Potatoes rewards a little know-how: how to choose it, cook it, store it, and substitute in a pinch. Browse 2,248 recipes to cook with it.
Key Points
Every potato runs starchy to waxy; that one trait decides whether it bakes fluffy or boils firm.
Starchy russets bake, mash, and fry; waxy reds and new potatoes hold shape for salads and roasting.
Yukon Gold is the all-purpose pick when a recipe does not specify a type.
Store cool, dark, and airy at 45 to 55°F (7 to 13°C), never in the fridge.
Green skin means solanine from light exposure; cut it away generously or skip the potato.
What are potatoes?
The potato is the most forgiving vegetable in the kitchen, and the most particular. It will turn into almost anything you want, but only if you match the right type to the job. Pick wrong and your mash goes gluey or your potato salad falls apart.
Every potato sits somewhere on a scale from starchy to waxy, and that one trait decides everything. Starchy potatoes cook up dry and fluffy. Waxy ones stay firm and creamy.
Knowing which you have in hand is most of the battle.
Starchy Versus Waxy
Starchy potatoes, led by the russet, are high in starch and low in moisture. They bake into a fluffy interior and fry crisp, because the dry flesh drinks up fat and air. The trade-off is they fall apart in water, so they make poor salad potatoes.
Waxy potatoes sit at the other end. Red skinned potatoes and new potatoes hold their shape when boiled, keeping a dense, almost creamy bite. That firmness is what you want in a potato salad or a tray of roasted chunks.
All-purpose potatoes split the difference. The Yukon Gold is the classic, with yellow, buttery flesh and middling starch that mashes well and still survives a boil.
When you do not know what a recipe wants, a yellow all-purpose potato is the safe pick.
Matching the Method to the Type
Reach for a starchy russet when the goal is dry and fluffy: baked potatoes, light mash, and fries. A real All-Day-Long Potato Soup leans on that breakdown, the starch melting into the broth to thicken it without any cream.
Reach for a waxy potato when the pieces need to stay whole. Boiling and potato salad both reward a potato that holds its edges, and so do scalloped layers. Chedder Scalloped Potatoes depend on slices that soften but never collapse into paste.
Mid-starch potatoes carry the in-between dishes, like soups where you want some chunks and some thickening, or dumplings such as Kartoffelknoedel.
Buying Potatoes
Pick potatoes that feel heavy and firm, with tight skin and no soft spots. A little dirt is fine and even helps them keep.
What you want to avoid is green. Any green tint under the skin means the potato has been exposed to light and built up solanine, a bitter compound that is mildly toxic in quantity. Cut away small green patches generously, or skip the potato.
Sprouting eyes are a sign of age but not a deal-breaker. Twist off the sprouts and use the potato soon. A potato that has gone soft and wrinkled, or that leaks liquid, is past its prime.
Storing Potatoes
Keep potatoes somewhere cool and dark with a little air flow, around 45 to 55°F (7 to 13°C). A paper bag or a basket in a cellar or low cupboard is ideal, and stored well they last several weeks to a couple of months.
Do not refrigerate raw potatoes. Cold below about 40°F (4°C) converts some of the starch to sugar, which makes them taste oddly sweet and causes them to darken when fried or roasted.
The fridge is the one place a potato does not belong.
Keep them away from onions too. Onions give off moisture and gases that push potatoes to sprout faster, so the two classic staples actually store badly side by side.
Types of potatoes
Specific kinds of potatoes and the recipes that use them.
Red skinned potatoes are the workhorse waxy potato: thin red jackets over firm, white, low-starch flesh that holds its shape through almost any wet-cooking method.
They are the potato to reach for when you need the pieces to stay whole.
Where a starchy russet falls apart in water, a red potato stays intact and turns creamy rather than fluffy. That single difference, covered in more depth on the main potatoes page, is what makes reds the default for salads, boiling, and roasting.
