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.
Cover the pot with a lid and let simmer until fork-tender, about 10-15 minutes for small and/or cubed potatoes or 20-25 minutes for large potatoes. Drain and cool. Drain potatoes in a colander. To rapidly cool potatoes for recipes that call for cooled potatoes, you may submerge them in an ice bath.
Pour cooked potatoes into a colander or use a slotted spoon to remove large pieces of potato from the hot water and place them in a bowl. If your recipe calls for cooled potatoes, run them under cold water or submerge them in an ice bath to speed the cooling process.
They can sit for an hour, or two, like this, Foster says. When you are ready to continue, set the pot over low heat and the simmering water will heat the potatoes back up so you can mash them.
Classic American Potato Salad
Peel & chop the potatoes. Soak potatoes in water, then drain and rinse the potatoes. Add 2 quarts water, 2 tablespoons kosher salt, 2 tablespoons sugar, and 2 tablespoons vinegar to a large bowl.
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.
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.
Yes, you can boil potatoes ahead of time for your potato salad up to 24 hours before serving. Just make sure to store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.
And because potatoes are so timid in flavor, they need that salt to bring them out of their shells. Pour some salt in, then keep going. It's difficult to oversalt the water (and if so much salt scares you, remember most of it will go down the drain or be saved to cook other starches in).
Here's how this sticky state of affairs happens: Cooking causes the starch granules within the potato cells to absorb water and swell. Some cells will inevitably burst, releasing tacky gel that helps give mashed potatoes their cohesiveness.
Always start potatoes in cold water.
Dropping them into boiling water is a bad idea because the hot water will cook the outsides of the potatoes faster than the insides, leaving you with unevenly cooked taters. By the time they've fully cooked to the core, the outsides will be mushy and start to flake apart.
The boiling point
The most important part here is that you use cold water instead of boiled – if you boil the water first, the outside will cook faster than the inside resulting in an uneven texture. Cubed spuds will take around 15 minutes where larger chunks or whole new potatoes will be 20-25 minutes.
Once it's time to cook with the potatoes, drain and rinse again with cold water. Washing the potatoes twice with water will remove excess starch, which will help them to get extra crispy when roasted or fried.
Boil the potatoes whole with the skin on, then drain them and let them cool for 5 minutes. If you're going to peel them, wait until they're cool enough to handle before removing the peels. Cut them into evenly sized chunks, and then proceed with the potato salad instructions.
Do not cover. (Covering changes the environment in the pot and can make the potatoes turn mushy.) Check the potatoes after 5 minutes. Cubed potatoes will cook more quickly than whole potatoes; smaller potatoes will cook more quickly than larger potatoes.
Boiled Potatoes Time Guide
Peeled, cubed potatoes cut into small, one-inch pieces should cook in 10 to 12 minutes, once the water reaches a boil. Larger pieces (about 2 inches across) may need longer, around 15 minutes. Medium whole potatoes should boil 20 minutes before they'll be tender.
Potatoes soak up a lot of flavor, so salting the water prior to cooking is a good idea for the best taste.
The baking soda bath breaks down the potato's pectin and draws the starch to the surface, which promotes browning and the satisfying crispiness that only a perfectly roasted potato can deliver.
A word about butter: Don't melt butter before stirring it into the potatoes because the milk solids and fat will separate. You can add cold butter to your hot potatoes since the butter will melt as a whole and distribute the fat and milk solids evenly.
Yukon gold, red, or russet potatoes can be boiled either cubed or whole. You can also peel them or leave the skins on – it's totally your choice!
A: Once cooked (whole or cut) potatoes can be stored in water (with or without vinegar) without becoming discolored or mushy. But, water storage isn't necessary. Refrigerate the boiled potatoes in a sealed container and use within a couple of days.
A: NO! This is the wrong way to do it and is not food safe. Cooked starch foods like potatoes can grow germs if not kept either refrigerated and cold or hot over 140º F.
Washing is vital since potatoes are root vegetables grown in the ground, and their skins can carry dirt, pesticides, and bacteria. Furthermore, the Centers for Disease Control recommends that you wash all produce, even those you can peel, like potatoes.
Soaking peeled, washed, and cut fries in cold water overnight removes excess potato starch, which prevents fries from sticking together and helps achieve maximum crispness.
The Food and Drug Administration advises you wash potatoes before you eat them. Potatoes grow in the ground, and carry not only dirt but also bacteria to the grocery store and later, your table. Pesticides also remain on potato skin; even organic potatoes carry some degree of contaminants.