Easy & Delicious Vegan Potato Recipes and Ideas (Gluten-Free)

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Let’s talk about all things vegan potato recipes!! Today I’m going to share some super hyper mega delicious recipes with you, but I’m also sharing tips on how you can make awesome vegan potato recipes at home. We’re talking high caliber restaurant quality potato tips 🙂

Whether you’re making potato dishes as a main feature or as side dishes I’ve got recipes, ideas, and tips to help you have nothing but free-from success at home.

Ingredients to Keep in Your Pantry & Fridge

Keeping your pantry well stocked will help you easily make vegan potato recipes, even if it’s last minute. I know I was able to not only make meals for my kids on the fly, but also for random friends of theirs that would drop in on a whim. The only way I was able to pull that off was to always keep the pantry and fridge well stocked. Here’s a non-exhaustive ingredient list to keep well stocked:

Cooking Oils (olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, tiger nut oil [tuber, not a tree nut])
Dairy Free Milk You Enjoy (almond milk, coconut milk, rice milk, soy milk, oat milk, etc.)
Lemon Juice & Lime Juice
Nuts and Seeds You Enjoy (can add a crunchy element to your recipes)
Nutritional Yeast (Anthony’s Goods sells an unfortified version for those who need that)
Salts (regular salt, smoked salts, flavoured salts, flaky sea salt, etc.)
Single Seasonings (onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, tarragon, marjoram, garam masala, black pepper, etc.)
Seasoning Blends (BBQ seasoning, Italian seasoning, curry powder, etc.)
Vegetable Broth
Vegan Butter
Vegan Cream Cheese
Vegan Sour Cream
Vinegars to Cook With (especially balsamic vinegar)

A note on the smoked salt: it’s a great way to bring delicious flavor to a wide range of recipes. I can’t suggest enough experimenting with smoked salts and a wide range of seasonings (and fresh herbs) as well.

Types of Potatoes to Choose From

Yukon gold potatoes are going to be one of the most called for potato varieties, along with red potatoes and russet (brown) potatoes. You’ll want to keep these in stock if you plan on making a lot of potato dishes. I like to keep mine in a dark cool cabinet to prevent them from going bad quickly.

Sweet potatoes are another great variety to keep on hand. If you’re planning to swap sweet potatoes for white potatoes due to an allergy or special diet (such as the AIP Paleo diet), use Japanese Yams. Their white flesh is a lot more firm when compared to orange and purple flesh sweet potatoes. Japanese Yams are also bomb dot com when oven roasted in a little oil and topped with a flaky sea salt, you know, in case you were wondering.

For more information on the different types of potatoes you can purchase for your recipes, check out this article.

A Note on Plant-Based Milks

When purchasing dairy free plant milk, if you have a milk allergy, it’s important to know that most plant-based milk is made on shared equipment with milk. If you’re in the 30% group of people that can’t do shared equipment, you’ll need to call brands before purchasing. Alternatively, you can make your own milk at home to prevent cross-contact.

One of the biggest warnings I can give you is to be aware of the taste of plant milk, as some options are very distinct in flavour. This taste can affect your cooking, especially in savory applications. Some milks have a mild/mellow taste and others are distinct because of what they’re made with. One of my kids reviewed quite a few milks, and you can see his honest reactions here and here as well. He also made a review of the Elmhurst nut milks.

Where possible, purchase unsweetened plant milk, especially if you plan on cooking more than baking. The extra sweetness can throw off some types of recipes, especially some white cream sauces. The sweetness isn’t such a big deal if you’re making a pasta sauce or baking a cake though. If you plan to drink lots of dairy free milk, purchase the sweetened variety for drinking and unsweetened for cooking.

Finally, know that soy milk bakes up a little different than other dairy free milk options. They’re all still a 1:1 substitute for cow’s milk in recipes, and for each other, but each one will be a tiny bit different than the next.

Kitchen Tools to Have When Making Awesome Vegan Potato Recipes

These are basic kitchen tools that I think every home chef should make when they’re wanting to cook a range of potato dishes. There are always more tools you could get, but these tools are going to take you far. You can see quite a few of them in my Amazon Shop.

