Park Street Deli Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Black Pepper

I didn’t grow up eating sweet potatoes, but as an adult I’ve come to like them in certain forms. A baked sweet potato with butter and salt is a favorite simple lunch of mine. I also love sweet potato fries and order them whenever they’re an option at any burger restaurant.

So I was intrigued when I saw Aldi selling mashed sweet potatoes this fall. These are a knockoff of name-brand Kevin’s Mashed Sweet Potatoes. Aldi has been selling quite a few Kevin’s knockoffs lately. The name brand and Aldi sweet potatoes have identical ingredients lists and nutrition information.

The Aldi package describes these as “silky & simple mashed sweet potatoes seasoned with ghee, sea salt & a hint of black pepper.”

Park Street Deli Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Black Pepper is probably a Seasonal Item at Aldi, but I’m not entirely sure about that. Seasonal Items are in stores for longer than Aldi Finds, but they aren’t sold year round. In this case, I’m guessing a sweet potato dish is going to be stocked during the fall and winter holiday season, since sweet potatoes often are a staple of the holiday table. If this is not in stock at your local store, you can’t order it online.

When this is in stock, you’ll find it in the refrigerated aisle. It is perishable and needs to be kept refrigerated. The package I bought had a use-by or freeze-by date of about three weeks out from my date of purchase.

We bought this ourselves for review and paid $4.99 for a 16-ounce package at our local store. That’s about 31 cents per ounce. The package contains about three half-cup servings, which comes out to about $1.66 per serving.

This is minimally processed with no artificial ingredients. It’s promoted as soy free, paleo friendly, and gluten free.

If you’re looking out for allergens, this contains milk and coconut.

The full ingredients list includes sweet potatoes, clarified butter (milk), water, coconut milk (coconut cream, water), coconut sugar, sea salt, onion powder, and black pepper.

One half-cup serving has 160 calories, 5 grams of total fat (7% DV), 3.5 grams of saturated fat (17% DV), 350 mg of sodium (15% DV), 26 grams of total carbohydrates (10% DV), 5 grams of dietary fiber (18% DV), 9 grams of total sugars, 1 gram of added sugars (3% DV), and 2 grams of protein.

The package has directions for heating this in the microwave or on the stove top.

To microwave, pour sweet potatoes into the provided tray or into a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 2 minutes. Remove the the microwave, stir, and heat for an additional 1-2 minutes. Remove from the microwave. Stir and serve.

To heat on the stove, fill a pot with enough water to submerge the pouch of sweet potatoes. Bring the water to a boil. Turn heat down to medium-high and carefully add the pouch to the hot water. Cover the pot with a lid and heat for 6-8 minutes. Remove the pouch with tongs and let cool for 1-2 minutes. Carefully empty into a serving dish, stir, and serve.

I opted to microwave the sweet potatoes. It was a cinch to dump the package into a microwave-safe glass bowl (I didn’t care to microwave the included plastic tray), and they were plenty hot after just a few minutes in the microwave.

The potatoes are well seasoned without being overpowering. They don’t have an overly strong pepper flavor and are not spicy at all. These mashed sweet potatoes are pretty smooth but do have some small lumps, but I thought they added interesting texture.

I served this alongside some roasted chicken, stuffing, and a garden salad for a mini Thanksgiving-style meal. This didn’t win over any of my family members who already don’t care for sweet potatoes, but I liked this dish.

The Verdict:

Park Street Deli Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Black Pepper are an Aldi-branded version of name-brand Kevin’s Mashed Sweet Potatoes. The ingredients list and nutrition information are exactly identical, so if you like the Kevin’s potatoes, you’ll like these Aldi ones. These have good, mild flavor with a mostly smooth texture with some small lumps. Overall, our taste testers who like sweet potatoes approved of these.