Mashed potatoes may seem like a pretty straightforward side dish. But as simple as they seem, they don’t always turn out as planned! The fluffy, flavorful potatoes you envisioned may turn out starchy, gummy, or downright bland. But I recently learned about a simple trick that can enhance both the taste and texture of your mashed potatoes, and that’s what I’ll be sharing with you today!
Related: How to Make Instant Mashed Potatoes Taste Like the Real Thing
Do you use one type of potato when making your mashed potatoes? Most people do! But choosing only one potato may actually be working against you. Because when you use only one type of potato, there’s not a lot of room for error. Failing to get the flavor or texture just right can ruin your poor potatoes! But as I recently discovered, there are actually two simple ways to get around this mashed potato problem!
The Secret to Better Mashed Potatoes
The first way to improve the taste and texture of your mashed potatoes is to use two or three different varieties of potatoes, rather than just one. Combining a variety of different textures and starch levels makes for more interesting and flavorful mashed potatoes!
The second option for enhancing your mashed potatoes is to supplement your potatoes with other root vegetables. You could use turnips, parsnips, sunchokes, or sweet potatoes—whatever you like best! Adding different roots in with your potatoes will add a ton of flavor and character to your mashed potatoes.
To take this advice for a spin, I decided to try both methods at once. To my usual choice of russet potatoes, I added both Yukon gold potatoes and parsnips into the mix. After mashing everything together and adding a healthy amount of butter, I was delighted by how delicious it turned out! I had been worried that the additions would make my mashed potatoes unrecognizable, but that wasn’t the case at all. The Yukon golds and parsnips simply enhanced the flavor and texture of my mashed potatoes in a really wonderful way.
After seeing (and tasting!) what a difference it made, I don’t know if I’ll ever go back to using just one type of potato!
4 More Mashed Potato Mistakes (and How to Fix Them!)
1. Cutting Your Potatoes Too Small
Cutting your potatoes into small pieces may make them cook faster, but that’s where the good news ends. Small potato pieces will absorb more water than larger pieces during cooking. Water-logged potato pieces lead to watery and bland mashed potatoes, and no one wants that! So when you’re cutting your potatoes before cooking them, make sure your pieces are at least 1 1/2” wide.
2. Letting Your Cooked Potatoes Sit in the Water
If you boil your potatoes before mashing them, it’s important to take them out of the pot as soon as they’re done cooking. If your potatoes continue to sit in the water, they’ll continue absorbing more water. This leads to the same issues I mentioned above—watery, bland mashed potatoes. Make sure to drain your potatoes as soon as they’re done!
3. Mashing Potatoes with a Food Processor
Your food processor is a very handy tool, but when it comes to making mashed potatoes, it is not your friend! Processing cooked potatoes will unlock all of the starches trapped inside them. Those starches will turn your mashed potatoes into a gummy, glue-like mess! Instead, use a handheld potato masher. The wavy kind is great if you like your potatoes a bit lumpy. If you like them really smooth, use a grid-style masher.
4. Adding Cold Liquids
Whether you like to add milk, cream, or chicken broth to your potatoes, it’s best to warm the liquid up first. Adding warm liquids to your warm potatoes makes them easier to combine. It will also help your potatoes will stay warmer, longer!
I like to take it to the next level by sautéing some garlic in a bit of butter, then pouring my milk in. Then I add the warmed garlic butter milk to my potatoes, and it makes for great texture and flavor!
What do you like to add to your mashed potatoes?
great tips! I’m saving this one for sure.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I always use Yukon Gold Potatoes. I never peel them or cut into chunks before boiling. I boil them whole in the skins and when easily pierced I remove them and place “as is” in an empty colander. When cool enough to handle, I remove the skin, it comes off easily and then I mash them and make sure that I never add any cold sour cream, cream, milk, half n’ half, butter whatever I feel like adding to it, it all has to be room temperature. They come out fine like this, perfect texture and fluffy, not watery or sticky like glue. They even reheat well in the crockpot if I want to serve them later in the day. I know we are talking mashed potatoes, but I also boil them whole with the skin and do the same process when making potato salad, remove the skin afterword as well, don’t like skins in potato salad.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.No matter what size I cut them or how long they sit in water, I’ve never had watery makes potatoes. That’s just strange.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Also, I can imagine adding other root vegetables can make a nice dish – we make a turnip-potato mix… but that’s not mashed potatoes.
I only use Russet potatoes. and I have been make Mashed potatoes for a long time now. Very yummy!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.No pepper or Nutmeg. Just salt, Margarine, Milk
Hi! I add a pinch of nutmeg and black pepper when I’m done mashing my , it gives it a great flavor!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My favorite way is to cook the potatoes in milk, butter and seasonings. Use the same milk when mashing the potatoes. I got this idea from Foodnetwork’s Tyler Florence. This is a family favorite.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I will give it a try!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Our household is vegetarian. The following is a great recipe for gravy. I substituted the Better Than Bouillon Beef Base with Vegetable Base and added a bit of poultry seasoning. It was delicious.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.https://www.betterthanbouillon.com/recipes/need-gravy-in-a-snap/
I just started roasting red potatoes before I mash them. It prevents that waterlogged potato issue and adds more depth to the flavor.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I use lots of low fat sour cream instead of milk or butter. I got this tip from a friend’s mother who was polish and was a terrific cook.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I will try to remember this. Thank you for this tips. http://odhikar.news/food
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I enjoy everyone’s input. My mom and a friend of mine, [that was an Army cook] always use WHITE pepper in there mashed potatoes. Didn’t see that flavor listed today.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Sounds delicious!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.OK. I don’t think I would like parsnips. I cook my potatoes in Chicken stock or water with bullion cubes and minced garlic, pour off and save for soups or gravy. Then I immediately mix in lots like 1 stick plus (depending on #s) of butter, the cream cheese (4 oz/5#) and maybe even sour cream. No water, no milk. These potatoes are so good, can be eaten straight up, cold. I make at least 5# at a time for the 2 of us and then scoop the left-over into quart freezer bags, flatten and freeze. Instant meal PRN. Sooooo good.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My Mother taught me to add a little Garlic powder, a little Onion powder, S&P, & some grated cheddar, (about 1 cup, to a medium saucepan of mashers). On top, she would sprinkle a bit of Paprika & Parsley, for serving.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.The trick of using different varieties of potatoes works with homemade applesauce, too. I use this recipe, and it’s SO good!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.https://againstallgrain.com/2016/03/05/pressure-cooker-applesauce/
Add butternut squash !
