Spinach Mashed Potatoes

Looking for a delicious traditional side dish with a twist? These spinach mashed potatoes are everything you want in a comfort food meal! 

These might even be better than gluten-free egg noodles to be honest.

I know that sharing stories in blog posts with recipes isn’t super popular right now (see “why do I have to read your life story to get to my recipe” memes), but I feel like this story is important. 

Perhaps not to you, but to me, and to my family. 

Not so much a story, but a memory of good times and family members.

My husband’s family celebrates Thanksgiving on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and their meal is very different than the one me and my side of the family share.

There’s less focus on traditional dishes, and more what do I feel like making kinds stuff going on. Probably because everyone has already had their traditional meals earlier in the week. 

We were introduced to these spinach mashed potatoes by my husband’s late aunt Leah. 

She brought them to one of those Saturday Thanksgivings, and I remember looking at them, thinking “lol, can’t anyone just make regular mashed potatoes around here”? 

Because like I said, dishes were a lot less traditional there, and whoever brought the mashed potatoes always seemed to bring some sort of specialty potatoes like roasted-garlic-cream-cheese, or bacon flavored, or something. 

 And that year, when I saw greens in our Thanksgiving mashed potatoes it seemed like a couple steps too far. ???? Who’s going to put gravy on spinachy stuff? 

But then I tasted them. 

They were full of rich, buttery goodness, and a delightful onion aroma. And the spinach didn’t have that raw spinach I was so dreading at all. 

What in the delicious comfort food was going on? 

These potatoes didn’t even need gravy. They were a dish all by themselves. 

I loved them, and knew right away that I needed this recipe, but sadly, never got around to asking Leah for it. 

After she passed a few years ago, I decided to recreate this recipe in her honor. 

Spinach mashed potatoes

• If you’ve made mashed potatoes from scratch before, you’ll find this recipe easy, with just a few added steps to what you’re used to. 
• If you (or your kids) don’t like onions, you’re welcome to leave them out, but not really, because they do add so much flavor and make this into a side dish that doesn’t need any help. I’m usually sensitive to my kids’ dislike for onions, but I won’t budge here. 
• When you see how much spinach, you’ll be afraid it’s too much, but if you know anything about spinach, it’s the it shrinks like crazy as soon as you put it in the pan, so don’t worry – it’s not too much! 
• And do make sure you sauté that spinach! You want the texture of the spinach to kind of melt into the potatoes, and it can only do that after it’s cooked. 
• This recipe is fantastic for Thanksgiving leftovers! Just add the sautéed onions and spinach to your leftover mashed potatoes. Then add in some leftover chopped turkey and/or ham to make it an all-in-one dish.

Other recipes you may enjoy:

• Creamy Asparagus soup
• Thyme roasted sweet potatoes
• Cheesy Broccoli shepherd’s pie
• Butternut squash soup

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