Mashed Potatoes

Michael Eisenwasser

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Classic mashed potatoes with butter, lactose-free milk, and chives. No garlic or onion.

Prep 10 min

Cook 20 min

Serves 6

Gluten-free

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 lb (1.1 kg) Yukon Gold or russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt, for the cooking water
• 4 tablespoons (57 g) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 3/4 cup (180 ml) lactose-free whole milk, warm
• 3/4 teaspoon fine salt, plus more to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons thinly sliced chives or scallion greens, to finish (optional)

Instructions

Boil the Potatoes

1. Place the potato chunks in a large pot and cover with cold water by an inch. Add the kosher salt.
2. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a steady simmer. Cook for 15 to 18 minutes, until a paring knife slides through a chunk with no resistance.
3. Drain in a colander. Return the hot potatoes to the empty pot and set over low heat for 30 seconds to dry them out, shaking the pan so they don't stick.

Warm the Dairy

1. While the potatoes cook, warm the milk and butter together in a small saucepan over low heat until the butter is melted and the mixture is steaming. Don't let it boil.
2. Keeping the dairy warm matters. Cold milk hitting hot potatoes seizes the starch and makes the mash gluey.

Mash and Finish

1. Mash the potatoes directly in the pot with a potato masher or ricer. A ricer gives the fluffiest texture; a masher leaves more body.
2. Pour in about three-quarters of the warm milk and butter. Fold gently with a spatula until absorbed. Add more milk a splash at a time until the mash is loose but not soupy.
3. Season with the fine salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Taste and adjust.
4. Transfer to a warm bowl and scatter the chives over the top.

Tips & Substitutions

• Use a ricer for restaurant-smooth texture. A ricer or food mill produces the silkiest mash. A masher keeps more structure, which most home cooks prefer. Never use a food processor or blender; the blades over-work the starch and the result turns to glue.
• Swap in heavy cream for a richer mash. Replace the milk with 1/2 cup heavy cream plus 1/4 cup water. Heavy cream is low-FODMAP in small amounts (roughly 1 to 2 tablespoons per serve); this recipe lands near the top of that range at 6 servings, so check the current Monash entry if you're sensitive.
• Dairy-free version. Use 1/4 cup garlic-infused olive oil in place of butter and 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk or low-FODMAP chicken broth in place of the milk. The broth variant is especially good under gravy.
• Add a pinch of asafoetida for onion-adjacent depth. About 1/8 teaspoon bloomed in the warm butter. Use a gluten-free (wheat-free) hing if you have celiac. Many brands cut it with wheat flour.
• For a softer dinner prep window, hold the finished mash in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of barely simmering water, covered, for up to an hour. Stir in another splash of warm milk before serving.
• If you want visible onion flavor, scatter extra scallion greens or chives over the top at the table, not stirred through. They hold their color and snap.

Why This Works

Potatoes are one of the easy wins. Monash rates yellow and red potatoes as low-FODMAP at typical portions, with no strict serve-size cap. That gives potatoes real headroom on a low-FODMAP plate, though very large or very rich servings can still bother an IBS gut for reasons that aren't about FODMAPs.

Butter's lactose is tiny. Butter is almost all fat, with barely any lactose in it. Monash rates 1 tablespoon (19 g) as low-FODMAP, so 4 tablespoons across 6 servings is well under the limit.

Lactose-free milk instead of regular. Regular cow's milk is high-FODMAP because of the lactose. Lactose-free milk is the same product with the lactose already broken down at the factory, so it's low-FODMAP at 1 cup per serve.

Chives and scallion greens cover the aromatic base. Onion's fructans live in the white bulb, not the green tops. Chives and scallion greens deliver the allium note without the FODMAP load, which is why they replace raw garlic and chopped onion in classic mashed-potato seasonings.

Storage

Refrigerate in a sealed container for up to 3 to 4 days at 40°F (4°C) or below. Reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave with an extra splash of warm milk, stirring until loose. Mashed potatoes technically freeze, but the texture suffers; if you need to freeze a batch, whip in extra butter on reheating to bring it back.

Not sure about an ingredient? FODMAP Tracker includes a database of 1,000+ foods with FODMAP ratings to help you cook with confidence.