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Hi, a traditional addition to mashed potato is butter, egg yolk, cream, pepper, pinch of salt and a pinch of nutmeg.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Old potatoes go into cold water, new potatoes into boiling water, drain as soon as cooked, return to the pan and dry off over the heat before adding the warmed additions.
Garnish with chopped, fresh parslry (or your favoutite herb).Adding other vegetables, although divine is not strictly mashed potatoes
Whichever way you try them, I hope you enjoy them.
My personal potatos of chioce are King Edwards, goood all rounders and so tasty, are these available in the US?
Happy mashing from the Isle of Man xx ☺
Great tips that i never knew!!! Wanted to let you know also Jillee, about that company with the eyelash serum. I contacted them twice within a week to make sure i was cancelled and they GUARANTEED me i would NOT be charged. 2 days later they tried to charge me $94. Thank gosh i have a bank that moniters my charges well and they put a stop on it and contacted me both by email and phone and are giving me a new debit card number. Its calked NUVEGA…They are from the UK. Hopefully others read this and are warned. Never again for me trying a free trial product. Thank you for your help
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I cook potatoes in chicken broth, after cooking drain the broth into a bowl then use some of the reserved broth to mash potatoes instead of milk…very tasty and stays hot longer.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I like this idea.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I also used red potatoes, but I do peel them, I drain them from the liquid put them in a bowl with butter and cream cheese and they are the most awesome potatoes ever, I mix them with my mixer, and they are light fluffy and awesome.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Be sure not to use the electric mixer, if you have non-stick pots. It chips the surface & that goes into the food from then on. It’s carcinogenic, too, so I always transfer the drained potatoes (or whatever) to a big bowl where I add stuff & mash them.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I love to use the red skinned potatoes. I add butter and canned milk to make them rich and the texture is very good.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Like my parents before me, I always whip my potatoes. I dont want one tiny lump in them. They are NEVER gummy. I add them to my bowl right after draining and break them down on low for a minute, then increase speed while adding a cup of heated milk combined with a melted stick of butter. This isn’t added all at once, but frequently as u whip w/blender until they are light and fluffy, but still hold their shape. And, if your’e adding salt – do it as you whip. Almost impossible to add it afterward.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Caren, when I was younger and had children at home, this is exactly how I would make mashed potatoes, also, when we would have a lot of company on holidays I would use my standing mixer.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Now, the children are grown, and we have grandchildren and two great-grandchilren. :-)
Now, it is just my husband and me at home, so I take the easy way out. I buy already mashed potatoes at my supermarket, sometimes the store brand and sometimes Bob Evans brand. They are delicious and can be dressed up with sour cream or whatever you choose.
My daughter brought me a container of these potatoes when I was down with the flu a few years ago, and I have been “hooked” ever since. BTW, my daughter is a Karen. :-)
Use a potato ricer instead of mashing…absolutely NO LUMPS. For a special treat use sour cream and cream cheese instead of milk…delectable.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I love mashed potatoes and always make them whenever I cook something that has gravy. We grow our own, and really don’t find any difference in the final product. Mash, add a bit of salt & milk then turn into a nice serving bowl with a few green onions on the top. No garlic, no cream cheese, etc. Potatoes stand on their own. I usually cook extras and take them out before mashing to make potato salad the next day. It seems to me that all these “extra flavors” are totally not necessary, and just make more work ( and dirty dishes) for an already busy host or hostess. If there are leftover mashed potatoes, my husband makes them into patties the next day which are delicious fried with bacon, eggs & toast.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.We have to get back to simpler cooking, the new cooking shows boggle my mind with all the ingredients, weird combinations and sinks full of dishes to deal with. I’ve always felt that people should mostly be eating what is grown locally. With some exceptions: I love using lemons (but can’t) grow them here, and am glad we don’t grow cilantro here – it tastes like soap to me. But we sure can grow wonderful, delicious potatoes!
What are “leftover mashed potatoes”? Never heard of them!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.For great flavor, I use baked potatoes. If short on time they can be started in the microwave. I also keep the skin on. To mash, I use a hand mixer. The skin gets broken into little pieces and add great flavor.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.The skin has a lot of nutritional value including fiber. It’s a shame to throw out the skin. When I bake a potato, I eat the skin with the meat! Healthy!! You can also add cooked cauliflower to mashed potatoes. I’ve heard that that it can be sub’d for potatoes without notice. If you do peel be sure to compost!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Couscous is a grain, that is durum wheat. But orzo that looks like rice is pasta.
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