The Best Type Of Potato For Mashing With The Skin On

Homemade mashed potatoes are a delectable treat filled with protein and fiber, according to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Warm, creamy mashed potatoes offer a base to add any ingredients you like as a tasty comfort food and side dish. Whether you love chives, bacon bits, sour cream, and cheddar cheese or more non-traditional ingredients like fresh cilantro, parsley, chopped onions, or bits of jalapeño, mashed potatoes are quite versatile.

Just like you have several options for adding ingredients to mashed potatoes, there are different selections for potatoes at the supermarket. Russets, red, yellow, petite, white, and even purple potatoes are commercially available, with more than 200 types of potatoes in total, says Potatoes USA. Russets make great baking potatoes; Yukon golds are fantastic for roasting, grilling, and frying, notes Specialty Produce; And red potatoes work well for boiling and scalloping, according to The Cooking Dish.

There are many great options for making all different kinds of potatoes, but which potatoes are best for making homemade mashed potatoes with the skin on? The Spruce Eats makes the argument that potato skins add more nutritive value and a heartier, homestyle appearance. However, not all potatoes are the same.

Russets and Yukon golds make creamy mashed potatoes with high starch content, but their skins can be hard to chew, according to The Spruce Eats. So, because you want the skins on your potatoes to add texture but not make them less enjoyable, red potatoes are a much better option.

Red potatoes have advantages over russets and Yukon gold because they are typically smaller, making them more convenient for home chefs to boil in water. All you have to do is clean the skins, put them in boiling water, and mash them. They also have a thinner skin, notes Washington Potatoes, making them easier to turn into mashed potatoes compared to their thicker-skinned cousins. 

The Spruce Eats says to keep an eye on the shape of the small, red potatoes as they cook. Boiling red potatoes without peeling them lowers the water they take in during the cooking process, which keeps the inside of the potatoes together better (another advantage over other varieties), thereby saving more of the starchiness for the potatoes.

Keeping the skins on your creamy mashed potatoes may become the hit of dinner time with this yummy potato selection.