During the winter months, many people like to tuck into comforting food, and nothing hits the spot with a meal much like a delicious bowl of mashed potatoes. Even though they make a filling and tasty addition to many dinners, it can be hard to perfect a good mashed potatoes recipe, with some turning gloopy, runny or even lumpy in certain cases.
However, according to a cooking guru, there’s a simple way to ensure your mashed potatoes are creamy and delicious, and you just need two ingredients to achieve success every time. To make things even easier, the ingredients you need are likely already lying in your fridge at home.
It’s not the only hack that’s been shared lately that could improve your mashed potatoes. Back in October, it was revealed adding another unusual ingredient could help to boost the flavour of the dish.
Max, known as Meals with Max on TikTok, recently shared with the Parsnip app how to make “perfect” mashed potatoes every time, and it may not be as tricky as you think. If you struggle to pull off the dish, he said many people can find it difficult to get right.
He explained you want to start by getting your potatoes chopped to roughly the same size. This will help to ensure they cook evenly.
Max said: “Now you can get the potatoes into a saucepan. Cover them with cold water and not warm water because, if the water is warm or boiling, the outside of the potato is going to cook quicker than the inside.
“A bit of salt, then get this onto the hob and we’re going to bring it to a gentle boil for about 20 minutes until they just break apart with a fork. Then drain them and let them steam dry for a minute.
“I like to use a potato ricer because it helps to get it smooth and fluffy. Then you want to add warm milk and butter. This blends in smoothly and gives you a better texture.
“It should be fluffy, soft and creamy. Season with salt and lots of black pepper. Stir that through, and there you have some perfect mashed potatoes.”
According to Max, that’s all there is to making creamy and smooth mashed potatoes. Using two ingredients can make a big difference.
The secret to creamy mashed potatoes
While many people add cream to mashed potatoes to improve the flavour and texture, others swear that warm milk and butter is the key to success. If you didn’t know, the two ingredients work to make them smooth.
This is because warm milk mixes better and also helps to prevent a gluey texture. Using warm liquid is crucial because cold milk can cool the mash and requires more stirring.
Doing this can overwork the potatoes and make them sticky too. You should always add the butter first, as this helps to develop a creamy texture.
Naturally, the ingredients will also help to make the dish even more delicious. Max also shared another top tip that’s worth noting if you want perfect spuds.
Using a potato ricer will help you achieve the smoothest and fluffiest texture possible. This is because it stops the potatoes overworking and prevents the texture becoming gummy.