5 Chef Tricks for the Best Mashed Potatoes (and How to Fix Them If You Mess Up)

Mashed potatoes hold the entire Thanksgiving feast together. Who hasn’t created a perfect bite, piling turkey, cranberry sauce, and stuffing on a forkful of potato? But this favorite last-minute side can cause justified anxiety in the holiday kitchen. Read on for chef tricks to keep mashed potatoes from becoming pasty and lumpy — and how to fix them if they do go awry.

Use the right potato

“The biggest cause of gluey mashed potatoes is selecting the wrong type of potato,” says Danny Grant, chef and managing partner of Chicago-based Maple Hospitality Group (which operates Maple & Ash, Monarch, and Kessaku). “If you choose a potato with too much starch, you’re fighting an uphill battle from the start. I prefer Yukon Gold potatoes, as they have a lower starch content but still offer great flavor and texture.”

Farmer Paul Meulemans of Wild Coyote Farm in Berrien Springs, Michigan, agrees that potato choice is key.

“Red potatoes or gold potatoes are more moist,” he says. “The flavor will be more creamy, whereas if you get a white potato or a russet potato, they make very fluffy mashed potatoes but you’ll likely want to add more cream or butter.”

He also points out that supermarket potatoes have been cured, which means they are older and thus drier in texture. “If you like them really fluffy where they’re gonna hold on the spoon really well,” he says, drier cured potatoes are the perfect choice. If you want more flavorful potatoes, however, ask your farmer for “new” potatoes, which are recently harvested.  

Invest in a ricer, and don’t overwork them

The tools you use to create your mashed masterpiece are also important. Grant suggests using a ricer, which “breaks the potatoes into small flakes, allowing you to incorporate your liquid and butter without overmixing or making them gummy.” Grant never uses a mixer or stick blender to mash — that’s a direct path to gluey potatoes. Instead, he recommends adding the butter, milk, and seasonings with a stiff whisk or rubber spatula. 

Consider baking your potatoes instead of boiling them 

For her Creamy No-Fail Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes, recipe developer Ann Taylor Pittman bakes the potatoes instead of boiling them, which reduces the water content and makes them drier from the start; this prevents gumminess later on. 

What to do if your mashed potatoes turn out lumpy

“A quick fix for lumpy mashed potatoes is to pass them through a strainer,” Grant says. “In the restaurant, we use a piece of equipment called a tamis, which allows us to push the potatoes through and leave behind any clumps or lumps, resulting in silky smooth mashed potatoes.” At home, you can get similar results by using a fine-mesh strainer and pressing them through with a flexible plastic scraper. 

What if they’re gluey? 

“Fixing gluey mashed potatoes is tricky, but there are ways to disguise them,” Grant says. Adding more butter can improve the texture, but, if all else fails, he suggests folding in grated cheese, then placing the mixture in a casserole dish and baking until the top is golden brown. Top with some chives and scallions, and your gooey, cheesy mashed potato bake might become the most requested recipe of the season!