Easy Yuca Mash

Garlic Yuca mash, perfect side dish for your meals, made with few ingredients and easy to make, boil, mash, and enjoy. And it's gluten-free!

As it's called in Spanish, yuca, or cassava, is an excellent replacement for potatoes, and it’s widely used in Latin and Caribbean cuisines.

It’s versatile, and you can eat it in different ways, fried, boiled, as a mash, in soup, and even desserts. No matter the time of day, it can be for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

In Panama, yuca is widely eaten fried, or mojo as a garnish, in soup, and it’s the main ingredient in carimañolas, a stuffed yuca fritter with ground beef.

Jump to:

• 📋 Ingredients for the recipe
• 📝 How to make the recipe? - Step by Step
• Yuca Mash
• 🍽 Storage and serving suggestions
• Substitutions
• Recipe Variations
• ❓FAQs

📋 Ingredients for the recipe

To prepare this recipe, you will need yuca (peeled, core removed, and chopped), garlic, water, salt, butter, milk, and pepper. In the recipe below, you will have the complete measurements of each of these ingredients.

You will need a large pot, a potato masher, or a large fork and a large bowl.

Now that we have all the ingredients and utensils, then let's get started.

📝 How to make the recipe? - Step by Step

Step 1: In a large pot, add water, yuca, garlic, and salt. Add enough water to cover the yuca—about 5 cups.

Step 2: Cook over medium heat for about 30-40 minutes or until tender. You can prick them with a knife, and if it goes in and out easily, it means they are ready. If they aren’t tender yet, cook for five more minutes or until it reaches their desired tenderness.

Step 3: After this, remove the yuca from the pot and place it in a large bowl to mash, taking advantage of the fact that it is still hot. Reserve some of the water for later.

Step 4: Add butter, garlic powder, milk and continue mashing until you get the desired texture.

💡 Tip: if the mash is getting a little hard to mash, add a bit of the cooking water to continue mashing (1 tablespoon at a time).

If you prefer a rustic mash, leave small pieces of yuca without mashing.

If you prefer a much creamier mash, add a little more of the cooking liquid (1 tablespoon) at a time and continue mashing.

Step 5: Serve with your favorite protein and enjoy!

🍽 Storage and serving suggestions

• Storage: Once cool, you can store them in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days.
• Reheat: You can reheat in the microwave. If it's a bit dry, you can add a little extra water or milk before heating.
• This mashed yuca goes well with any meat with sauce. I tried it with steak and onions, and it was an excellent combination. You could also serve it with this beef tongue or stewed sausages for breakfast.
• You can also serve it with turkey. Try this recipe for stuffed turkey breast.

Substitutions

• Yuca: use fresh or frozen.
• Butter: replace it with ghee, margarine, or olive oil.
• Milk: use any milk you have on hand (evaporated, cow, almond, coconut, etc.) Make sure you use unsweetened plant-based milk. The higher the fat content, the creamier the result will be.
• Water: use part water and another part broth to add more flavor to the yuca.
• Garlic: you can omit the garlic or replace it with onion powder.

Recipe Variations

• Add cheese, use sour cream or cream cheese and eliminate the milk. Or you can make a mashed yuca gratin. For this, you can use mozzarella cheese or Parmesan.
• Add herbs, onion, chives, or parsley.
• Make it dairy-free or vegan by using olive oil and plant-based milk instead of butter and milk.
• You want to add another texture, crush pork rinds or bacon strips and place it on top!
• You can make a casserole with leftovers, meat, chicken or tuna, or yuca arepas and add cheese.

❓FAQs

If you tried the mashed yuca recipe or any other recipe on Nashi Food, don't forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! We love knowing about your cooking experience.