How to make airy mashed potatoes correctly and tasty

Mashed potatoes are the fastest side dish to prepare and are considered the most favorite among Slavic peoples. Even children know in words how to make mashed potatoes, but in practice and with experienced housewives it rarely comes out airy and creamy. Some blame the “wrong” potatoes, while others explain the failure by adding a small amount of milk. Indeed, there are many nuances in preparing this dish, but knowing them, you can pamper your family with a delicious side dish every day.

Recipe for mashed potatoes with milk

We will do it for you no worse than in a restaurant. The number of ingredients is given approximately, since everyone has different tastes. Some people like thick puree, others liquid. Therefore, when adding butter and milk, vary the amount, diluting the mass gradually.

To prepare we will need:

Potato tubers - 3-5 pieces (depending on size).
Milk -0.5 cups
Butter - 2 tbsp.
Salt
Pepper
Bay leaf

Peel and cut the potatoes.

While you are preparing the potatoes, place a pot of water on the stove. Be sure to wait until the water boils and lower the potatoes. Don't add salt!

Cooking time is approximately 25 minutes. If you cut the pieces smaller, then 20 minutes of cooking will be enough. 5 minutes before the end, add salt and cover with a lid and wait for the process to complete.

Be sure to heat the milk and add butter to it.

Mash the potatoes with a masher with holes, taste the mixture. If there is not enough salt, you can dilute it directly in milk. Pour the mixture into the potato mixture.

Gently mix all ingredients. If you wish, you can squeeze out a small clove of garlic for flavor. Bon appetit!

Delicious French mashed potatoes

Components you will need:

1 kilogram of potatoes;
Sour cream or cream – 200 ml;
Butter – 50 grams;
2 grams of nutmeg;
Salt and ground black pepper.

Preparation:

The tubers should be thoroughly washed and dried;
Next, make envelopes from baking paper. To do this, cut two sheets and fold them in half;
Then put 5 potatoes in one half and cover with the other half. We wrap all the edges tightly;
Fold the rest of the potatoes in the same way;
After this, place the envelopes on a baking sheet;
The oven heats up to 220 degrees. Place a baking sheet with envelopes there and leave to bake for an hour;
Take out the finished potatoes, cool and peel them;
Next, put it in a deep bowl and mash it with a masher until you get a puree;
Then melt a little butter in a glass bowl, add salt, pepper and nutmeg to it. Mix the whole mixture thoroughly;
Pour the mixture over the puree and mix;
Place the entire resulting mass on a baking sheet, pour in sour cream or cream and place in the oven;
The puree is baked for about 15 minutes.

Read how to make a healthy cottage cheese casserole.

Read the fish pie puff pastry recipe.

Airy mashed potatoes with egg and milk without lumps

My kids refuse puree if there are lumps, like in semolina porridge. Since I don’t recommend using a mixer or blender, I recommend mashing it with a masher. In my case, I have to resort to the help of strong male hands to mash potatoes for the whole family.

But still, I’ll post a recipe here when you can use a blender with an attachment and the main condition is not to beat for long and turn on low speed. Then you will bypass this trouble in the form of stiff and tasteless puree.

This version of the recipe has been tested and my kids can always have dinner with this dish without the common: “Fi”

To prepare we will need:

Potato -
Butter
Egg (optional)
Milk
Salt

Boil the potatoes until tender, placing them in boiling water without salt. Add salt 5 minutes before the end of cooking.

Drain the water completely and add butter to the hot potatoes.

Mix with a mixer at low speed, moving very carefully evenly throughout the mass.

Then add the egg. At this stage, I turn on the blender at maximum speed to quickly beat into an airy mass. Please note that the airiness and lightness of the puree can be created by adding only protein.

Pour in hot milk. I bring it almost to a boil. We also mix everything quickly with a blender.

The success of this lump-free version of the recipe in the blender. If you have a very powerful one or you use other attachments, it is better to try it on a small portion. But I am confident in this puree, although I mainly make it for children.

