The Mistake: Overworking the Potatoes with a Food Processor, Blender or Mixer. Too much — or too vigorous — mashing will produce gluey potatoes. Your best tool is an old-fashioned masher, fork, ricer or food mill.
Yes. If you boil potatoes for too long, they'll lose their structure and absorb too much water. That means that they'll become mushy, won't have the correct texture, and won't hold their shape.
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.
Too much — or too vigorous — mashing will produce gluey potatoes. Your best tool is an old-fashioned masher, fork, ricer or food mill. If you've already done the damage, turn pasty potatoes into a casserole: Spread them in a baking dish, drizzle with melted butter and sprinkle with grated cheese and breadcrumbs.
Add a Thickening Agent
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.
As already discussed, pastiness is caused by too much potato starch being worked into the mashed potatoes. The main way we combat this problem is by rinsing away starch, both before and after cooking potatoes for fluffy mashed potatoes. Rinsing off starch means that there is less of it that can end up in the dish.
Keep Your Potatoes Hot
If you want a truly creamy taste and texture, you can't let the potatoes cool before mashing—you want to start getting busy with them as soon as possible after they've been boiled and drained.
Turn the heat to high and bring the water to a boil. Reduce the heat to low to maintain a simmer, and cover. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes, or until you can easily poke through the potatoes with a fork.
Potatoes can be peeled prepped and cut into water up to 2 days before boiling for mash.
Soupy, watery mashed potatoes usually happen because the cooked potatoes were cut into pieces that were too small, weren't drained well enough, or were overcooked. Fix them: Scoop the watery mashed potatoes into a pan and stir constantly over low heat to evaporate the excess liquid.
You undercook your potatoes...
Don't be tempted to drain your potatoes too early ― you wan't them to be fork tender and falling apart. If you accidentally do undercook them, simply throw them into a baking dish and cook them in a low oven. The heat should soften them just enough to smooth 'em out.
You can use milk, cream, half-and-half, tangy buttermilk, or chicken or vegetable stock to rehydrate your mashed potatoes. Start with a ½ cup of liquid for 4 cups of mashed potatoes, and add it gradually so you don't end up with potato soup. Adding extra butter is a good idea, too.
Whisk a little cornstarch into the warm potatoes, only a teaspoon at a time, until the potatoes thicken to your liking. The potatoes must be warm. You can also use tapioca starch or potato starch, although most cooks are less likely to have those products on hand.
The trick to the most fluffy mashed potatoes is to add a leavening agent like baking powder or baking soda. Just a pinch of baking powder added to the drained, cooked potatoes can help make them so fluffy.
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.
Drinking too much milk can cause digestive issues such as bloating, cramps, and diarrhea. If your body is not able to break down lactose properly, it travels through the digestive system and is broken down by gut bacteria.
Do not add cold milk or cream to the pot of piping hot potatoes. Not only will this cool the dish down, but the cold liquid will not absorb into the hot potatoes very well. Warm the liquid in a saucepan on the stovetop or in a glass measuring cup in the microwave.
They absorb liquids brilliantly, which is why they mash so well. But when you boil them in water, the liquid they are absorbing is just that, water, which can make for a less flavorful mash. By boiling the potatoes in salted milk, they are absorbing creaminess and seasoning, which makes them inherently more flavorful.
The Best Mashed Potatoes
To make them fluffy and flavorful, be sure to simmer them slowly and add plenty of salt to the cooking water. And don't skip the step of steaming the excess water off; leaving too much moisture in the potatoes causes them to be loose and gluey.
Potatoes are, by nature, really starchy, and starches require a decent amount of salt to taste good. Adding tons of salt to the water your potatoes boil in is necessary to get the seasoning inside the spuds.
No-Mashed potato flavors are enhanced by many different ingredients-too much butter makes them taste greasy.