Pumpkin Shaped Mashed Potato Bites with Browned Butter Rosemary Garlic Sauce

Turn your mashed potatoes into cute little pumpkins! These Pumpkin Shaped Mashed Potato Bites are easy to make from mashed gold potatoes then shaped into pumpkins using cooking twine. Bake them in the oven and serve with a rich and flavorful rosemary and garlic infused browned butter sauce for the perfect side dish to any meal!

Whether you’re looking for a fun Thanksgiving side dish or something new to serve alongside your next Fall meal, these Pumpkin Shaped Mashed Potato Bites are the most delicious little bites, not to mention adorable too! 🥰 These cuties would even make a great appetizer at any Fall event.

After making my Sugared Almond Flour Pumpkin Cookie Dough Bites I was thinking of all the ways I could turn different foods into cute little pumpkins haha! 🎃 I originally set out to make pumpkin shaped pasta or gnocchi, but after a few failed attempts, I kind of mistakingly ended up on mashed potato pumpkins and they turned out perfectly!

Despite how it may look, these cute mashed potato bites are actually very simple to make. The vegan mashed potatoes only require 6 ingredients, 7 if you’re planning to color them, and the dairy-free browned butter rosemary garlic sauce is made with only 5 simple ingredients. Are you ready to dive in?

The Mashed Potato Ingredients

Gold potatoes. You will need 4 medium to large gold potatoes. The potatoes will need to be peeled and cut into medium sized cubes. 4 potatoes is equivalent to about 4 cups of cut potatoes. Boil the potatoes in water until soft, about 20-25 minutes, drain and then mash them with a fork or a potato masher until no large chunks remain. You will end up with about 3 cups of mashed potatoes.

Brown rice flour. You only need 3 tablespoons of brown rice flour to add into the mashed potatoes. This helps to hold the potatoes together when baking.

Nutritional yeast. I love adding nutritional yeast to a lot of recipes! It gives these mashed potato bites the slightest cheesy flavor.

Salt. I like to use pink himilayan salt in my recipes for a milder salt flavor.

Milk. You may use whatever plant-based milk you’d like. You will need 4-5 tablespoons. I used oat milk. Start with 4 tablespoons and add one more tablespoon if you need it to achieve a playdoh-like consistency.

Olive oil. Mix in 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the mashed potatoes.

Sunflower seeds. I used 2 raw sunflower seeds for the stems of the pumpkins. You can use something else if preferred, but I thought the sunflower seeds worked perfectly!

Browned Butter Rosemary Garlic Sauce

Butter. You will need ½ cup dairy-free, plant-based butter. I used Miyoko’s stick butter.

Garlic. I used pre-minced garlic to cut out a step in meal prep, but feel free to mince your own clove of garlic.

Rosemary. You will need a large fresh sprig of rosemary to infuse in the garlic butter. Note: A sprig of rosemary is a single stem of the rosemary herb plant with the needle-like leaves attached to it.

Lemon juice. Adding 1 teaspoon of lemon juice gives the garlic butter sauce just the slightest zing of lemon that tastes so delicious with the rich melted butter.

Salt. If your butter has added salt you may omit adding more salt if you wish.

How To Make These Pumpkin Shaped Potatoes

It is surprisingly easy to mold mashed potatoes into pumpkins using cooking twine! Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. While you’re waiting for the water to boil, peel and cut the potatoes into medium-sized cubes. Boil the potatoes for 20-25 minutes until soft, drain.

In a large bowl, mash the potatoes using a potato masher or a fork until no large chunks remain. Using a spatula, fold in the brown rice flour, nutritional yeast, salt, milk, and olive oil until you have a soft playdough-like consistency. There should be no potato chunks.

How To Make Purple Pumpkins

I love the purple color and I actually didn’t use purple sweet potatoes, even though that would work! Purple sweets can be hard to find, but also to cut back on having to make two separate mashed potato recipes, I colored half of the gold mashed potatoes with purple sweet potato powder!

Split the dough in half between two bowls. Add 1 teaspoon of purple sweet potato powder to one bowl. Using your hands, knead the dough until the color is well incorporated, this may take a couple of minutes.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using ½ tablespoon of mashed potato dough, roll into smooth balls until all of the dough is used up. You should get 30-35 potato bites. 

Using a piece of cooking twine, gently score each ball into a pumpkin shape, first making a cross and then diagonally.

Let the bites rest while you preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Spray the mashed potato bites with spray oil and bake for 15-17 minutes. 

How To Make The Sauce

While you’re waiting for the oven to preheat, add the butter to a large skillet and melt over medium heat. Add the garlic, rosemary, lemon juice, and salt. Allow the rosemary to infuse the butter, stirring occasionally. The butter and garlic should start to turn golden brown. When it does, turn the heat down to low and allow the butter to simmer.

When the mashed potato bites are done baking, add 1-2 sunflower seeds to the centers of each pumpkin and allow the bites to cool for about 10 minutes. Serve with the browned butter rosemary garlic sauce drizzled over top or spread some of the butter on a plate and serve the mashed potato bites on top of the sauce. 

FAQ

Is there another way to cook these?

I tried to make these mashed potato bites a few different ways. First I tried to boil them like gnocchi and they turned out lumpy and lost their pumpkin shape, probably because they are gluten-free and vegan. Then I tried to place them in the skillet with the rosemary garlic butter sauce, cover them and sort of “steam” them, and that didn’t work either- they ended up being too mushy. Finally, I tried to bake them and that was the winning method! They turn out perfectly baked in the oven and kept their shape. So long answer short, I would recommend baking them.

Can I reheat these pumpkin shaped mashed potatoes?

Yes! You can place them back in the oven to reheat them. I like how baking them gives them a sort of crispy outside and soft mashed potato inside. If you’re in a hurry (like my husband, lol) you can warm them in the microwave, but they reheat much better in the oven. I suppose you could try to air fry them, but watch them closely!

Can I use another type of potato for this recipe?

You may use another type of white potato, like russet potatoes, however I find the creaminess of the gold potatoes work best for these mashed potato bites. You could also try making these bites with sweet potatoes!

Can I skip the sauce?

The sauce is divine! But if you wish to just eat these mashed potato bites almost like tater tots, then you may skip the browned butter rosemary garlic butter sauce.

Can I use another type of flour in the mashed potatoes?

I used brown rice flour and haven’t tried another type of gluten-free flour, however, another flour such as a gluten-free all purpose flour would most likely work. Tapioca flour or cassava flour could be a good option for grain-free as well (though I haven’t tried either of these either).

Let me know what you think about these Pumpkin Shaped Mashed Potato Bites recipe down below in the comments section as well as giving it a five rating  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ so that others can discover a dairy-free, made-from-scratch cute side dish. Be sure to tag me on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest if you make them!

How-To Recipe Video

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