute. Then remove from heat.
- In a blender, add heavy whipping cream and cooked turnips. Blend until smooth. Add in butter, cream cheese. Blend again. Add in your onions, garlic and herbs, along with your shredded smoked gouda, then blend until smooth. Taste, add salt and pepper, blend again.
- Serve with whatever you like. We eat them with these delicious keto Swedish meatballs!
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
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Notes
- Fresh herbs can be substituted with about 1 teaspoon of dried herbs.
- Don't forget to salt your water heavily to infuse some flavor into the turnips while they boil.
- Make sure to add salt to taste, and do so after adding the cheese.
- A hand masher, food processor, hand mixer, or immersion blender can be used to mash the turnips.
- Onion and garlic are optional, can be substituted for about 1 teaspoon each of dried seasonings.
- Please see the body of the post for full details on substitutions.
Gail B says
This was delicious and soooooo simple to make! So glad I found this recipe! I will recommend it! Only thing I didn't have was cream cheese or sour cream so was a bit thin but still tasted very, good. If that happens again, do you have any suggestions to help thicker it up a bit? So still give 5 stars as is. Missing ingredient was on me but nothing missing in taste. I'm so sick of cauliflower everything and don't like it for mashed potato substitute. This made me smile and not feel like I'll miss the starch anymore. Thank you both! Cheers
Briana says
Aww, Gail, your comment made our day! 😀 We're so glad you enjoyed it so much! Hmm.. you might want to start by adding a little less heavy cream to it when mashing. You could also add more cheese to thicken it up! Let us know it goes!