From the YummyYucky team, founded by Nancy Nash

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Can Babies Eat Mashed Potatoes? Yes, From 6 Months

Mashed potato is the friendliest thing on the Thanksgiving table for a baby. Soft, mild and easy to thin, it works from about 6 months. The three things to manage are added salt, the dairy stirred through it, and a stiff gluey texture. Scoop the baby portion out before the salt and gravy go on.

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When to introduce: From about 6 months, once your baby can sit upright with support and is starting solids.
Common allergen?: Potato itself is not a common allergen. The butter, cream or milk mashed into it is milk, one of the nine major allergens the FDA requires on labels. Gravy adds wheat, because it is usually thickened with flour.
Texture: Soft and spoonable. Thin it with breast milk, formula or the cooking water so it drops off a spoon, because dense sticky mouthfuls are harder for a new eater to move around.
Key nutrients: Carbohydrate for energy, plus potassium, vitamin C and fiber, with more fiber if some skin stays in for older babies.

Yes, babies can eat mashed potatoes, and from about 6 months this is one of the best things on the holiday table for them. It is soft, it is mild, it needs no chewing, and it takes almost no work to make baby-friendly. The catch is that holiday mashed potatoes are not plain mashed potatoes. They get salted in the pot, loaded with butter and cream, salted again at the table, and then covered in gravy, which is usually the saltiest thing in the room. Babies under a year do not need any added salt. So here is your sentence for standing in someone else's kitchen: "Can I take a spoonful out before you salt it?" Ask it while the pot is still on the stove and you have solved almost the whole problem in one move. Thin that plain scoop with a splash of breast milk, formula or the potato water until it is loose, and your baby is eating the same dish as everyone else.

Prep School: how to prepare mashed potatoes for baby-led weaning (BLW) and purées

🍴 Baby-led weaning

Around 6 monthsBoil peeled potato until a piece falls apart under a fork, then mash it smooth by hand, since a food processor turns it dense and gluey. Thin it with breast milk, formula or the cooking water until it drops off a spoon rather than clinging to it. No salt, no stock cube, no gravy. A small knob of unsalted butter is fine once milk has been introduced. Preload a spoon and hand it to your baby to bring to their own mouth. Stir the mash through and test it on your own lip first, keep your baby sitting upright, and stay beside them.

9 to 12 monthsMash with a fork rather than a blender so it keeps some soft lumps to practice on, and keep it loose enough to spread rather than stiff enough to hold a shape. Stir in mashed green beans, soft carrot or a little finely shredded turkey so the whole plate moves together on one spoon, then hand your baby the preloaded spoon or let them scoop it up with their fingers. Still no salt and no gravy.

12 months and upA scoop of the family mash is fine now, as long as it was not heavily salted and you skip the gravy. Take it from a portion you put aside and refrigerated rather than the bowl that has sat on the table all afternoon, since perishable food should not be left out for more than 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90F. Serve it warm rather than hot and stir it hard to break up hot spots. Put a few spoonfuls on the tray next to a vegetable and a protein, and let your toddler dig in with their own spoon.

🥄 Purées

Around 6 monthsBoil peeled potato until a piece falls apart under a fork, then mash it smooth by hand, since a food processor turns it dense and gluey. Thin it with breast milk, formula or the cooking water until it drops off a spoon rather than clinging to it. No salt, no stock cube, no gravy. A small knob of unsalted butter is fine once milk has been introduced. Offer it from a spoon and let your baby set the pace, or preload the spoon and let them bring it to their own mouth. Stir the mash through and test it on your own lip first, keep your baby sitting upright, and stay beside them.

9 to 12 monthsMash with a fork rather than a blender now, so it keeps some soft lumps to practice on, and keep it loose enough to spread rather than stiff enough to hold a shape. It makes a good carrier: stir in mashed green beans, soft carrot or a little finely shredded turkey so the whole plate moves together on one spoon. Still no salt and no gravy.

12 months and upA scoop of the family mash is fine on the spoon now, as long as it was not heavily salted and you skip the gravy. Take it from a portion you put aside and refrigerated rather than the bowl that has sat on the table all afternoon, since perishable food should not be left out for more than 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90F. Serve it warm rather than hot and stir it hard to break up hot spots. Keep the portion to a few spoonfuls next to a vegetable and a protein.

🍪 Make them their own potato mash, no salt →

Are mashed potatoes safe? Choking & prep

Mashed potato is one of the lower risk foods you can hand a baby, so the cautions here are about what gets added to it rather than the potato itself. Salt is the big one. The CDC advises avoiding foods high in sodium for young children,¹ and the NHS says not to add salt to a baby's food or cooking water and not to use stock cubes or gravy,⁷ which rules out the salted pot, the stock cube and the gravy boat. Plate your baby's scoop before any of that goes in. Gravy is worth naming separately: it is built on stock and drippings, it is usually the saltiest thing on the table, and because it is thickened with flour it also carries wheat, which matters if wheat is new for your baby. Texture is the second thing. Mash whipped in a food processor turns dense and gluey, and the CDC groups sticky foods with hard ones as the ones that are difficult for a young child to chew and swallow, so mash by hand and thin it with liquid until it is loose. Thinning it reduces that risk rather than removing it, so keep your baby sitting upright, stay beside them, and let them set the pace. Third, the dairy. Butter, cream and whole milk are what make mashed potato taste like mashed potato, and milk is one of the nine major allergens the FDA requires on labels. If your baby has not had dairy yet, a holiday table is a poor place to meet it, so offer a spoon of plain yogurt on an ordinary day first and you will be able to tell what caused any reaction. Fourth, the thing nobody thinks about at a holiday: how long the bowl has been sitting out. Mash usually goes on the table early and stays there all afternoon, and the CDC says never to leave perishable food out for more than 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90F. Serve your baby from a portion you put aside and refrigerated, not from the bowl that has been on the table since noon. Last, check the temperature. Mash holds heat in the middle long after the top feels cool, so stir it through and test it on your own lip before it reaches the tray.