Baking Tray & Parchment Paper (the paper makes clean up a breeze)
Box Grater (fantastic for making hash browns)
Casserole Dish or Glass Baking Dish
Garlic Press
Large Pan/Skillet
Large Pot
Measuring Spoons (I like to have a lot so I don’t have to rinse between spices)
Potato Masher
Potato Ricer (makes smoother mashed potatoes compared to a regular potato masher)
Potato/Vegetable Peeler
Sharp Knives & Cutting Board (a dull knife is dangerous in the kitchen because it won’t cut well and can cut you instead when you try to maneuver and make it work)
Whisk

Tools to Invest in if You Want Recipes to Come Together Faster/Easier

If you’re open to investing, there are a few kitchen tools you can purchase that will make the prep time go by much faster. Those include:

Food Processor (Breville makes a peel and dice food processor, but it’s pricey and in my Amazon Shop)
Blender (I like the Vitamix I have, but as long as your blender has power, you’ll be fine)
Instant Pot or Pressure cooker or Multifunction cooker slow cooker (great for making quick work of potatoes and for making stews)
Immersion Blender (good if you want to make potato soups and some types of sauces easily)
KitchenAid Stand Mixer (with the sheeter attachment, grating attachment, and shredding attachment for faster vegetable prep)

How to Transform Simple Ingredients Into Flavorful Results

Many people struggle with elevating the humble potato into something that’s worthy of a 5-star rating. There are several things that you can do when cooking your potato dishes to ensure they come out as shining superstars.

First: Salt your water. If you plan on boiling your potatoes for something like mashed potatoes, you need to make sure the water is salted. The same is true if you plan on cooking potato gnocchi. When your water is properly salted, you end up with more flavorful results.

Second: Fat is flavor. Don’t skimp on cooking oils and fats. They not only help your foods cook well, they can prevent them from burning and impart some much needed flavor to an ingredient that can be bland if it’s not given the TLC it deserves.

Third: Tap into the Maillard reaction. This is a delicious way to add another layer of flavor to your recipes. The Maillard reaction is all about getting your foods to caramelize and turn golden brown. It’s also one of the reasons foods have crispy exteriors when cooked well. You’ll need to make sure you’ve used the right amount of fat in the pan and allow the potatoes to cook undisturbed to have time to form that much loved golden brown colour.

Fourth: Do NOT skimp on your seasonings. I should be shouting this with a megaphone. I’ve had so many people tell me that they never had food that tasted so good until they tried my recipes. It’s because I don’t hold back on the seasonings. Here’s the harsh reality: when you’re any kind of free-from/following a restricted diet, you must make flavour one of your top goals. If you don’t, you’ll just be eating bland food and thinking about meals you used to eat. Seriously, who wants that? Not me.

So, make sure you don’t hold back. Don’t season to the point of killing your taste buds, but we aren’t here to make demure potato dishes.

Fifth and Finally: Use sauces to your advantage. Make delicious vegan creamy sauces (can be spicy, savory, etc.) and serve on top or on the side. Sauces can breath new life into the same old recipes you’re used to eating.

Vegan Recipes Featuring Sweet Potatoes

About that sweet potato pie recipe… yes, it’s super duper free-from, but, it’s also what I serve at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners to people without any type of dietary restriction. Everyone is in LOVE with that pie, so if you have a chance, make it. In fact, make a double or triple batch so you can eat sweet potato pie for months and months.

Vegan Potato Recipe Ideas

Vegan Shepherd’s Pie

To make a vegan version, you’ll follow any shepherd’s pie recipe you find online or in a cookbook. You’ll make some simple swaps:

Use a vegan meat substitute in place of the ground meat such as pulled jackfruit or vegan meat crumbles
Use your preferred mashed potato recipe, or use vegan products in the mashed potato portion of the recipe (plant milk, DF butter, etc.)

A recipe like shepherd’s pie is super easy to convert for vegan enjoyment, and I hope you have a chance to try it out. My kids really enjoy it.

Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie Recipe by The Allergy Chef (Soy Free, Dairy Free, Grain Free, Top 9 Allergy Free) — Here’s an example of a meat version that’s easy to convert. You can also swap the regular mashed potatoes for mashed sweet potatoes.

Vegan Steak & Potatoes

Vegan steaks are all the rage if you ask me, and there are a lot of recipes online that feature different “proteins”. The best ones I’ve seen use Maitake mushrooms aka Hen of The Woods Mushrooms (a whole head) and fry it down with a heavy weight to create a steak-like texture. I’ve also seen some cool eggplant steaks and zucchini steaks.

Once you’ve selected which type of steak you’d like to try, make potato wedges with garlic, rosemary, and thyme. Or, make creamy mashed potatoes. Honestly, just about every vegan potato dish you can think of would pair well with a vegan steak. I will add this: I’d also try to sneak in some vegan parmesan to this idea since it would bring a nice salty element, and enhance the overall flavor.

