You can never go wrong with mashed taters—it’s a dish staple that needs to be at every Holiday and get together, heck, every meal, thank you very much.
Ha, would you look at that? Thanksgiving is pretty much here—aren’t we in luck?
Truth be told, the foodie in me does flips and cartwheels when a bowl of steaming mashed potatoes is passed over my way. You bet I’m loading up my plate with that magical, fluffy goodness with seconds thirds. Don’t judge me. You do it, too.
Now, I’m not here to step on anyone’s awesome mashed potato skills, so consider me doing you a favor for finding this potato tip to make your mashed potatoes even fluffier than before. I feel like I just hit a gold mine…a gold mine of Yukon potatoes that is. The fluffier, the better. Turn those ‘tatoes into clouds, baby.
Karen Ahn from WonderHowTo is all about making perfectly fluffy mashed potatoes by simply adding a pinch of baking soda or baking powder. It’s simple and you have these things in your pantry. Plus, it’s cheap.
Stop adding in more calories.
Stop debating and using crazy ratios of butter and cream.
No.
You just need a leavening agent, and the baking soda OR baking powder will do the trick.
Here’s why, here’s which one to use, and here’s what to do:
As you know, baking soda and baking powder are especially used in baking because they help things rise—thank you CO2. Don't underestimate the power of bubbles. This is the key to fluffy awesomeness.
If you decide to use baking soda it needs some sort of acidic action to cause tiny bubbly reaction like honey, vinegar, or even lemon juice. It’s all about the fluff.
To hell with that, you say? Well, if you use baking powder, that stuff already has an acidic component—it’s a mix of baking soda and cream of tartar. So you don’t need to add anything more acidic into your potatoes. Those air pockets will form without anything else needed, giving you fluffy potato goodness…just give me the spoon already.
Drain your potatoes and mash away. Add a pinch of baking powder, you don’t need much, and carry on as you usually do. And no, you don’t have to tell anyone about your secret ingredient. Let’s just keep this between us—you just earned fluffy mashed potato boss status. Bam.
Check out the link below. Karen gives even more tips for fluffier mashed potatoes so they don’t end up soggy.
Hint? It has to do with the draining step.
Photo by: Gwen | Flickr
