Traditional Scottish Clapshot Recipe (+Video!)
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No Burns supper or self respecting haggis wouold be complete without clapshot, that deliciously creamy mixture of potatoes and swede, chives and the very best butter.
What is clapshot?
A strange word I know but actually it originates in the Orcadian dialect where the dish of clapshot comes from.
Clapshot is a simple vegetable dish of mixed turnips (swede if you live in England, turnip if you life in Scotland!) and potatoes. They are mashed together with chopped up chives for extra flavour and lots of creamy butter. O
Originally dripping would be used to mash the vegetables together but nowadays butter is more commonly used.
Clapshot is traditionally served with haggis on Burns Night.
Check out my other traditional Scottish recipes here on Larder Love.
Ingredients
- Turnip, or swede if you life south of the border.
- Potatoes (any good mashing potatoes are fine here, I like King Edwards or Marris Piper potatoes.
- Butter
- Chives
- Salt and pepper
Alternative ingredients
You can use onion instead of chives, but don’t use too much or you will overpower the dish.
How to make clapshot
- Peel and chop the potatoes and turnip and cut into cubes of similar size
- Boil these in salted water till both are tender
- Drain and mash the vegetables together. I like to keep a wee bit of texture in my clapshot and not make it uniformly smooth. It’s up to you if you want it to be completely creamy or have a bit of texture.
- Beat through the butter and snipped up chives and season well with salt and black pepper.
Top with some extra snipped chives and a knob of butter.
Make ahead
You can make your clapshot up to a day in advance and just keep it covered in the fridge, cover with foil and reheat in the oven when you are ready to serve the dish.
Storage
You can keep this in the fridge for up to 2 days in a covered container and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost thorughly before reheating till piping hot.
How to serve clapshot
Traditionally clapshot is served alongside haggis instead of seperate neeps (turnips) and tatties (potatoes).
Serve your clapshot with any hearty winter stew.
Clapshot goes perfectly with a roast chicken, pork or beef or just with a steak or chops, whatever you fancy.
Looking for more vegetable side dishes to make at home? Then check out these recipes before you go;
Whisky glazed Vichy style carrots (+Video!)
Gigantes Plaka (Greek giant beans in rich tomato sauce)
Black eyed beans with fennel and spinach
Greek warm leek salad (prasosalata)
Finally, if you do try this recipe don’t forget to leave a comment/star rating below as I just love to hear from readers. Want more Larder Love? Then follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest and sign up for my newsletter too of course.
Traditional Scottish Clapshot
Ingredients
- 500 g potatoes
- 500 g turnip swede (its the same thing)
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp chives finely chopped
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Peel and chop the potatoes and turnip into pieces about 1.5cm and place in a pan with enough water to cover, add salt and bring to the boiol cover and boil for about 20 minutes till tender,
- Drain and mash the vegetables together in the pan, add the butter and most of the chives (reserve some to decorate the dish) and salt and pepper
- Serve with extra chives and a knob of butter
Hi Karon,
Your recipes keep my beloved Scottish Nana alive in my memories. The aroma from our kitchen of jellies, smoked haddock, Christmas cookies with ginger, molasses and nutmeg, and not appealing to this once 8 yr old but now a weekly fall tradition in my kitchen…potatoes and turnips. In this area of SE Massachusetts we prize the variety known as The Macomber Turnip. Thank you, Susan
Hi Susan
Glad my Scottish recipes are bringing back good memories for you.
K x
Thank you. I enjoy the old recipes.
Hi Syusan
Glad you like the old recipes here
K
KARON, YES, YOUR RECIPES KEEP MY BRITISH DAD AND MY RELATIVES ALL ALIVE IN MY MEMORIES ALSO, AND I FEEL SO MUCH CLOSER TO THEM WHEN I READ YOUR RECIPES!! DO YOU HAVE A RECIPE FOR STRATHBOROUGH PASTE, MADE WITH LEFTOVER COLD ROAST BEEF, GARLIC, ONION, FRESH THYME AND. BUTTER? CHEERS AND MANY THANKS!! THANKS FOR KEEPING “HOME” ALIVE FOR ME!!
Hi Sheila
So glad my recipes bring back memories for you. Sorry don’t have a recipe for Strathborough Paste that you mentioned, sounds a bit like potted meat. All best.
K
I grew up in the South having mashed potatoes mixed with mashed turnips or sometimes rutabaga, but we didn’t know we were eating “clapshot.” I have to tell my siblings about this, LOL! Our mother was from NY and father from Indiana…so don’t really know how our family came across this dish.
Hi Sue
Nice foodie memories there.
K
Haven’t seen this for years. Based on the yellow colour, these are Swedish turnips, which us Brits call Swede, the Scotts call Neeps (as in Tatties and Neeps), and the Americans call Rutabaga. The smaller milder white turnip we just called “Turnip”.
Hi Paul,
We have always referred to them as turnips and I live in Ayrshire and was brought up in Edinburgh.
K
I’m with Paul – neeps is swede and is not a shortened form of ‘turneeps. Turnips are turnips, north and south of the border. Where I grew up, 60 odd yeats ago, in rural Perthshire, the big green and white turnips were fed to the cows. Never saw the small, sweet pink and white turnips that are everywhere these days
Hi Jane
We Scots call these turnips.
K
I saw a Facebook post regarding swedes, and in the comments, it mentioned Clapshot. Not knowing what it was, I googled it and then came across your recipe. I made it for rhe family and it was really delicious. Will definitely be having it again.
Hi Lisa
So glad you have discovered the joys of clapshot. It’s such a great side to add to everything from a roast dinner to chops, stew, anything really.
K
Lovely except you only showed a picture of a swede, a turnip is a completely different vegetable.
This is a turnip in Scotland!!!
Rutabagas/Swedes are also “turnips” in Ireland. When I did my “year abroad” in college–in Dublin–we were served “mashed turnips” for tea (supper) and I didn’t know what they were, although they were delicious. Then on a vegetable stand at the little corner grocery near my “digs”, I saw them displayed and realized they were what we Midwesterners called rutabagas (which I’d never before eaten). After 57 years, I can still remember their taste!
Hi John
Food memories are the best. Sounds like you really enjoyed your time in Ireland all those years ago.
K