Russet potatoes are the big, oval, brown-skinned potatoes with rough netted skin and dry, fluffy white flesh. They are the standard baking and frying potato in North America, the variety behind a classic baked potato and most restaurant fries.
What sets them apart is starch.
Russets are high-starch and low-moisture, so they cook up light and mealy rather than firm. That texture is exactly what you want in some dishes and exactly what you do not want in others.
Mashed potatoes are boiled potatoes broken down with fat and liquid into a soft, spoonable side. As a recipe component they show up far beyond the dinner plate: bound into cakes, folded into dough, and used to thicken and enrich.
The dish lives or dies on two choices, the potato and the tool.
New potatoes are smaller potatoes that are harvested early before they fully mature into larger potatoes. There skin is papery thin and are usually served unpeeled.
Hash brown potatoes are potatoes shredded or finely diced, then fried until the outside crisps and browns. The name covers both the loose diner-style shreds and the small-cube version, and the goal is always the same: a deep golden crust over a tender inside.
They are a breakfast staple on their own and a workhorse in casseroles, where frozen shredded hash browns bind a whole bake together.
Instant potatoes are pre-cooked, dehydrated potatoes that rehydrate into mashed potatoes when you stir in hot liquid. They are the shelf-stable shortcut to mash, sold mostly as flakes and sometimes as finer granules.
Most instant potato products are potato flakes, and that page covers the full story: how to reconstitute them, the flakes-to-liquid ratio, and their second life as a thickener for soups, a binder for patties and meatloaf, and a softening addition to bread dough.
Potato flakes are cooked potatoes that have been mashed, dried, and broken into thin, pale flakes. Add hot liquid and they swell back into mashed potatoes in a minute or two. They are the form most instant mashed potatoes take.
Beyond the bowl of mash, flakes are a quietly useful pantry tool for thickening and binding that most cooks never think to keep on hand.
Potato water is the starchy liquid left after boiling potatoes. Instead of pouring it down the drain, cooks save it for baking and thickening, where the dissolved starch and potato flavor do real work.
It is a humble byproduct with a long history in home kitchens, especially bread baking.
Have some thyme to roast potatoes but are short on time. Using your air-fryer, you can roast potatoes in a flash. Crispy classic Thyme Roasted Potatoes with a modern twist.
Crispy-edged potato pancakes made from grated raw potatoes with just eggs, onion, and matzo meal. Serve hot with applesauce or sour cream for a classic bite.
Warm up with this hearty yet thrifty sausage and broccoli minestrone soup. An easy comforting twist on the classic Italian dish, perfect for chilly days.
A comforting and savory dish featuring layers of golden-brown potatoes and tender scallions, bound together with a creamy yogurt-egg sauce and baked to perfection. Ideal as a hearty side or a light main course.
This simple, creamy, comforting chowder combines tender potatoes, sweet corn kernels, and cheese in a lightly spiced milk-based broth. It’s a quick, hearty soup perfect for chilly days, ready in about 30 minutes and serving 4 as a main dish.
Fish-shaped salmon pastries: buttery shortcrust hand pies cut into fish, filled with smoked salmon, potato, and onion, then decorated with pastry scales and baked golden. A playful, savory party appetizer kids love.
Birthday are always happening year round.There are many items that you can give as gifts.But homemade gift is very special.It is tasty and nutritious gift for a kids party.
Silky broccoli soup purees fresh broccoli with sauteed leeks, potatoes, and chicken broth, finished with half-and-half for a creamy, vivid green bowl. Bright and vegetable-forward.
Cheddar mashed potatoes made creamy with buttery Yukon Golds, tangy buttermilk, and extra-sharp cheddar melted right into the mash. Fresh chives add a green oniony bite to this lighter comfort-food side.
A savory breakfast tart: buttery shortcrust pressed into a heart shape and filled with salmon, mashed potato, and onion bound in egg, half-topped with pastry and baked golden. A hearty, handsome morning bake.
Velvety broccoli soup made from scratch with fresh broccoli florets and stems, potatoes for body, and evaporated milk for richness without heavy cream.
