Potatoes

For your best mashed potatoes yet.

Here’s to the humble, dependable spud. It has to be one of the top kitchen staples of all time, loved for its versatility — giving us creamy mashes, comforting hashes, cheesy gratins, crisp fries, crunchy chips, fluffy bakes to load with butter and sour cream, and much more. We tend to take this kitchen stalwart for granted, stashing it in the pantry with little care and expecting it to be there at our beck and call. But that doesn’t always pan out.

No peeler, no problem.

You really don't have to make mashed potatoes day-of for them to come out perfect.

A simple and clever way to bring your appetizers to the next level!

It's nearly effortless.

For years I had heard that the way to get the fluffiest, lightest mashed potatoes did not involve a masher, a wooden spoon, or (shudder) a food processor. The magical tool was a food mill. Last year I finally acquired one and I can say that the stories are true; for the lightest, fluffiest potatoes, a food mill is the way to go. I am a big fan of this food mill made by OXO. It’s dishwasher-safe, which is a major bonus when you’re talking about mashed potatoes and other purées.

Make them last with our handy storage tips.

And what exactly are potato eyes, anyway?

I grew up thinking that mashed potatoes came from the dehydrated flakes in a box. When I finally made my own from scratch, the result was such a revelation that I haven’t looked back since. But transforming a potato into the delicious, comforting magic of mashed potatoes really starts at the grocery store. You need to pick the right potato so you end up with light, fluffy mashed potatoes. There are three basic categories of potatoes: starchy, waxy, and in-between.

The winner was absolutely perfect.

Save yourself a lot of hassle by using this easy trick.

They'll be good as new even weeks later!

Yes, really, for months.

If you're cooking Thanksgiving dinner for just two, you can easily whip up mashed potatoes without making a Thanksgiving-sized pot-full.

If you’ve ever cut into a sweet potato and the flesh was white, you’re in for a treat. The flesh of sweet potatoes come in different colored hues including orange, purple, yellow or white. The term white sweet potato is used to describe any variety of sweet potato that has white flesh. The two most common white-fleshed sweet potatoes are Boniato, also called batata, or Cuban sweet potato, and the Japanese sweet potato, also called the satsuma-imo.

Potatoes fall into three basic categories: starchy, waxy, and those in between (which are referred to as all-purpose). The trick is knowing which potato works best in which circumstance. Consider this a user’s guide to the humble spud. We break down which potato is best for baking, boiling, roasting, and more.It’s a good idea to inspect your potatoes before you buy them.

And you most likely already have what you need in your pantry.

Amp up the flavor!

They look so dreamy!

If you’re like me, you’re always looking for a quick but filling and nutritious meal on a busy day. One thing I’ve learned to do is to tuck a few sweet potatoes into the oven whenever I’m baking something. That way, I have a head start on a delicious, nutritious meal, ready to go whenever I’m hungry but pressed for time. Read on for several suggestions for how to use a baked sweet potato.

This simple trick will seriously improve your mashed potatoes.

You won't even need a knife to make it happen.

Perfect baked sweet potatoes await you.

It's a serious game changer.

One step might surprise you.

Whether your mashed potatoes are watery, lumpy, over-salted, or gluey, we'll show you how to fix them and make them delicious.

Here's how to cook sweet potatoes so they hold their shape in salads and grain bowls instead of turning to mush.

Listen for the sizzle.

We looked at texture, taste, ease, and time to find the method mostly likely to lead to success.

This tip has almost 50,000 likes on TikTok.

I'm both scared and impressed.

Just remember waxy is better than starchy!

Effortlessly brilliant.

They should be stick-to-your-ribs tasty, not stick-to-your-mouth gluey.

Eight times our test kitchen went to the mat and came back with a clear winner.

Peeling is actually easier afterward: We'll show you how.

It’s the sort of cooking tip that is sometimes frowned upon amid today’s predominant fresh-is-best philosophy.

We compared the time, texture, and taste of each method.

If your potato game is lagging, we can help.

Créme de la créme!

Want to make your mashed potatoes really pop? Try a hint of nutmeg.

Can mashed potatoes really qualify as a meal by themselves? If you mix in enough other ingredients, we think they certainly can! Mashed potatoes are really just like polenta, rice, or any other starchy side, and they make the perfect foil for just about anything we have in the fridge. Here are a few of our favorites extras!We realized mashed potatoes could be a meal unto themselves when we got hungry while making a batch of Twice Baked Potatoes.

There are plenty of legitimate reasons you might want to skip the traditional sweet potato casserole topping of caramelized, gooey marshmallows. Maybe you’re welcoming a vegan or vegetarian to the table, or you want to eat less sugar during the holidays, or maybe you’re one of those folks who just doesn’t like marshmallows! Luckily, sweet potato casserole doesn’t hinge on a marshmallow topping.

Every year my family’s Thanksgiving spread absolutely needs to include a creamy, marshmallow-topped sweet potato casserole. It’s essential. I’ve made a lot of variations of this iconic dish, and over the years I’ve learned that what makes it so great isn’t the topping — it’s the way you treat the potatoes. This is the easy, but important trick you need to know.