Useful tips

Boil potatoes for 20-30 minutes, but no more. Otherwise, it will soften greatly and fall apart into separate parts;
After boiling, the tubers must be dried. To do this, you can drain all the water from the pan and put it on low heat for a couple of minutes;
It is best to mash with a masher; with its help you can prepare an airy and tender potato mixture;
Instead of milk, you can put cream with kefir;
Don't skimp on butter. The more it is, the tastier the puree will be.

Potatoes are a delicious vegetable, provided they are prepared correctly, of course. It turns out especially tasty in the form of puree. It can be eaten either alone or with vegetable and meat side dishes.

In addition, puree can be used as a base in the preparation of many dishes. The main thing in this matter is good imagination and ingenuity.

Fragrant mashed potatoes with onions, garlic and lard

It happens that there is no milk or butter in the house, but you want to pamper your family with mashed potatoes. Look, maybe there is lard in the refrigerator? Then this recipe is for you.

To prepare we will need:

Potatoes – 900 gr
Onion - 1 piece
Fresh lard-100 gr
Ground black pepper - 2 pinches
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

Potatoes must be peeled and boiled until tender for 20-25 minutes. Salt 5 minutes before cooking.

Cut the lard into small pieces and fry in a frying pan until golden brown.

Also chop the onion and fry in sunflower oil.

While the dressing was being prepared, the potatoes arrived. Drain the water and mash the vegetable into a puree, adding salt if necessary. Let's pepper it.

You can add a small clove of garlic to our dressing for flavor. Now we combine our aromatic dressing with mashed potatoes. Mix the mixture thoroughly to distribute the ingredients evenly.

An amazingly delicious dish is ready!

Puree recipes

Well, we’ve learned how to make this dish correctly, but what can you make from mashed potatoes, what dish? Let's look at the options.

Mashed potato casserole with minced meat

Products for casserole:

600 grams of potatoes;
300 grams of minced meat;
One onion;
Chicken eggs – 2 pieces;
Sour cream or cream – 100 ml;
Ground coriander – ½ teaspoon;
Vegetable oil;
Salt and ground black pepper.

Preparation:

The tubers should be peeled and boiled in water with salt until tender;
Peeled onion is chopped into small pieces;
Place a frying pan on the fire, pour in vegetable oil and heat it up. Place minced meat and onion pieces in hot oil. Fry everything until cooked, you also need to add a pinch of coriander;
Boiled potatoes can be placed in a blender cup, add sour cream and beat the airy puree;
Then break the eggs and separate the whites and yolks;
In a separate bowl, beat the whites until foamy;
Place the potato mixture in a deep bowl, add egg yolks and beat;
After this, pour the protein mixture into the mixture. The mixture must be mixed carefully so that it does not lose its shape;
Next, grease the baking sheet with vegetable oil and place a layer of potato mixture on it;
Then place the minced meat and onions in a layer on top of the puree;
Finally, cover the top with the potato mixture;
Place the baking sheet in a preheated oven at 220 degrees and bake for half an hour.

Potato cutlets

The following components will be required:

Potatoes – 1 kg;
100 grams of flour;
One egg;
A pinch of curry;
Vegetable oil;
Some breadcrumbs;
Salt.

Preparation:

Boil the peeled potatoes in salted water until tender;
Mash it with a masher or in a blender until smooth;
Next, add flour, curry and chicken egg. Mix well;
Make small cutlets from mashed potatoes and roll them in breadcrumbs;
Fry the cutlets in vegetable oil on both sides for 4-5 minutes;
Ready-made cutlets can be decorated with herbs and served with any side dish.

Jacket potato puree

If you want to preserve as many vitamins as possible in potatoes, you need to cook them unpeeled. To prevent the tubers from overcooking, follow the tips below.

