The Best Instant Mashed Potatoes Have Been Around Since 1951

Mashed potatoes are the ultimate comfort food and a versatile side dish. They go well with many different mains, from Thanksgiving turkey to a tender steak. While fairly simple to make, they do take time, and involve multiple steps, such as cleaning, peeling, chopping (making sure to follow the rule of cutting your potatoes into even-sized pieces), boiling, mashing, and mixing. And sometimes, you just don't have the time for all that. Which is where instant mashed potatoes come in.

Instant mashed potatoes are cheap, quick, and easy to make, and have a long shelf life — and with their numerous uses in the kitchen, you should always have instant mashed potatoes in your pantry. And while there are many different brands of instant mashed potatoes to choose from at the grocery store, there's one brand that stands above the rest: Idahoan, and tops our list of the 10 instant mashed potato brands, ranked worst to best. The brand has more than 60 years of potato growing experience in the US state that produces the most potatoes, which is apparent in the quality of their instant mashed potatoes — they actually taste like real mashed potatoes.

Idahoan was formed in 1951 by potato farmers in Lewisville, Idaho who pooled their resources to form a potato dehydration plant. Since then, they have expanded their offering to more than 20 different flavors, including Roasted Garlic, Buttery Homestyle, Loaded Baked, and Bacon Cheddar Chipotle. They developed an innovative process in 1990 that better preserves the taste and texture of real potatoes when dehydrated, which is why their instant mashed potatoes taste like the real deal: light, fluffy, smooth, and full of real potato flavor.

Consumers agree. According to one commenter on the Idahoan Real Premium Mashed Potatoes page, they are the "best instant mashed potatoes we've ever had" and that they "taste just like homemade mashed potatoes." According to another, they are "comfort food just like homemade! Tastes like I peeled, boiled, and mashed myself." "These taste just like fresh potatoes, can't tell the difference," writes a third commenter. So the next time you want to enjoy some mashed potatoes without all the effort of making them from scratch, just grab some Idahoan instant mashed potatoes and add boiled water.