Creamy Mashed Turnips Recipe (2024)

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.

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.

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!

❤️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

🛒Shop this recipe

Need supplies for this recipe? We've linked our favorites above andright here in our Amazon Store! You don't pay anything extra if you shop using our link, but we get a small percentage of the sale.

A Full Living is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associate program, an affiliate advertising program designed to promote a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking products to amazon.com. We only share products we use and love. It doesn't cost you anything extra to shop using our links, but we earn a small commission that helps us keep this site going!

See Also

Pan Fried Beets with Creamy Mint Sauce (Dairy-Free, 30 Minute Recipe)

🧄More recipes to try

• Roasted Green Beans with Lemon and Garlic
• Keto Mushroom Sauce
• Keto Butternut Squash Soup

🥣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.

🌟Leave a review!

Make sure to leave a 5-star review below! This helps other readers find our recipes via Google, and encourages them to try them. Also be sure to leave a comment with your experience!

Take a photo and share with us by tagging us onInstagramor follow along onPinterestfor more ideas!

📖 Recipe