The Worst Fast Food Mashed Potatoes Are Gummy And Bland

Whether featured on the menu of a fine dining restaurant or served in a toddler's plastic food bowl, mashed potatoes are a superior comfort food for all. However, they are less forgiving than other side dishes like soups and salads. You can't get away with botching the taste and especially the texture, as this dish puts the root vegetable front and center. When done right, you achieve the fluffiest, most buttery mash that you can't put down. Fast food outlets clearly recognize this, which is why they prominently feature mashed potatoes on their menus. However, some restaurants fail to deliver a heavenly mash, and according to Tasting Table's ranking of fast food mashed potatoes, Crown Fried Chicken serves the worst.

This fast food chain is widely distributed in Brooklyn and Queens, New York. While it is known for some of the best chicken tenders, (according to some consumers) others find its mashed potatoes to be gummy and bland. Instead of the rich texture that makes this dish iconic, you might encounter a dense mass of what appears to be microwaved mash. There are no signs of any effort to re-whip this dish into a creamy consistency, and it lacks any flavor to redeem it. Furthermore, the gravy sits as a thick, sticky layer reminiscent of cheap school cafeteria lunches, demonstrating that while this outlet is beloved for many offerings, mashed potatoes are not one of them.

Perhaps Crown Fried Chicken can take a page from Boston Market's book, which had the best fast food mashed potatoes out of all the ones we tasted. Boston Market's side dish outperformed the rest by a mile, thanks to its fluffy, light texture that you might even mistake for homemade. They were whipped as if made fresh, so there's no reason any fast food joint can't do the same—even with the help of a microwave. Using this kitchen appliance is actually one of the best ways to reheat mashed potatoes, as long as you make sure to stir the dish between 30-second bursts of heating. This way, you can avoid unevenly reheating the mashed potatoes and drying them out.

Taste-wise, Crown Fried Chicken could try something as simple as salting its boiling water for the potatoes or adding extra root vegetables to upgrade bland mashed potatoes. You can even use this trick at home to introduce complex flavors by mashing your favorite root veggie along with the potatoes. To finish the dish, the gravy should neither be too thick nor too watery, and it should definitely pack a punch of flavor. Boston Market's gravy was a creamy complement that tasted generously meaty—the perfect potato companion. With a little tweaking of their recipe, perhaps by adding broth to the gravy and incorporating meat drippings into its base, Crown Fried Chicken could potentially improve the gravy's texture and intensify its flavor, rescuing the entire dish.