Peruvian Causa, Spicy Mashed Potatoes

Peruvian Causa, Spicy Mashed Potatoes with Lime Juice, filled with your choice of salad or veggies. The perfect meal!This post contains affiliate links. Purchases through these links support My Gluten Free Miami at no cost to you. Thank you!

Peruvian Causa, Spicy Mashed Potatoes

One of my absolute favorite Peruvian dishes is Causa. Causa is super simple to make and has so many uses. Causa itself refers to the spicy mashed potatoes that are seasoned with aji amarillo and lime. It can be filled with chicken salad, tuna salad, avocado, shrimp salad, ceviche or really anything you like! Traditionally it has a bit of mayonnaise on top to counteract the spiciness, and in true Peruvian style, a hard boiled egg.

When I was pregnant this was one of my cravings, and luckily it is a dish that is naturally gluten free and dairy free. Naturally gluten free dishes are my favorite. No worrying about substitutions, no hard to find ingredients, plus I could pick up a causa at pretty much any Peruvian restaurant if I wasn’t in the mood for cooking. My other craving was sushi…my husband is Peruvian Japanese and he said my cravings were my daughter showing her heritage. She’s only 18 months, but she loves Peruvian and Japanese food. His genes must have been strong!

One Recipe, Infinite Possibilities

Causa has so many different serving options. Traditionally it is layered with chicken or tuna salad, but you can layer it with whatever you like! We also like to make little individual balls for appetizers or you can make mini ones and fill with avocado or a tuna tartar. These were a huge hit at my wedding. There is something about these little mashed potato balls with their kick from the aji amarillo and bite from the lime that makes them more addicting than potato chips.

Now, don’t let the fancy, layered look fool you.

I used fun mini cheesecake pans to create the layered look, but when we are making it for our family, we will just layer it all in a pyrex dish and serve it like lasanga.

Recipe Notes

Aji Amarillo is a traditional Peruvian Pepper that is made into a paste.

I use it in so many dishes- Papas a la Huancaina, Peruvian Deviled Eggs, Arroz con Pollo, it is very versatile. You should be able to find it in the international section of your grocery store, but if you can’t, you can always get it on Amazon (just click the picture).

Use whatever type of filling you like.

My personal favorite is with Chicken Salad. You can get my recipe for easy Chicken Salad here. Feel free to experiment with vegan options as well, you can easily fill it with sliced avocado and use a vegan mayonnaise.

Salt your potatoes.

I don’t know how many times my parents told me when I was learning to cook to always salt the water when boiling potatoes and pasta. It makes a huge difference in flavor.

I hope you enjoy this traditional Peruvian recipe as much as my family does.

Happy Gluten Free Eating!

Print Recipe

3.85 from 40 votes

Peruvian Causa

Ingredients

• 3 lbs peeled and chopped yellow potatoes
• 1-3 teaspoon aji amarillo add slowly and to taste
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• salt
• 2 cups filling of choice
• mayonnaise
• hard boiled eggs optional decoration

Instructions

• Boil potatoes in salted water until a fork inserts easily.
• Mash potatoes aji, oil, and lime juice together until smooth.
• Add salt to taste.
• Layer in a pyrex dish or mini pans with potato, filling and more potato.
• Decorate with mayo and hard boiled egg.