Mashed Rutabaga with Brown Butter
To mash rutabaga, peel it thickly, cut it into even 3 cm cubes, and boil in well-salted water for 25 to 30 minutes until completely tender. Drain thoroughly and let it steam dry, then mash with brown butter, a splash of cream, salt and plenty of black pepper. Rutabaga holds far more water than potato, so draining and drying it properly is what keeps the mash from turning soupy.
Rutabaga is the most under-used vegetable in the Canadian root cellar. It stores for months, costs almost nothing, and turns into a mash that’s sweeter and more interesting than potato — faintly peppery, a little earthy, and a much better foil for gravy.
It also has an image problem, largely earned by decades of being boiled to death and served unseasoned.
Cut it safely — it’s the hardest vegetable in the shop
A whole rutabaga is heavy, round, dense and often waxed. It will roll under the knife, and that’s exactly how people cut themselves.
Cut a flat slice off the bottom first. Stand it on that flat face, and it stops moving. Halve it top to bottom, lay each half cut-side down, and work through in wedges.
Peel thickly, with a knife rather than a vegetable peeler. Underneath the skin there’s a pale fibrous layer that stays woody no matter how long you cook it — take it all off. You’ll lose more than feels reasonable. Do it anyway.
Drain it, then dry it
This is the step that separates a good rutabaga mash from a sad one. Rutabaga holds much more water than potato. Mash it straight out of the colander and you’ll get something loose and watery that no amount of butter will fix.
After draining, put the cubes back in the empty hot pot over low heat for a minute or two. Steam comes off, the surfaces go from glossy to matte, and the mash you make afterwards will be dense and creamy instead of soupy.
Mash by hand. A food processor breaks down the cells too aggressively and gives you a gummy paste — the same reason you don’t blitz mashed potatoes.
Brown butter is worth the extra two minutes
Melted butter is fine. Brown butter turns this from a side dish into the thing people ask about.
Melt it in a light-coloured pan so you can watch the colour. It’ll foam, then quieten, and then the milk solids at the bottom will turn golden and smell like toasted nuts. That’s the moment — take it off the heat straight away, because it goes from nutty to burnt in well under a minute. Scrape every bit of the toasted solids into the mash; they carry most of the flavour.
Make it yours
- Half and half with potato if you’re serving people suspicious of rutabaga. A floury potato cooked alongside softens both the colour and the flavour, and is the classic way it’s served across much of Atlantic Canada.
- A spoonful of maple syrup, which plays directly into the vegetable’s natural sweetness.
- Nutmeg or white pepper, for something more like a traditional root purée.
- Crisp fried onions or bacon on top, if it’s going on a holiday table.
It reheats better than mashed potato and can be made a day ahead — spread it in a buttered dish, refrigerate, and warm through in a moderate oven with a few extra knobs of butter on top.
At a glance
Mashed Rutabaga with Brown Butter
Ingredients
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Instructions
- Cut a flat base off the rutabaga so it sits steady, then halve it and cut into even 3 cm cubes. Peel thickly — the fibrous layer under the skin never softens.
- Put the cubes in a large pot, cover with cold water, and salt it well. Bring to a boil and simmer 25–30 minutes, until a knife goes through with no resistance.
- Drain thoroughly, then return the cubes to the dry pot over low heat for 1–2 minutes to steam off the surface water.
- Meanwhile brown the butter: melt it in a small pan over medium heat and keep going until it foams, quietens, and the milk solids turn golden and smell nutty. Pull it off the heat immediately.
- Mash the rutabaga — a hand masher gives the best texture; a food processor makes it gluey.
- Beat in the brown butter (scrape in the toasted solids too) and the warm cream. Season hard with salt and black pepper.
- Taste. Add the maple syrup or nutmeg if you want it sweeter or rounder, and serve hot.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between a rutabaga and a turnip?
They're different vegetables, though the names get used interchangeably across Canada — what's sold as a 'turnip' here is very often a rutabaga. Rutabagas are large, dense, purple-and-tan skinned with yellow flesh, and taste sweet and mildly peppery. True turnips are smaller, white with a purple shoulder, with white flesh and a sharper, more radish-like bite. This recipe is written for the big yellow-fleshed rutabaga; true turnips work but cook faster and taste sharper.
Why is my rutabaga mash watery?
Because rutabaga holds considerably more water than potato does, and mashing traps it. Drain it very well, then return the drained cubes to the dry hot pot over low heat for a minute or two and let the steam escape before you mash. You'll see the surface go matte. Skip that and no amount of butter will rescue the texture.
How do I cut one safely? They're rock hard.
Cut a flat slice off the bottom first so the rutabaga sits stable on the board instead of rolling — that's where most knife accidents with them happen. Then halve it top to bottom through the flat base, lay each half cut-side down, and work through it in wedges. Peel thickly with a knife rather than a peeler; the skin is often waxed and the layer just beneath it is fibrous.