This is an awesomely flexible dinner. You basically chop everything up, douse it in oil and some salt, pepper or whichever spices you're in the mood for (or grab first!) and chuck it in the oven for an hour or so.
Chunky chili-tomato soup with whole simmered potatoes, fresh tomatoes, yellow onions, and a kick of green and red chili. Naturally vegan, gluten-free, deeply rustic.
Bacon potato soup built on a base of crisped bacon, butter-softened mirepoix, and tender chunks of potato in a creamy milk broth. Cornstarch-thickened, no canned soup required.
Creamy corn-potato soup pureed thick with skim milk, dry milk powder, mustard, garlic, and a touch of honey. Low-fat vegetarian chowder that tastes richer than its calorie count suggests.
The quintessential Indian-Singaporean meal accompaniment. Unfortunately, all too often it is made using highly processed white flour and margarine. Here, the parathas are made with whole-wheat flour (you could also try using spelt flour) and stuffed with peas and potatoes, for a lighter but more wholesome take on the original. Serve hot with yoghurt and herbs.
A fairly simple yet delicious way to cook these beautiful fingerling potatoes. Sage and hazelnuts were deliciously combined with the potatoes. An excellent side dish.
Grainy mustard mashed potatoes simmered right in cream infused with garlic, thyme, and bay, then mashed silky and spiked with whole-grain mustard. A rich, tangy upgrade on the classic side dish.
Easy cream of tomato soup simmers fresh tomato juice with half-and-half and a generous handful of fresh basil. Smooth, creamy, and on the table in about 25 minutes. The homemade answer to the can.
Chilled leek and potato soup blended silky and lifted with Greek yogurt instead of cream, finished with fresh chives for a light vichyssoise that's vegetarian and summer-ready.
Crispy air fryer thyme potatoes or oven-roasted version with golden edges and creamy centers. Easy 4-ingredient side dish using new potatoes, olive oil, and fresh thyme. Quick weeknight or holiday side ready in under 30 minutes in the air fryer.
Aunt Ann's creamy potato soup: waxy potatoes simmered with leek, onion, and celery in herb-scented broth, then finished with cream. Part of the soup gets mashed for a thick, rustic body. Pure comfort.
Harvest time pumpkin soup: creamy pureed pumpkin, potato, and carrot enriched with butter and a savory splash of soy sauce, finished with sour cream and chives. A velvety vegetarian autumn bowl.
Low-fat vegan potato pancakes (latkes) with shredded potato, onion, and oat flour. A lighter take on the Hanukkah classic, pan-fried in a single spray of oil. Ready in 15 minutes.
Cream of potato soup made with diced potatoes, milk, and a unique flour-and-butter riffle thickening for body. A four-ingredient supper that drinks like comfort in a bowl.
Almost whole wheat bread combines whole-wheat flour, bread flour, gluten flour, and instant potato flakes for a soft, fiber-rich bread machine sandwich loaf. The two-thirds whole-grain hybrid that actually rises.
Onion and potato soup built on sweet butter-cooked white onions, shredded potato, garlic, and prosciutto, finished with grated Romano. A rustic Italian-style soup ready inside an hour.
Aluwala roti: whole wheat flatbread stuffed with spiced mashed potato, onion, and cilantro, then griddle-fried in ghee until golden. The Sri Lankan potato paratha for breakfast or lunch.
This is the most commonly sold chaat in the streets of Mumbai. Almost every street has its own friendly bhelwala with his inimitable blends of chutneys and masalas. Bhel is a delectable combination of papadis, puffed rice, sev, onions, potatoes, raw mango and chutneys. The proportions of the various chutneys can be changed to adjust to your personal preferences. Toast the puffed rice to make bhel crisp before using it to make bhel. If you store the puffed rice, sev and papadi and refrigerate or freeze the chutneys, you can rustle up a heavy snack in a jiffy for your hungry kids returning from school.