Crispy Skin Smashed Potatoes

Smashed potatoes are hands down one of my favourite vegan potato dishes to make for my kids. Whilst I don’t have a full recipe to share, I’ll tell you how I make them:

Wash small baby potatoes (this is the key ingredient to making this work), then pat them dry.
Coat a baking tray in a little oil, then add the potatoes.
Pop the tray in your oven (I usually oven roast at 400 degrees Fahrenheit [205 C])
Oven roast until the potatoes are just about fork tender (a fork can almost go in pretty easily)
Take the tray out and use a mallet to gently smash down each potato. It will spread and “burst” a bit, but there will be lots of edges formed.
Return the potatoes to the oven and continue to cook until the bottoms are golden brown.
Take the potatoes out of the oven. If after sampling one they’re not crisp to your liking, you can crisp them up more in your air fryer, on the stove top (cook in a little dairy free butter) or under the broiler in your oven. Should you opt for the broiler, watch them like a hawk because food can go from done to burned in mere moments.

That’s how you make them, and I love serving them with a vegan cheese sauce or a homemade BBQ sauce my kids enjoy.

Potato Pancakes

Potato pancakes come in a wide range of flavouring options. You can make a traditional potato pancake, something simple, something closer to latkes, or even a Korean style potato pancake.

My only suggestion when making vegan potato pancakes: serve them with a sauce. Potato pancakes, especially if they’re on the thick side, may lose their excitement after a few bites. A really good sauce will keep you going back for more.

Vegan Potato Recipes for Family Breakfast & Family Dinner

Easy Creamy Breakfast Potatoes
Leek & Potato Soup Recipe (one of my kids says this is their ultimate comfort food)
Gluten Free Breakfast Potatoes
Mashed Potato Zucchini Boats (this is super fun for kids to help make and the mashed potatoes have a fantastic creamy texture)

Vegan Potato Recipes to Serve at a Dinner Party

Vegan Potato Salad
Vegan Cheesy Potatoes Recipe (the tasters say this is one of the best vegan potato recipes I’ve ever made)
Vegan Potato Casserole
Silky Smooth Mashed Potatoes Recipe (this was a BIG hit with the taste testers)
Vegan Scalloped Potatoes (such an easy side dish recipe)

Answering Your Vegan Cooking Questions

Do you know of a vegan heavy cream?

There are a couple of brands that sell vegan heavy cream, specifically for making a dessert style whipped cream. Since you’re reading this article, you’re probably looking for a heavy cream with cooking applications. At the time of publishing, I don’t know of one.

However! This article on milk and dairy free substitutions contains a section on vegan heavy cream. I teach you how to do the math and how to make a reasonable substitute for cooking with.

What can I do with extra potato peels besides compost them?

One of the most delicious things you can do with extra potato peels is to chop them up roughly (like how you’d chop fresh parsley or fresh dill) and then cook them in a little oil or dairy free butter. You want to cook them until they’re golden brown and crispy. Now you have an amazing topping that’s pretty versatile.

You can add seasonings such as smoked salt, chili flakes, garlic powder, etc. to these potato skin crumbles each time to have a different experience. You’ll use these as a crunchy element to a salad, or even as a top layer on a vegan casserole. The best part is that there’s really no limit in how you can season and serve these since potatoes are mellow and take on a huge range of seasonings. So the next time you find yourself with extra potato peels, give it a go. I think you’ll really enjoy the flavorful results.

Do you have a vegan gravy recipe?

I have three vegan gravy recipes on RAISE (membership site). You can view them here.

Do you have a simple vegan cream sauce recipe?

I have a few of recipes on RAISE (membership site) that can show you how to make a cream sauce:

Foundational Creamy Pasta Recipe
Parmesan Cashew Cream Sauce Recipe
White Gravy (can also be used as a cream sauce, and it’s super basic so you can jazz it up)

If you want to search online, you can look for “dairy free cream sauce recipe” or “vegan cream sauce recipe”. Both search terms should net you good results. If you’re nut free and/or coconut free, be sure to include that. Alternatively, you can use the search term “top 8 allergy free cream sauce recipe” which will cover both vegan and nuts.

How do I make a vegan cheese sauce?

Have I got great news for you! It’s pretty easy to make a basic vegan cheese sauce. In a blender, combine your vegan cheese of choice with a plant milk of choice. The ratios are going to be determined by how in your face you want the cheese flavour to be.

If you have a small blender such as a NutriBullet, it’s easier to make a vegan cheese sauce for one, since with a larger blender you need to use more ingredients so the blades spin properly.