Many of us are eating sweet potatoes throughout the year — baked, turned into noodles, or just boiled and mashed — but I’m declaring November the official start of roasted sweet potato season. When you roast sweet potatoes, their flesh becomes sweeter, burnished by the hot oven, and the flesh tenderizes into the most delicious bites ever.

Instant potato flakes aren’t exactly high on most lists of pantry essentials. You may keep them around in chilly months as a quick and easy shortcut to creamy mashed potatoes, but they’re probably more likely collecting dust on supermarket shelves. What you might not know, though, is that these little flakes — made most often from either russet potatoes or Yukon Golds that have been cooked, mashed, and dehydrated — can work their magic in a surprising amount of dishes.

They're both comforting baked potatoes casseroles, but they're not one and the same.

If you’re looking to incorporate more veggies into your diet, you may be focusing on how you can add them to dinner. But if you’ve got a sweet tooth, may I suggest working them into dessert, too? I know this isn’t a new concept. Our uber-popular double chocolate zucchini bread packs in the nutrients, but tastes just like a decadent chocolate loaf cake. We’ve stuffed grated beets into chocolate beet cupcakes, and of course eaten our fair share of classic carrot cake.

After a (much-too-long) hiatus, I’ve reintroduced tater tots to my meal plan. And you know what? I think they taste even more amazing now than they did when I was a kid. All I had to do was change the way I cooked them. To cook a batch of irresistibly delicious tater tots, you’re going to need more time on the clock than what’s instructed on the bag.

You don’t have to hit the drive-thru to get your fill of hot and crispy fries. All you need to do is try one (or more!) of these five tricks to make your next batch of at-home fries taste just like your favorite fast food joint. Part of what makes McDonald’s and Wendy’s fries so dang amazing is that they are super generous with the salt shaker. If salty fries are your thing, these fast food fries are top of the class.

Roasting potatoes doesn’t seem like something that would require a degree from culinary school. Usually it’s a simple process of cleaning the spuds, dicing them, tossing them with oil and herbs, and then roasting them until they reach crispy perfection, right? Right. That’s what I thought too until I saw Jamie Oliver make his version, and I won’t lie — I learned more than a few tricks! Want to see how he makes the most magical roast potatoes?

If you’re celebrating Friendsgiving this weekend and were tasked with bringing a side dish, I’ve got just the thing for you: hot honey sweet potatoes. Roasted with butter and brown sugar and then drizzled with a spicy jalapeño-infused honey, these are not your Aunt Rita’s sweet potatoes — and that’s exactly the point. Friendsgiving is a more relaxed version of Thanksgiving.

Here's everything you need to know about preparing sweet potatoes.

Summer is synonymous with cold salads, Popsicles, and grilled food. It’s the time of year when you’re supposed to say goodbye to your oven (unless you’re making pie), and opt for simple, fresh meals. It’s the time for weekly trips to the farmers market, tons of seasonal vegetables and fruits, and lazy beach days. It should be all about lazy cooking. So why, all of a sudden, am I obsessed with roasted sweet potatoes?

Along with hard-boiled eggs and a pot of beans, the one thing I always make at the beginning of the week is a big batch of baked sweet potatoes. Of all the prepped foods that make the week a little easier, this vibrant orange root vegetable is the MVP. It is a blank canvas full of potential for a simple side dish that’s ready to be eaten as is; a quick fix to bulk up salads, grain bowls, and eggs; or, with a simple upgrade, it can be a meal in itself.

Don’t you love the smell of a baked potato right out of the oven? Nowadays, you can go beyond just salt and butter and stuff one with an abundance of ingredients. You can try hummus, pulled pork, apples, and even sauerkraut. Read more: How To Bake a Potato: Three Easy Methods With our recipe roulette, the possibilities for how to stuff your baked potato are endless. All you have to do is hit pause whenever you like on the video and let the universe decide your ingredients.

Are you roasting sweet potatoes to go with dinner? Before you get started, there’s one more thing you need to do: Add one or two extra to the baking sheet! It takes almost no extra work, but pays big dividends later. Here are five reasons to always roast extra sweet potatoes. When it comes to roasting sweet potatoes, you have a choice to make: Do you want to cut up the potatoes? You’ve got four options. Whole, with the skin on. Cut into wedges (skin on or off).

Of all the ingredients in all the world, potatoes happen to be my favorite. Fried, mashed, and nestled under a roasting chicken, I love them no matter the preparation. I even love them frozen. And that’s because, when it comes to making a quick, filling snack, there’s no better item to have on hand than shredded hash browns. Frozen hash browns have chameleon-like properties. When fried or baked, they add a surprising pop of crunch to an otherwise texture-less dish.

Piled high, topped with a pat of butter or savory gravy, mashed potatoes are hard to resist. But this Thanksgiving essential has the power to go way beyond just a comforting side dish — we’ve got five ways to prove it. The key to making any of these dishes shine, of course, is making a really great batch of mashed potatoes.