Easiest Low Sodium Mashed Potatoes (& Low Potassium!)

Mashed potatoes are one of those foods that many who need to watch their sodium and/or potassium intake have learned to live without!  To be honest, most low sodium mashed potatoes recipes I’ve tried have been pretty bland!  And it’s well-known that potatoes are high in potassium!

But what if I told you that I have a solution to the over-the-top amount of potassium in typical mashed potato recipes? Or, that I have discovered a special blend of only a few ingredients that would put an end to bland low sodium mashed potatoes forever?

A solution that is so easy that it doesn’t even seem possible?!  I know you’re on the edge of your seat wondering what that is!

Jump to:

• The Secret Ingredient
• Reasons to love our low potassium, Low Sodium Mashed Potatoes recipe
• The Potato Study
• Ingredients in our low potassium, Low Sodium Mashed Potatoes
• Other Tidbits about our low potassium, Low Sodium Mashed Potatoes
• Our other recipes that will pair well with our low potassium, Low Sodium Mashed Potatoes.
• Enjoy!
• Easiest Low Sodium Mashed Potatoes (& Low Potassium!)

The Secret Ingredient

The secret ingredient that is the backbone of this recipe is…………..canned potatoes!  OK, I know what you’re thinking.  Really?  Yes, really!  

I’m going to talk a little bit about all the reasons for using canned potatoes to make mashed potatoes.  But before I do that, let’s talk about what is surely at the top of your mind.  What do they taste like?

I’m here to tell you that our special blend of only about three ingredients (including canned potatoes, of course!) will make some low sodium mashed potatoes that truly do taste great!  In fact, as a little experiment, on the day that I perfected this recipe, I decided to serve them to my family for dinner that night.

And they loved them! They did not know they were made from canned potatoes.  In fact, they still don’t know!

Reasons to love our low potassium, Low Sodium Mashed Potatoes recipe

There are many reasons this recipe will be a favorite:

Low Sodium!

One serving (~ ½ cup) of our low sodium mashed potatoes contains only 55 mg of sodium!  This is in comparison to ½ cup of the typical homemade mashed potatoes that has a whopping ~ 333 mg of sodium!

Low Potassium!

One ½ cup serving of our recipe only contains 142 mg of potassium, whereas typical homemade mashed potatoes (made with milk and butter) contains about 300 mg.  

How can ours be so much lower?  I’m going to talk about this in a little more detail below, but the main reason is that canned potatoes are much lower in potassium than fresh potatoes. 

Low Phosphorus

For those who also need to limit phosphorus in their diet, this recipe only has 41 mg in one serving.

Super Easy!

You won’t even need to turn on your stove to make our low potassium, Low Sodium Mashed Potatoes!  No peeling and boiling required! You'll heat everything in the microwave!

Super Quick!

You will be able to make this recipe in less than 10 minutes from start to finish.  If you need to get dinner on the table in a hurry, this recipe can help with that!

Super Convenient!

So, the super easy and super quick qualities mentioned above definitely go hand-in-hand with being super convenient, no doubt!  But another convenient aspect of this recipe is that you can keep the canned potatoes on hand so you’ll have them when you need them—whether it be for a last minute meal or one that is planned.  The expiration or “use by" date for most canned foods is years away!

The Potato Study

Now, I’d like to put a spotlight on potassium. A group of researchers did a study comparing the potassium content of potatoes that were soaked before cooking to those soaked after cooking. 

Findings of the Potato Study

A few key findings were:

• Simply soaking raw potatoes before cooking leached out very little potassium.  In fact, it made such a small difference in potassium content that it wasn’t even considered worth doing! 
• Potatoes that were soaked after cooking leached out more potassium.
• Potatoes that were cut into strips or dice-sized cubes and soaked after cooking leached out the most potassium.

Canned Potatoes in the Potato Study

How does this apply to canned potatoes?  Well, during the canning process itself, canned potatoes are cooked in water. Then, the potatoes soak in that water right in the can, thus leaching out much of the potassium!  

In other words, the normal process of canning the potatoes leaches out much of the potassium!

