For the fluffiest and lightest mashed potatoes, use Russets and rinse off excess potato starch before and after cooking. Kenji is the former culinary director for
Use Russets.
Less mashing results in less starch, and that's what's going to help us get that awesome consistency. Rinse excess starch from the diced potatoes before cooking. I'd recommend using a colander. Use a potato ricer instead of a potato masher.
Waxy potatoes have good flavor but can get wet and gluey if they're the only potato in the mash. It may sound obvious, but sometimes people just peel their potatoes without washing them first. POTATOES ARE DIRTY. Avoid getting specks of dirt in your spuds by thoroughly rinsing in cold water and scrubbing them first.
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.
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.
The excess potato starch that forms when potatoes are peeled and sliced must be rinsed off the chips with water. If not, the surface starch will block the evaporation of moisture from the potato and lead to mushy, dark brown chips.
The starches inside the potatoes dont help crisp. They convert to sugar and promote browning. If you leave the starch in them, they will turn very dark brown before they crisp up. To get them crispy you have to leach out as much starch as you can, and double fry them.
Soak the potatoes in a bowl of cold water for a few hours for the best results. You'll see starch and cloudiness at the bottom of the basin. If additional water is required, add it and rinse the potatoes between additions to get rid of any possible starch sediment.
Do NOT add cold liquid. Make sure the milk or cream you add to your potatoes is HOT. This helps it absorb better so you don't feel the need to overmix. Overmixing is bad.
Tips for the Best Mashed Potatoes
Start cooking the potatoes in cold water: This ensures that the potatoes cook evenly. Otherwise, if you start with hot or boiling water, the outsides of the potatoes cook and soften while the middles are still hard and crunchy.
Soaking potatoes in water helps remove excess starch. Excess starch can inhibit the potatoes from cooking evenly as well as creating a gummy or sticky texture on the outside of your potatoes. Cold water is used because hot water would react with the starch activating it, making it harder to separate from the potatoes.
Warm or room temp water is better for leaching the starches, some operators or manufacturers actually blanch (or boil) the potatoes in water to remove excess starches.
For fluffy mashed potatoes with a light texture, the goal is to release as little starch as possible. The correct amount will keep the mash together, but too much will create a gummy blob. Choosing a high-starch potato doesn't mean you'll end up with gluey mashed potatoes. The opposite is true.
Potatoes have lots of starch. If you want a crisp exterior with a fluffy interior, you have to remove the excess starch that collects on the outside of the fries when you cut them and soaking will do that for you.
That friction creates the starchy dust that coats the rice, and it's that starch that is responsible for the grains clumping together and sometimes giving the finished pot a gummy texture. Rinsing or washing rice removes that excess starch, resulting in grains that are more separate when cooked.
Potato starch does not generally have many health risks for a person. Resistant starches, such as potato starch, act similarly to fiber, meaning there are very few side effects after consumption. However, some individuals may find that eating large quantities of potato starch triggers gas and bloating.
Soak the potatoes in water for at least 4 hours, up to overnight. This step is crucial to really get all of the excess starch off. Fill a large pot with water, rinse off the potatoes one last time and add them to the cold water. Salt the water, place the pot on the stove and turn on the heat.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at a minimum, potatoes should be rinsed with water before cutting for cooking. Since potatoes are firm, use a clean brush to scrub them. Do not use soap, bleach, disinfectants, or chemicals to clean produce.
Here's how to do it: For every pound of potatoes in your mash, drizzle 1 tablespoon of melted butter over the dish and fold it gently into the potatoes. If the mash is still too gluey for your liking, repeat the process with another tablespoon of butter. It's that easy!
You could be using the wrong potatoes. Potatoes are generally considered "waxy" or "starchy." Waxy potatoes (like white potatoes and red potatoes) are more prone to gumminess when mashed, as opposed to starchy potatoes (like Yukon Golds and russets). Choose starchy potatoes or a mixture of waxy and starchy potatoes.
Once mashed potatoes reach the glue stage, there's no going back. Your potatoes may taste fine, but the thick, gloppy texture could be more than your guests can stomach.