Are you craving some mashed potatoes but don’t want to go over your carb count for the day? Or maybe you’re just tired of having the same mashed cauliflower over and over again to satiate those potato cravings.
Turns out that cooking and mashing celery root makes a surprisingly delicious side dish that you’ll want to keep in your keto recipes rotations.
With its unique celery flavor and nutrient profile, celeriac mash goes well with a number of different dishes, from Italian sausage and peppers to pork recipes and chicken recipes. It even tastes great as a side dish for keto Indian recipes.
Celeriac mash is:
- Warm and comforting
- Creamy
- Versatile
- Nutrient-dense
The main ingredients in this dish are:
- Celery root
- Bone broth
- Coconut cream
- Cauliflower
3 Health Benefits of Celeriac Mash
#1: SUPPORTS GUT HEALTH
One serving of celeriac offers up to 2.8 grams of fiber — 11% of your daily value. Fiber helps digestion run smoothly and helps to feed beneficial gut bacteria. And when your gut bacteria are happy, everything works better — from your gut to your brain to your mood.
Fiber is a known weight loss nutrient. It’s associated with lower body weight in epidemiological studies and may help you feel fuller longer, which can banish cravings and help you lose weight.
#2: PACKED WITH ANTIOXIDANTS
This root vegetable is also high in vitamin C, a potent antioxidant associated with a laundry list of health benefits.
Vitamin C helps battle free radicals that cause oxidative damage. Free radicals are a natural part of life, but if you don’t consume enough antioxidant-rich foods, they can get out of control.
Over time, too many free radicals can cause cell damage that leads to disease and even cancerous cells.
Vitamin C also plays a crucial role in collagen production. Collagen doesn’t just help keep your skin looking young and supple; it also keeps your joints functioning and your stomach lining strong.
With more than 20% of your daily recommended intake, celeriac is the perfect high-vitamin C food, with a fraction of the carbs of some fruits and veggies that offer the same amount.
There is one caveat: heat destroys vitamin C in food. To get the most vitamin C out of your celeriac root, eat it raw or only lightly cooked.
#3: SUPPORTS HEART HEALTH
Celeriac’s high fiber content is also essential for heart health. Fiber helps to lower cholesterol levels and binds to bile acids, which are made predominantly of cholesterol. Once bile acids bind to fiber, they can pass through your body and are excreted.
This hearty root vegetable is also high in vitamin K, with an impressive 80% of your daily value. Vitamin K serves several important functions in your body, but it’s most famous for ushering calcium from your bloodstream into your bones.
This means less circulating vitamin K, which may lead to arterial plaque buildup, and more calcium where it’s supposed to be — making your bones strong as you age.
Celeriac is also high in potassium, a mineral and electrolyte you need to maintain healthy blood pressure.
Just one cup of celeriac offers up to 450 mg of potassium, which is about 13% of your recommended daily intake.
Celeriac Mash or Celeriac Mashed No-tatoes
Celeriac root is a large, funky-looking root vegetable you can find in most produce sections. But don’t judge a root vegetable by its cover. This is one of the most delicious, nutrient-dense vegetables you can eat on a keto diet.
It’s packed with fiber, potassium, and antioxidants, all why staying well under your carb allotment for the day. You can boil and mash your root, make a pure celeriac puree, bake it, or eat it raw.
Celery root acts just like many other root vegetables when it comes to cooking, although prepping it might be a little more intimidating. The large root comes with some gnarls and dirty outer skin.
To prepare the root for cooking, remove the gnarled base and top. Then, using a sharp knife, carefully cut down the slides, removing the thin outer skin. You’re left with a whitish-green bulb.
You can technically eat celery root raw, but for the purposes of this recipe, you’ll want to cut the bulb into 1-inch cubes.
Prep your cauliflower by removing the green stalks and leaves and dicing that into 1-inch pieces as well. Then toss your celeriac, cauliflower, garlic cloves, thyme, salt, and avocado oil or olive oil onto a baking sheet.
Baking instead of boiling will preserve a ton of flavor and nutrients. It will also give your celeriac mash a distinctive roasted flavor.
Cook your root vegetables on a medium-high heat of about 400°F for 35 minutes until they’re roasted and soft in the middle.
Once they’re done, let them cool slightly before adding your veggies to a food processor and add your bone broth and cream. If you don’t have coconut cream on hand, substitute heavy cream to keep it keto.
You can also add a tablespoon or so of unsalted butter for an even creamier texture.
Make too much? This recipe only gets better as it sits in the fridge and the flavors have a chance to mingle. Reheat you celeriac mash on low heat and eat it all week long.