Want to bring the fluffiest, creamiest, richest, and most indulgent mashed potatoes to the table? (And who doesn't?) Here are all the tips and tricks you need to make mashed potatoes that are more than just an excuse for gravy.
First, we'll show you which potatoes to use and how to cook them just right, and then we'll teach you the secret trick to make sure your mashed potatoes are never watery.
How to Make the Best Mashed Potatoes
What Are the Best Potatoes for Mashed Potatoes?
For this basic recipe, we used a blend of red and russet potatoes. This combination creates a slight texture variation. If you prefer completely smooth mashed potatoes, this method still applies, but russet or Yukon Gold potatoes — with their high starch content — are the best choices for mashed potatoes.
1.Peel the potatoes, removing as many of the eyes as possible with the tip of your peeler. (If you prefer more rustic-looking mashed potatoes, keep the skin on half of them and mash them with a potato masher instead of a food mill or potato ricer.)
2. Submerge the potatoes in a bowl of cold water to keep them from turning brown while you are chopping them.
3. Cut the potatoes into similar-sized chunks so they will cook evenly: the cubes should be about 1½ to two inches wide.
4. Put the cut potatoes in a large pot. Use a pot large enough to hold the potatoes with enough water to cover, plus room for the water to boil up without boiling over. Add salt to the water, if desired. Bring the water to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium low.
5. Cover the pot and simmer until potatoes are tender — about 15 to 20 minutes. A knife tip inserted into a potato should meet no resistance; if the potato clings to the knife, the potatoes need to cook longer. When potatoes are done, remove from heat and drain immediately.
Reserve the potato water if you would like to use it in place of butter or cream when mashing, or if you plan to make a vegetable soup stock or sourdough bread:
Sourdough Starter IV
Grandma's Focaccia: Baraise Style
Bramblett's Vegetable Stock
Summa Borscht
6.Return the drained potatoes to the pot and heat over medium-high heat for about a minute to cook off any excess water. This guarantees your mashed potatoes won't be watery. Stir gently to make sure all the potatoes dry out. The edges will start to look white and flaky, but don't let the potatoes scorch. Meanwhile, heat the butter and cream in a small saucepan at a low temperature. (You can also use the microwave for this step.)
7.Now we get to the mashing part. For this recipe, we used a food mill to break up the potatoes and remove any lumps. Once the potatoes have been passed through the mill, drizzle half of your hot cream mixture through and around the grate to get every last bit of potato. Gently stir in the remaining butter and cream.
8. Taste the potatoes for seasoning and adjust to taste. Test for consistency, too: If the potatoes are too thick, add more cream. Other herbs and spices can be added at this point as well: chopped chives, Italian parsley, Parmesan cheese, crumbled bacon, roasted garlic, chopped scallions, or creamed leeks are all delicious additions.
How to Fix Watery Mashed Potatoes
If you end up with a saucepan full of watery mashed potatoes, all is not lost — this article will tell you how to fix those watery mashed potatoes and turn them into creamy, fluffy mashed potatoes.
How to Make Low-Fat Mashed Potatoes That Are Still Creamy
To reduce the fat content of traditional mashed potatoes, use low-fat sour cream in place of butter, and milk or broth rather than cream. Try some of these excellent spiced-up mashed potato recipes:
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Rosemary Mashed Potatoes and Yams with Garlic and Parmesan
Mashed Potato, Rutabaga, and Parsnip Casserole with Caramelized Onions
Spruced Up Mashed Potatoes
Related:
The 7 Biggest Mistakes You Make With Mashed Potatoes
Browse our entire collection of mashed potato recipes.
While there's not a set amount of boiling time you can always count on for perfect mashed potatoes, a good rule of thumb is to make sure their cooked all the way through. To test this, pierce a potato with a fork.If the fork easily slides all the way through the other side, it's cooked thoroughly.
Once boiling, reduce heat, adjusting as needed to maintain a simmer. Cook potatoes until they offer no resistance when pierced: 10–12 minutes for baby potatoes, 15–20 minutes for small potatoes, or 30–40 minutes for large cubed potatoes. Drain potatoes in a colander and let cool 10 minutes.
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.
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. If it slides in without much effort, you're good to go!
If you overcook them they disintegrate and your potatoes will be soupy. The specific cooking time depends on the size of your potato: a perfectly cooked piece of potato should give no resistance when cut with a knife, but shouldn't crumble into a million pieces.
As with pasta water, there's a reason to liberally salt the water in which the potatoes will cook: As the starches in potatoes warm up, they open up and absorb water (and salt if you season the water). When they're finished cooking, the cells close off.
Rinsing potatoes helps remove excess starch, so it is recommended to rinse the potatoes before cooking. To ensure even more starch is out of the way, it's recommended that they even be quickly rinsed after boiling. We recommend using hot water for rinsing after boiling and cold water prior to boiling.
Generally, you want to boil potatoes for 10 to 20 minutes.
Whole potatoes will take longer than cut-up or cubed potatoes, so it's important to test your potatoes for doneness. When they are ready you should be able to easily pierce them with a fork all the way through.
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.
You can use what you have on hand: Flour, cornstarch, or powdered milk are all solid options that are probably already in your pantry. Potato flour and potato starch would work as well. Stir in the thickening agent gradually, about a tablespoon at a time, until the potatoes have reached your desired consistency.
When too much starch gets released, the potatoes become gummy, gluey, and unappetizing. Overworking the potatoes can happen in a couple ways: either by simply handling them too much, or by using a food processor, blender, or similar tool, which mixes the potatoes too aggressively.
Runny potatoes can happen for a few different reasons. Too much liquid: This is the most common reason. In the mashing process you may have added too much milk or broth.
Instead, it's better to use cold butter, so all of the starch is equally coated in the fat and milk solids. Whereas it's important to use cold butter for mashed potatoes, you'll want to add cream that's warm or room temperature.
How Do You Know When Potatoes Are Boiled? A good indicator of when a potato is done boiling is if you can pierce it with a fork. You want the potatoes to be tender all the way through, with a fork easily sliding through to the center. If you get resistance, boil for another few minutes and check again.
Lumpy mashed potatoes generally mean undercooked potatoes. If you get to this point and you realize you've undercooked your potatoes, just add a little bit of milk or cream and cook the potatoes over a low heat until the lumps begin to soften.
Generally, you want to boil potatoes for 10 to 20 minutes.
When they are ready you should be able to easily pierce them with a fork all the way through. You'll want to boil potatoes any time you don't want them to dry out (as they can when baked in the oven).
Introduction: My name is Merrill Bechtelar CPA, I am a clean, agreeable, glorious, magnificent, witty, enchanting, comfortable person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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