The One Small Step You Should Never Skip When Making Mashed Potatoes (2024)

FAQs

The One Small Step You Should Never Skip When Making Mashed Potatoes? ›

And whatever you do, don't skip the step we learned from Light and Silky Mashed Potatoes: Drain the potatoes and return them to the pot and cook, shaking, for 1–2 minutes until all the excess moisture has evaporated. Your resulting spuds will be creamy, not watery.

When potatoes are mashed, starch is released. The more you work the potatoes, the more starch gets released. When too much starch gets released, the potatoes become gummy, gluey, and unappetizing.

For the very best result every time, always gently warm the butter and milk before adding to the potatoes, rather than adding cold dairy straight from the fridge. Here's why: Warm dairy is absorbed faster and more easily, with less stirring than its cold counterpart.

The trick to perfect creamy mashed potatoes is boiling the potatoes whole, then quickly peeling and mashing them together with milk, cream, butter and salt.

This is the most common, and perhaps the simplest way, to thicken mashed potatoes. You can use what you have on hand: Flour, cornstarch, or powdered milk are all solid options that are probably already in your pantry.

Soaking and/or rinsing the potatoes can help you modify the amount of starch that remains on them. Cutting potatoes into smaller pieces before cooking and rinsing them under cold water will wash away much of the excess starch.

There's just something about those velvety smooth, luxuriantly creamy, full-flavored mashed potatoes that have most homemade versions beat beyond comparison. As it turns out, there is a pretty simple reason why steakhouse mashed potatoes are so much better than other versions: They don't skimp on the salt or fat.

The secret ingredient is just ice-cold water.

You soak the potatoes in iced water before they are cooked. This eliminates much of the starches in the potatoes, resulting in a super light and fluffy mash. It's also like when you make rice. The key to fluffy rice is to rinse off as much starch as possible.

How do you make mashed potatoes fluffy and not gluey? ›

Using a potato ricer or food mill breaks down cooked potatoes without overworking them, and from there you can gently fold in butter and milk for light and airy mashed potatoes, or you can control the level of starch manipulation to produce creamy pommes purée.

In general small or cubed potatoes will take about 10 to 15 minutes to boil, while larger, whole potatoes will take between 20 to 25 minutes. To check potatoes for doneness, insert a knife into one.

This comes down to personal preference. Potato skins have great potato flavor. Not only do they add flavor, but some really like the texture of potato skins in mashed potatoes. If, however, you are looking for a super-light and fluffy mash with no color contrast, then you may want to consider peeling the potatoes.

Use a hand masher for chunkier, more textural potatoes that are still light and creamy. Use a stand mixer or electric hand mixer for densely creamy potatoes, the heavy kind you have to use your fork as forklift to transport from plate to mouth.

Waxy potatoes, such as peewee potatoes, fingerlings, and red potatoes, hold their shape when boiled, making them great for roasting or tossing into a potato salad—not so much for mash, where they'll turn into bitsy, unappetizing pieces.

Blending an all-potato mash—even with the precision of a hand blender—runs the risk of releasing too much starch, creating a gluey, sticky mess. But with other produce incorporated into the mix, an immersion blender is a great way to get everything exactly as smooth as you'd want without overdoing it.

In mashed potatoes, cooking in milk, and preserving that starchy liquid, gives your potatoes a natural creaminess and allows you to skip the weighty heavy cream.

I like to use a combination of both! The cream makes the potatoes rich, and the milk helps keep them moist. Should milk be cold or warm for mashed potatoes? The potatoes will turn out creamier if the dairy is slightly warmed.