In addition, if the potatoes are sliced or cut into dice-sized pieces (we use sliced in this recipe), even more potassium is leached out!  The study found that 100 g (about ½ cup) of diced canned potatoes, drained, contains 105-118 mg of potassium. This is in contrast to 454 mg in 100 g of raw potatoes (not cooked or soaked).

Furthermore, if these canned potatoes are then soaked in water for 12 hours and drained again, the potassium content is reduced to a mere 23-31g! Now in this recipe, we don’t take this extra step because our Low Sodium Potatoes are pretty low in potassium without doing so.  However, you can certainly do so if you want!

This article by the Kidney Foundation talks more in-depth about the study and gives a handy chart on the potassium content of potatoes prepared by various methods.   Check it out!

Ingredients in our low potassium, Low Sodium Mashed Potatoes

I mentioned earlier that this recipe contains only about 3 ingredients!  Here they are:

No salt added canned potatoes—diced or sliced

As discussed above, using the diced or sliced potatoes is important if you need to keep the potassium content down.  If potassium isn’t a concern, then the small whole canned potatoes are fine! 

I also want to acknowledge that canned foods get a bad wrap due to often valid reasons such a high sodium content, additives, etc. However, there are only 2 ingredients in most brands of no salt added canned potatoes: potatoes and water.

Whipped cream cheese

The whipped cream cheese gives the mashed potatoes a very slight tang that is super yummy!  It’s important to use whipped cream cheese vs. regular for a couple of reasons:  1. It has a creamier texture so it mixes in better and 2. The nutrient breakdown is different.

You may choose to use the following varieties of the whipped cream cheese:

• Flavored whipped cream cheese -  Philadelphia®️ Whipped cream cheese comes in a garlic & herb and chive flavor.  I did not try the chive flavor, but I tried the garlic & herb.  I will say that it did have a pretty strong garlic flavor, so if you are not a garlic-lover, this might not be the best choice for you. (I love garlic so I enjoyed it!).
• Regular (unflavored) whipped cream cheese – You can also choose to use plain whipped cream and add your own spices to suit your taste.

Spices

This is where you can tailor your mashed potatoes to your own taste buds.  A few examples of spices that you could use include :

• garlic (fresh, minced, powder)
• onion powder
• dill
• black pepper
• Any other favorite spices!

When I made the garlic & herb mashed potatoes, the only spice I added was about ¼ teaspoon of black pepper.  So, my mashed potatoes contained exactly 3 ingredients:  No salt added sliced canned potatoes, garlic & herb whipped cream cheese & pepper.  That’s it! 

Other Tidbits about our low potassium, Low Sodium Mashed Potatoes

There are a few additional points about this recipe I'd like to mention:  

• The recipe will instruct you to heat the potatoes in the microwave, mash them with a potato masher, then add the whipped cream cheese and spices.  I find that this produces a better texture than mashing all the ingredients together at once.
• I used a potato masher instead of a mixer.  My concern is that using a mixer would cause the potatoes to have a pasty texture.  On the other hand, it may be hard to get a super-smooth texture with the masher.  I decided to go with it and left some lumps for a more home-style mashed potato dish!
• In the study, the potassium content for the canned, diced potatoes, drained was cited as 105-118 mg per 100g.  This recipe instructs you to also rinse the potatoes after draining for an extra measure to possibly lower the potassium even further! 
• The potassium content listed in the nutrient breakdown of this recipe is based on 118 mg (instead of 105 mg) per 100g to be on the safe side. 
• The study used diced potatoes.  However, I couldn’t find unsalted diced potatoes, so I used the slices.  I believe the sliced would have a similar potassium content as the diced because there would still be a large amount of surface area for the potassium to leach out of.

Our other recipes that will pair well with our low potassium, Low Sodium Mashed Potatoes.

Try this recipe with these others by The Everyday Kidney Cook:

• Roasted Frozen Green Beans (Low Sodium)
• No Fuss Low Sodium Stuffing (Kidney-Friendly)
• Low Sodium Chicken & Noodles (Slow-Cooker)
• Easy Low Sodium Meatballs (Beef or Turkey)

Enjoy!

I truly hope you enjoy your low potassium, Low Sodium Mashed Potatoes as much as we have!  Give it a try and let us know how you liked it!