Add This Ingredient To Your Mashed Potatoes For A Flavorful Fall Twist

Along with panoramas of colorful leaves and a brisk nip in the air, autumn's arrival also marks the return of fall ingredients and flavors. They star in seasonal favorites, and can also give an autumnal twist to everyday dishes. One of the most classic is pumpkin, which, in addition to being baked into a Thanksgiving maple pumpkin pie and made into creamy spiced pumpkin soup, can give a burst of fall flavor to mashed potatoes blended with pumpkin puree.

All you need to add pumpkin's earthy, sweet flavor to mashed potatoes is canned pumpkin, making sure not to use canned pumpkin pie filling, which has sugar and spices. Mix some of the pureed cooked pumpkin with the prepared mashed potatoes, tasting as you go until the flavors are balanced to your liking. This simple addition, which will also give the potatoes a golden hue, is one of the ways you can upgrade instant mashed potatoes as well.

The canned pumpkin on American store shelves largely isn't actually made from field pumpkins, the round, orange variety that we're used to. It's made from Dickinson pumpkins or Dickinson squash, a tan, oblong type of squash that's more flavorful. Libby's, which makes around 85% of canned pumpkin sold in the U.S., uses its own Dickinson variety called Libby's Special Seed that's sweeter and denser than field pumpkin flesh. This is also the type of pumpkin that Costco exclusively uses in its pies.

The easiest way to whip up pumpkin mashed potatoes is with canned pumpkin (which can be frozen for up to a year), but you could also make it yourself with sugar or pie pumpkins. They are smaller, sweeter, and less stringy than the ones carved for Halloween. One method is to cut the skinned and seeded pumpkin into chunks and boil them with the potatoes before mashing them together with milk and butter. For a more eye-catching look, you could boil and mash the potatoes and pumpkin separately, and then loosely swirl the pumpkin into the potatoes instead of completely mixing them, so you see their contrasting colors.

Another option is making pumpkin puree yourself. Cut the small pumpkins in half and de-seed them, then roast the halves in the oven, which develops sweetness and depth of flavor. Once they're tender, scoop out the pumpkin from the skins and puree in a food processor or blender.

You can add more flavors to pumpkin mashed potatoes, particularly if you want to fancy it up more for a holiday meal. Mix in nutty parmesan or sharp cheddar cheese, chopped fresh herbs like sage, thyme, or rosemary, or spices like cumin, chili powder, or a pepper blend. Give a nod to pumpkin spice flavors with a little nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, or ground cloves. You could also mix in savory sauteed onions and bacon, or garlic that's been roasted to mellow its flavor. Top the dish with a sprinkle of fresh herbs, chives, pepitas, or chopped pecans or walnuts.