How To Boil Potatoes To Make Mashed Potatoes Or Potato Salads

Boiling potatoes for making mashed potatoes or potato salads on stove top or instant pot pressure cooker is so easy whether you use yukon gold potatoes, russet potatoes, red potatoes, mini small sized baby potatoes or any variety.

If you like to use instant pot to make boiled potatoes, try this instant pot boiled whole potatoes and instant pot boiled small baby red potatoes to make easy, perfect boiled potatoes in the instant pot pressure cooker!

You can also make delicious creamy potato soup with cream cheese in instant pot and you can make easy old fashioned potato soup using stove top boiled potatoes or instant pot boiled potatoes!

You can cook whole potatoes in boiling water on stove top also until very soft so they can be used for making mashed potatoes, potato soups etc or just tender to be used in salads.

Boiled potatoes are also used to make delicious smashed potatoes!

However, most often, potatoes are boiled to make mashed potatoes and it is best to boil them until very soft so you can easily mash the boiled potatoes using a potato masher or even using just a fork.

If you like easy, basic cooking recipes like this boiled potatoes, we also have recipes to make perfect boiled eggs, easy to peel hard boiled eggs, boiled cauliflower, instant pot boiled eggs, steamed boiled eggs, how to cook chickpeas, red lentils, mung beans, boiled cabbage and more!

How Long To Boil Potatoes For Mashing Or Potato Salads?

Boiling times for different potatoes will depend on factors like if you are boiling the potatoes to make mashed potatoes or potato salads (because you need very soft potatoes for making mashed potatoes while the potatoes just need to be tender to be used in potato salads unless you prefer to mash them for salads based on the recipe).

Also the boiling time will vary depending on factors like whether you are boiling whole potatoes or diced potatoes.

In general, you need about 30 to 40 minutes to boil medium sized potatoes like yukon gold or red potatoes large sized potatoes like russet potatoes, but if you dice the potatoes the boiling time is just about 10 to 15 minutes but this will slightly vary based on the size of potatoes and also whether you want to make salads or mashed potatoes so read further for more information.

Let us see here in detail how long you need to boil potatoes for mashing or making salads including whole potatoes or diced potatoes.

Boiling Times For Different Potatoes:

Whether you boil large sized potatoes or small baby potatoes, if you dice the potatoes into cubes for boiling, the boiling time will be almost the same.

If you dice the potatoes in cubes and boil them in salted water, you can cook them in about 15 minutes time, after which you can just discard the water and use the diced cooked potatoes for making mashed potatoes.

If you boil whole potatoes in boiling water, the cooking times will slightly vary because the size of the potatoes matter and it is different for different varieties of potatoes.

If you boil large sized potatoes like russet potatoes or even medium sized yellow potatoes like yukon gold potatoes or red potatoes, you will need to boil the potatoes on stove top for about 30 to 40 minutes if you want the cooked potatoes to be very soft so you can mash the potatoes easily.

If you boil small sized potatoes like baby potatoes, the boiling time can be reduced to about 15 to 20 minutes.

If you are using instant pot pressure cooker, boiling baby potatoes or large sized potatoes is even more easier, time saving and effortless!

If you are in a hurry, it is a good idea to peel the potatoes, dice them in to cubes and boil them in hot boiling water with salt, so you can quickly cook the potatoes in about 12 to 15 minutes time.

Otherwise, it is much more easier and convenient to just boil the whole potatoes (peeled or unpeeled) which requires little longer time to cook than diced potatoes, and then mash the cooked whole potatoes easily using a potato masher or fork, which is my favorite method!

If you are boiling potatoes to make potato salad, then you should not boil potatoes until very soft so they are easily mashed.

Boiling potatoes for making potato salads require potatoes to be boiled just enough to be cooked and tender, but not too soft.

If you are making potato salads, you can just boil the whole potatoes for about 15 to 20 minutes (15 minutes will work for medium sized yellow potatoes and 20 minutes for large russet potatoes) until they are cooked and tender.

Once it is done, make sure to pierce the potatoes using a fork to see if they are done to your preference.

If not, you may boil for few more minutes until done. It is a good idea not to overcook the potatoes if you are making salads. If you are boiling diced potatoes to make potato salads, you can just boil for about 7 to 8 minutes and see if they are done to your preference.

We will see here how you can make perfect boiled potatoes with step by step instructions.

How To Boil Potatoes For Mashed Potatoes Or Potato Salads?

To make boiled potatoes for making mashed potatoes or potato salads, we use the following ingredients.

Ingredients used:

potatoes 1 lbs (yukon gold, russet potatoes, red potatoes or any variety)

water as needed for boiling potatoes

salt 1 teaspoon (adjust as preferred)

Step by step instructions

Wash the potatoes very well, scrub if necessary (in this recipe we are using 1 lbs potatoes which is equivalent to about 5 to 6 number of yukon gold or russet potatoes, but the number of potatoes will be more if you are using small baby potatoes).

Peel the potatoes if you want to or you may peel later if you are boiling whole potatoes without dicing.

Place the whole potatoes in a large sized pot or pan.

If you want to dice the potatoes, peel and dice the potatoes in cubes and add to the pot or pan.

Also add enough water to cover the potatoes, it is a good idea if the water stays one inch above the level of potatoes.

Add salt, turn on heat and bring the water to a boil.

Once the water begins to boil, cover the pan with lid and boil the potatoes in medium heat until fork tender if you want to make potato salads or cook until very soft if you want to make mashed potatoes.

Boiling whole potatoes:

For large to medium sized potatoes like yukon gold potatoes, red potatoes or russet potatoes, you will need to boil the whole potatoes for about 35 to 40 minutes if you want them to be very soft so you can mash the potatoes.

If you want to make potato salads, boiling time is about 15 to 20 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked and fork tender.

For small sized baby potatoes, you can boil the whole potatoes for about 20 to 25 minutes to make very soft potatoes for mashed potatoes.

To make potato salads, you can boil the potatoes for about 15 minutes until fork tender.

Boiling diced potatoes:

To make boiled diced potatoes, first you need to peel and dice the potatoes in medium sized cubes.

If you are boiling the potatoes to make mashed potatoes, boil the diced potatoes for about 12 to 15 minutes time until the potatoes are very soft so they can be mashed easily using a potato masher.

If you want to make potato salads, you just need to boil them for about 8 minutes or until fork tender.

If you are not sure if the potatoes are cooked to your preference, pierce a fork through the cooked potatoes and see if it's soft enough. If they are not soft enough, you can cook for couple minutes more and see if they are done!

Once the potatoes are boiled to your preference, you may discard the hot water and use the potatoes for mashing or salads as you need.

It is also very easy to peel the whole boiled potatoes since the skin will just slide off easily.

You may save a little of the remaining water used to boil potatoes, if needed in the recipe to make mashed potatoes or potato soups.

Below you can get the recipe for boiling potatoes in detail.