Lefse (Easy Instant Mashed Potato Version) Recipe | CDKitchen (2024)

FAQs

What can I add to instant mashed potatoes taste better? ›

Heavy cream can make instant mashed potatoes taste indulgent. Half and half or even regular milk (whole is better than skim, but 2% will do) adds extra creaminess. To give your mashed potatoes a light tanginess, go with buttermilk or sour cream.

As it turns out, I told her, instant potatoes are just potatoes that have been cooked, mashed, and then dehydrated—leaving you with crystallized, powdery flakes that you only need to rehydrate with hot liquid before serving.

Kitchn also vouches for this breadcrumbs substitute, particularly as a gluten-free alternative. As the site describes, if you use instant mashed potatoes as your coating, the exterior will turn out delightfully crispy, and its interior will stay delectably moist.

However, it's always best to follow the instructions on the packaging for precise measurements. Can I add milk instead of water to instant mashed potatoes? Yes, you can use milk instead of water to make instant mashed potatoes. Using milk will provide a creamier and richer taste to the dish.

Whereas most home cooks will use a pinch of butter, a couple of shakes of salt, and a bit of milk, steakhouse chefs aren't afraid to go all out with the dairy. There's no room for 2% or even whole milk in their mashed potatoes -- the thinness of plain milk just isn't creamy enough to cut it. And creaminess is key!

Add a Thickening Agent

This is the most common way to thicken mashed potatoes. You can use what you have on hand: Flour, cornstarch, or powdered milk are all solid options that are probably already in your pantry. Potato flour and potato starch would work as well.

Instant mashed potatoes are convenient for busy food establishments like KFC — the only thing employees need to do is add water and mix. The peeling, cooking, and mashing, has already been done. The downside to instant mashed potatoes is that they aren't as fluffy and tend to be bland.

They're made from a powdered mashed potato mix

The mashed potato powder itself is made from dehydrated potato flakes, powdered nonfat milk, and other ingredients — so, technically, KFC does use real potatoes, but not in the way you probably mean when you ask that question.

What is the point of instant mashed potatoes? The value proposition of a useful frozen or instant food is that it takes less time to prepare than its analogous regular food and tastes only a little worse.

Instant mashed potatoes are dehydrated potato flakes or granules that, when liquid is added, create light and fluffy mashed tubers. A serving of these potatoes provides a dose of potassium, vitamin C, fiber, vitamin B6, magnesium, calcium, and iron (via LiveStrong).

How to jazz up instant mashed potatoes? ›

Those same add-ins—chopped fresh herbs like chives or parsley, chopped cooked bacon, crumbled blue cheese, roasted garlic cloves and so on—will enhance the instant variety as well. Butter (not margarine) is a must, as is sour cream.

Looking for a butter substitute in your mashed potato recipe? Try mayonnaise! Mashed potatoes with mayo are super creamy and taste just as good!

Yes, you can substitute sour cream for all milk. But you won't get that “tang” associated with sour cream. Also, the milk quantity is really just a starting point. You can add more milk for thinner potatoes or less milk for thicker mashed potatoes.

Garlic – For savory depth of flavor. Unsalted butter – For richness and buttery flavor. Milk – It smooths the starchy potatoes into an incredibly creamy mash. Use whole milk for the creamiest results.

For additional flavor, add some fresh herbs, such as chives, parsley, thyme or rosemary to the mashed potatoes after mashing them. You can also add some buttermilk, cream cheese or sour cream for a bit of a tangy, creamy flavor. Another great addition to mashed potatoes is to use flavored butter.

As already discussed, pastiness is caused by too much potato starch being worked into the mashed potatoes. The main way we combat this problem is by rinsing away starch, both before and after cooking potatoes for fluffy mashed potatoes. Rinsing off starch means that there is less of it that can end up in the dish.