What Everyone Gets Wrong About Mashed Potatoes

Making mashed potatoes seems foolproof—boil, mash, season, and they’re ready. And yet, this simple dish can surprisingly go sideways.

Lurking dangers include bland flavor, gluey consistency, and mealy spuds. But using the correct mash-maker, Yukon Gold potatoes, safeguards against pitfalls, delivering the silkiest, richest mashed potatoes.

The Right Spud For Mashed Potatoes

Many people reach for Russets to make a fluffy mash for good reason. Their high starch and low water content yield a light whipped potato—as long as everything goes perfectly according to plan. However, those very qualities make them more vulnerable to the common mashed potato hazards.

That’s why chefs often prefer Yukon Golds for mash-making. Thanks to their higher water and moderate starch contents, they produce velvety, creamy—never mealy—mashed potatoes.

Russets are versatile with a neutral flavor; Yukon Golds, on the other hand, have a rich, earthy, and buttery flavor on their own, only further enhanced by adding butter, cream, and seasonings.

When a cooked potato is overworked, its mash becomes gluey and pasty. That’s because the starch granules within potato cells absorb water and swell. Mashing and stirring causes the potato cells to rupture and release starchy gel, giving silky mashed potatoes their lovely cohesive, puréed texture.

However, when a Russet potato is overworked, excessive starch is released, resulting in a pasty, gummy mash. Thanks to the Yukon’s medium starch content, it can withstand a bit more stirring and mashing without consequences.

The low water and high starch content of Russets make them especially absorbent—great for easily soaking up the rich flavors of cream and butter—but they also absorb excess water during cooking. The starch granules expand and push the potato cells to separate from each other, resulting in a water-logged yet crumbly, dry texture.

With more water and less starch, Yukon Golds don’t absorb as much liquid as they cook. That means fewer burst cells, less starch released, and a structure that holds up, resulting in rich, dense, and creamy mashed potatoes.

4 Simple Tips to Mash Potatoes Like a Pro

1. Choose Yukon Gold potatoes.
2. Start the potatoes in cold water for even, consistent cooking.
3. Warm the butter and cream so they blend into the mix easily for the creamiest texture.
4. Use a potato masher or ricer—not a blender, mixer, or food processor—for silky mashed potatoes.