A basic ratio you can use is two parts plant milk to one part cheese of choice. It’s important that your milk is unsweetened, as a sweetened milk can totally throw off the taste. If you’d like to take a couple of extra steps, you can soak cashews to soften them, then add them to your blend. The soaked cashews will give the cheese sauce a lot more body.

If you’re allergic to cashews and/or tree nuts, check out this article on cashew substitutes to see other ways to make a vegan cheese sauce.

What are some good vegan baked potato toppings?

I’m so glad you asked because I have quite a few ideas for you!

Smoked salt + creamy lemon and garlic mixture, topped with a little fresh dill
Vegan bacon crumbles + vegan cheese sauce
Sprinkle of nutritional yeast + black pepper + chili pepper flakes
Drizzle of high quality finishing olive oil + Italian Seasoning
Spicy sauce + vegan honey + pinch of flaky sea salt

What’s the best way to store potato dishes?

An airtight container in the fridge is going to be the best way to store potato dishes that you make at home. Know that most potato recipes don’t do well with at-home freezing (commercial freezing is successful because of the very expensive equipment), and you should also take care with reheating. The best way to reheat your potato dishes is to use the same coking method you originally made them with.

For example, oven roasted potatoes should be reheated in the oven, whereas mashed potatoes would be better reheated on the stovetop (medium heat) with a little extra milk of choice to help loosen them up again. Most potato dishes do well in the fridge for 3-4 days, and after that, you’ll notice a decline in taste and quality.

Would roasting a few cloves of garlic with potatoes taste good?

If you’re a fan of garlic, yes, roasting a few cloves of garlic with your potatoes would taste spectacular. Another thing you can do is coat an entire head of garlic in a little oil, wrap the whole thing in foil, then oven roast it for 30 – 40 minutes. Not only will your house smell amazing, but you’ll be able to squeeze out the garlic (it will be like a paste) into a recipe. I’ve done this with soup and my kids love it. The oven roasted garlic adds an incredible layer of flavor to recipes.

You can also use a few cloves of garlic that have been roughly chopped to make a garlic mixture to toss potato wedges in. In the SF Bay Area the SF Giant’s Stadium (baseball) is lowkey famous for their garlic fries, and that’s how they make them. Garlic + fresh herbs + a little oil/dairy free butter and it’s nothing but *chef’s kiss*. Not that I can eat them, you know, allergic to everything, but it’s what I’ve been told.

I’m on a low sodium diet. How can I make my potatoes (and other carbohydrates) taste great?

Whilst following a low sodium diet does have a few drawbacks, the great news is that you can still have awesome potato dishes and other carbohydrates. What you’ll want to do is avoid seasoning blends that contain salt. From there, you can either make seasoning blends at home, or purchase sodium free blends. Spicely Organic (my fave spice company) has several blends that are all free from added sodium/salt. Their BBQ, Curry, Italian, and Herbs de Province are all great starting points.

The next thing is to not skimp on your seasonings. Just because it’s low/no salt doesn’t mean it will be bland. Sure, you can’t salt boiling water if you’re making mashed potatoes, but you can make up for it on the other end with a healthy fat and loads of seasonings that are all salt free.

Honestly, that’s the real takeaway. Season aggressively with single ingredient seasonings or sodium free blends, and don’t forget the fat.

Is it safe to eat potato skins, or do I have to peel potatoes first?

It is 100% safe to eat the skins of your potatoes. You’ll usually peel off potato skins when making things like mashed potatoes. However, there are a lot of recipes that call for unpeeled potatoes. Just be sure to wash your potatoes very well, and remove any bad spots before cooking and baking with them.

I’ll also add, with gold and red potatoes, the skins don’t taste like much. On the other hand, with brown russet potatoes, the skins have a distinct taste. Keep that in mind as you choose which potato variety you’d like to work with.

Is it easy to make potato chips at home?

Yes and no. Is it easy to make chips? Yes, it’s easy mindless work that doesn’t require much of you. Is it fast to make chips at home? Not in my personal opinion. First, you need a mandolin slicer to get the size *just* right, or you’ll end up with chips that won’t cook well, or that burn quickly.

I’ve fried chips with both the pot method, and the deep fryer, and a deep fryer is the way to go. However, that’s an investment you may not want to work. You may be able to make chips in an air fryer, but they’d have to be in a single layer, so how many are you really going to be able to cook in one go?

See where I’m going with all of this? Yes, it’s easy to make chips at home, but it may not be the most practical use of your time and money. The only people I tell to make chips at home are those who are allergic to every commercial option.