To prepare we will need:

Potatoes - 6-8 pcs.
Salt - 4 tbsp.
Water for cooking - 1 liter

Rinse the tubers well and carefully in running water. If the dirt is strong, then I use a simple sponge to wash dishes. Place the potatoes in a single row on the bottom of the pan

Pour boiling water so that the vegetables are completely covered plus 3 cm.

Now add salt. For 1 liter of water - 4 tablespoons. Yes, that's not a typo. The water must be well salted. Don't worry, the potatoes won't absorb this salt.

After 30 minutes, opening the lid, you will see that the tubers are left one to one. Regardless of the type of potato, this cooking option will keep the skin intact and will not crack.

Which potatoes are best for mashed potatoes?

It is also important to choose potatoes of the same size so that they are cooked evenly and at the same time, then the mashed potatoes will turn out without lumps. But if the store only has potatoes of different sizes, then you can cut them into equal pieces before cooking. You can cook potatoes with or without skins; this is not critical for mashed potatoes!

It is better to choose potatoes for mashed potatoes based on the fact that they should boil well and be “airy”, which means the potatoes should have a high starch content - the more starch, the thicker the mashed potatoes will be. For example, potato varieties such as “Elizaveta”, “Lugovskoy”, “Adretta”, “Mirabel”, “Caesar”, “Binch”, “Lorch”, “Ratte”, “Belaya Rossa”, “Tiras”, “Gypsy” , “Minevra” and “Arrow” are ideal for smooth purees. We are not limited to these varieties, it is only important to choose the most starchy ones so that the starch content in root vegetables is above 15%!

Secrets to making the perfect puree

The success of the dish depends on the type of potato. The potato should be crumbly.
Do not put peeled potatoes directly into cold water. It is necessary to bring the water to a boil and only then immerse the vegetable.
Add spices to the water in advance: bay leaf and pepper. Be sure to use a large pepper and always remember how many you put in and how many you took out after boiling the vegetables. Otherwise, when mashing the potatoes, you may not notice the remaining peppercorn.
There is also no need to salt the water right away. Add salt 5 minutes before the end of cooking.
After the potatoes are cooked, do not let them sit in the water for several minutes. The water must be drained immediately and also dried on the stove directly in the pan.
It is necessary to mash boiled potatoes initially without adding additional ingredients.
The butter should be soft and add it first, separately from the milk. Mash it well into a puree. If you add butter at the end or melt it in milk, you will not get the effect of airy marshmallows.
The constant rule of cooking: add hot to hot, add cold to cold. Therefore, before adding milk to the puree, it must be heated.
To make fluffy puree, use only a masher with holes. Forget about blenders and mixers. In this case, the puree may turn out to be tight, similar to a cloister.
If the potato mass turns out to be heavy, add well-beaten chicken protein to the puree. Then it will become light and airy

That's all my science. If you have secrets that I haven't told you, please share them in the comments. Thank you.

Cooking technology

Making mashed potatoes is the simplest thing it can be. That's what everyone thinks. Yes, essentially there is nothing complicated about it, but there are some peculiarities. Here are the main steps for preparing any puree:

It is important to choose the right vegetables. Those that have pulp (pumpkin, zucchini, etc.) should be ripe and juicy. It’s better to take crumbly potatoes; they cook faster and are much easier to chop.
The next stage is preparing the vegetables. It needs to be washed and cleaned. Almost every vegetable and fruit has a peel, and even if it is thin, it is better to remove it to get a soft puree without unnecessary lumps and inclusions.
Then the product needs to be boiled. Of course, it is impossible to mash raw vegetables. Some people prefer not to boil, but to steam. This can also be done, but you need to add liquid to almost any puree during the cooking process. When cooking, your own broth remains; adding it is better than ordinary water; the taste will be brighter and richer. But it is also possible to extinguish in a small amount of liquid.
And finally, the product needs to be crushed. This can be done with a regular masher or blender. The meat grinder that many people have is also suitable, but it is better to process the product in it two or even three times so that not a single lump remains.
Experienced housewives and gourmets add their own special ingredients to the puree, which give it a unique taste.