Celery Root Mash
This creamy celery root mash is an easy 30-minute fall side dish and a delicious low-carb alternative to mashed potatoes. Made with celeriac, garlic, thyme, and coconut milk or butter, it is creamy, comforting, gluten-free, and full of flavor. It is a perfect Thanksgiving side dish that everybody will love.
Celery Root Mash
Some vegetables don’t exactly win beauty contests.
Celeriac is one of them.
It is knobby, rough, hairy-looking, and frankly a little intimidating sitting in the produce section. But I have a soft spot for it because celeriac has always been familiar to me. It is a popular root vegetable in Poland, and I grew up eating it in soups, salads, stews, and all sorts of comforting dishes.
And this is one of my favorite ways to cook it: celery root mash.
Once you peel away that rather unfortunate exterior, you find a creamy, ivory-colored vegetable with a delicate celery flavor and a slightly nutty, earthy sweetness. Cook it until tender, blend it with garlic, thyme, and a little coconut milk or butter, and suddenly that funny-looking root becomes something completely delicious.
As a nutrition consultant and chef, I am always looking for ways to make vegetables the star of the plate without making healthy food feel like a punishment. This Polish celery root mash does exactly that.
It is creamy. It is savory. It is cozy. It fits most diets: gluten-free, dairy-free, Paleo, Whole30, and keto-friendly.
It also makes a wonderful Thanksgiving side dish, fall side dish or winter side dish when you want something comforting but don’t necessarily want another bowl of mashed potatoes.
Why You Should Trust My Version
I’ve cooked professionally for years, and I’ve learned that simple recipes are often the ones where technique matters most.
With celery root, the biggest mistake is undercooking it. Unlike potatoes, celeriac can remain quite firm if you don’t give it enough time. I like to cook it until it is completely tender and practically falls apart when pierced with a fork. That’s when you get that silky texture we’re after.
I also don’t overwhelm it with too many ingredients. Celeriac has a beautiful flavor of its own. Garlic, thyme, salt, pepper, and a little fat are enough to turn it into something special.
For me, that is the magic of good cooking: you don’t need to cover up the ingredient. You just need to know how to bring out what is already there.
What Is Celery Root?
Celery root, also called celeriac, is the edible root of a variety of celery grown specifically for its large underground root.
And yes, it really is related to the celery stalks you put in your soup.
The flavor is more interesting than regular celery, though. It has earthy, nutty, slightly sweet notes. It is much more substantial and works beautifully in soups, stews, purees, gratins, roasted vegetable dishes, and salads.
Is Celeriac Healthy?
Yes. Celeriac is a nutrient-dense root vegetable and a wonderful way to add variety to your diet.
It provides fiber along with vitamin C, vitamin K, potassium, and several other micronutrients. It is also relatively low in calories and carbohydrates compared with potatoes, which makes it a good option when you’re looking for a lighter alternative to traditional mashed potatoes.
Its fiber content is especially important because it supports digestive health and helps make meals more satisfying. For women moving through midlife, I think that combination of nourishment, flavor, and satisfaction is more useful than chasing restrictive food rules.
Ingredients for Celery Root Mash
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Did you know?
Celeriac has been loved in Europe for centuries. It is especially common in Central and Eastern European cooking, including Polish, German, and French cuisine. It never really had to become a “trendy vegetable” in those kitchens, it was simply food.
How to Make Celery Root Mash
- Peel the celery root. And when I say peeling, I mean really peeling. The skin is thick and knobby, so I prefer a sharp chef’s knife to wrestling with a vegetable peeler.
- Cut the celeriac into evenly sized cubes. They don’t need to be beautiful. They’re going into a mash, after all.
- Place the cubes in a Dutch oven with the vegetable broth and garlic. Add the thyme and bring everything to a simmer.
- Cook until the celery root is completely tender. Test it with a fork. It should slide through easily, with no resistance.
- Drain the celeriac, but don’t throw away all that flavorful cooking liquid. Reserve a little in case you need to loosen the mash.
- Transfer the cooked celeriac to a food processor or mash it with a potato masher. Add the coconut milk or butter and pulse it. I prefer a more textured result; this is not a purée, so do not overblend it.
- Season generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Sprinkle with chopped thyme.
Ingredient Substitutions
- Vegetable broth – Chicken broth works beautifully if you don’t need the dish to be vegetarian.
- Coconut milk – Use heavy cream, half-and-half, or milk if dairy works for you.
- Fresh thyme – You can use fresh rosemary or sage instead. Both are wonderful with fall root vegetables.
Ways to Serve
- With baked chicken drumsticks
- Pork tenderloin with cranberry sauce
- With wine-braised beef, country bison stew, or Polish ground venison stew
- With bigos krolewski or Thanksgiving turkey
- With Polish wild mushrooms and cabbage or stuffed Polish cabbage
- Serve it with Hungarian goulash or beef bourguignon
And yes, it belongs on the Thanksgiving table.
If you’re looking for a low-carb alternative to mashed potatoes, this is one of my favorites. It still gives you that creamy, comforting texture without pretending another vegetable is a potato.
Storage
Store leftover celery root mash in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3–4 days. To reheat, warm gently in a saucepan over low heat. Add a splash of vegetable broth, milk, or coconut milk if the mash has thickened.
FAQ
Can I make celery root mash vegan?
Absolutely. This is a vegan recipe.
Can I make celery root mash ahead of time?
Yes. Prepare it earlier in the day and gently reheat it before serving. Add a splash of broth or milk if it becomes too thick.
Can I use celery root in other recipes?
Absolutely. Celeriac is wonderful roasted, added to soups and stews, grated into salads, combined with potatoes, or turned into a creamy puree.
And if you’ve never cooked with it before, I hope this recipe is your little nudge to pick up that funny-looking root the next time you see it at the farmers market.
Don’t judge a vegetable by its appearance.
Celeriac may look like it spent the morning fighting a garden rake, but beneath that rough exterior is a wonderfully delicate, earthy vegetable.
And once it becomes this creamy celery root mash, nobody at the table will care what it looked like before.
They’ll just want another spoonful.
Celery Root Mash
Ingredients
- 3 Celery roots medium
- 32 oz Vegetable stock or more if needed
- 6 cloves Garlic
- 2 strings Thyme
- 1 can Full-fat coconut milk use only the solid part of the coconut milk, or 4 tbsp of butter
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp Fresh thyme chopped for sprinkling on the top
Instructions
- Peel the celery root. And when I say peeling, I mean really peeling. The skin is thick and knobby, so I prefer a sharp chef's knife to wrestling with a vegetable peeler.2. Cut the celeriac into evenly sized cubes. They don't need to be beautiful. They're going into a mash, after all.3. Place the cubes in a Dutch oven with the vegetable broth and garlic. Add the thyme and bring everything to a simmer.4. Cook until the celery root is completely tender. Test it with a fork. It should slide through easily, with no resistance.5. Drain the celeriac and, remove the thyme sprigs but don't throw away all that flavorful cooking liquid; . Reserve a little in case you need to loosen the mash.6. Transfer the cooked celeriac to a food processor or mash it with a potato masher. Add only teh solid part of the coconut milk or butter and pulse it. I prefer a more textured result; this is not a purée, so do not overblend it.7. Season generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Sprinkle with chopped thyme.
Nutrition
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