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Nutrition

Potatoes are mostly carbohydrate, which is exactly what a crawling, cruising baby burns through in a day. USDA FoodData Central lists fiber, potassium and vitamin C in a potato with its skin, alongside that carbohydrate, and for an older baby leaving some skin in the mash keeps more of the fiber than peeling everything. That vitamin C is quietly useful at a holiday meal, because vitamin C helps the body take up the iron in plant foods, so the mash is doing the beans and greens next to it a favor. The fat you stir in is not the enemy either. Babies need a high proportion of fat in their diet, so unsalted butter or a splash of whole milk after 12 months is doing useful work rather than undoing the vegetable. What mash does not bring is iron, so it belongs beside shredded turkey, soft beans or chicken rather than standing in as the meal.

Goes well with

Turkey · Green beans · Peas · Carrot · Chicken · Applesauce

Storage & freezing

Cool leftover mash quickly and get it into an airtight container in the fridge within two hours. It keeps 1 to 2 days in the fridge, or 1 to 2 months in the freezer.⁸ Reheat until it is steaming hot all the way through, stir hard to break up hot spots, then let it cool to warm before it goes near your baby. Mashed potato freezes better than people expect when there is some fat in it, so freeze baby sized portions in an ice cube tray, bag the cubes, and thaw them in the fridge overnight. Do not refreeze mash you have already reheated, and throw away anything your baby has had their spoon or hands in, because saliva in the container speeds up spoilage.

More vegetables to explore

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Green bean casseroleThe assembled casserole is best left until after 12 months, and then only a small spoonful from under the topping. Plain cooked green beans on their own work from about 6 months.

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MushroomAround 9 months, cooked fully and chopped small

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Mustard greensAround 6 months

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Napa cabbageAround 6 months

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Nopales (cactus)Around 6 months

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MashuaAround 6 months

Introducing this allergen

Common questions

Can my baby have mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving?

Yes, and it is probably the easiest dish on the table for them. The only real step is asking the cook for a plain spoonful before the salt, butter and gravy go in. Thin that scoop with breast milk, formula or a little potato water and your baby is eating the same dish as everyone else.

At what age can a baby eat mashed potatoes?

From about 6 months, once your baby is sitting up with support and starting solids. Potato is soft, mild and easy to thin, which makes it a comfortable early food. The age guidance here is about your baby being ready for solids, not about the potato being risky.

Is it the salt or the butter I should worry about?

The salt. Babies under a year do not need added salt, and holiday mash is usually salted in the pot, salted again at the table, and then covered in gravy. Unsalted butter is fine once milk has been introduced, and the fat is useful for a growing baby.

My mother-in-law already gave my baby a spoonful of the salted mash. What now?

One spoonful of salted mashed potato is not an emergency and your baby is fine. Offer water or a normal breast or bottle feed, and do not follow it with more salty food that day. For the rest of the meal, quietly take charge of the plate yourself rather than relitigating it at the table.

Can babies have gravy on their mashed potatoes?

Skip it. Gravy is built on stock, drippings and often a stock cube, which makes it one of the saltiest things at a holiday meal, and it is thickened with wheat flour. If your baby wants their mash wetter, use breast milk, formula, whole milk after 12 months, or a little of the plain potato cooking water.

Why did my mashed potato go gluey, and does that matter?

Blending or over whipping potato breaks the starch into a stretchy paste. It matters because dense sticky mouthfuls are harder for a young child to chew and swallow. Mash by hand with a fork or a masher, stop as soon as the lumps are gone, and loosen it with liquid until it falls off the spoon.

Can I use instant or boxed mashed potatoes for my baby?

It is not the best choice. Boxed mash is usually built on added salt and flavorings, and the whole point of mash for a baby is that you control what goes in. A real potato boils in about fifteen minutes and mashes in one. If boxed is what is in the house, keep the portion very small and skip anything else salty that day.

Can I make mashed potatoes ahead for my baby and freeze them?

Yes. Freeze plain unsalted mash in an ice cube tray, bag the cubes, and thaw two the night before in the fridge. Reheat until steaming, stir well and cool to warm. Walking into someone else's holiday kitchen with a pot of your own mash already sorted is the calmest version of this day.

Sources

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Last updated November 2026. Next review February 2027. How we write these: built from current published guidance from the AAP, CDC, FDA/EPA, NIAID, WHO, and other pediatric and public-health authorities, with sources cited on the page. See our editorial and medical policy for how we research, source, and update these, and how we double-check the food advice.

This is general information, not medical advice, and is not individualized for your baby. Always talk to your pediatrician about your baby's diet, introducing allergens, and any reaction. In an emergency, contact emergency services.

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