Many Ways To Cook Potatoes

Potatoes are one of the most versatile foods around. Not only are they easily part of almost any meal imaginable — breakfast, lunch or dinner — in any culture across the planet, but they can also be cooked in a variety of ways, too. We’ve put together a list of the most popular ways to cook potatoes, their advantages and disadvantages, and potato recipes for each.
 

Frying Potatoes

Frying is one of the easiest and most common ways to make potatoes. You can deep-fry, pan-fry, stir-fry, sauté or shallow-fry potatoes for a quick and easy meal. However, frying is not the healthiest method — cooking with oil adds fat and calories to the foods you prepare. One way to lighten up a fried meal is to use olive oil, which typically has less fat and calories than vegetable oil.

Recipes

French Fried Potatoes

Quick & Easy Home Fries

Southern Style Fried Okra
 

Grilling Potatoes

There’s nothing quite like the taste of a potato that’s been cooked on a grill, and it’s no wonder they are a favorite food at summertime BBQ parties. You can scallop potatoes or cut up some wedges and throw ’em on a grill, wrap them up in foil and make a baked potato outdoors, or wrap them up with some sauce in foil to get deliciously marinated potatoes. Grilling isn’t one of the quickest ways to make potatoes, but the smokey and toasted flavors of grilled spuds can be worth the wait.

Recipes

BBQ Potatoes

Grilled Pesto Potato Salad

Grilled Spud Dogs
 

Baking and Roasting Potatoes

Baking and oven-roasting is another favorite and time-tested way to make potatoes, and chances are if you’re looking for a potato recipe, it’ll call for heating an oven. You can make potato casseroles, wrap up potatoes in foil for baking, add potatoes to marinate as part of a meat dish, and much more. However, if you’re looking for a quick and easy meal, you might want to change your plans, and read a book or watch one of your favorite shows, ’cause it’s gonna be a while before these spuds get out of their tanning salon. Also, unless you want some rock-hard potatoes, you’ll have to use at least a little bit of oil to help them cook and stay moist in an oven.

Recipes

Potatoes Florentine

Scalloped Potatoes with Chicken and Gravy

Sour Cream Potato Casserole
 

Boiling Potatoes

Boiling is an easy way to get spuds soft while cooking, whether you’re making mashed potatoes, a soup or a salad. However, it’s also one of the slowest, especially because potatoes are tough vegetables. Also, boiling is a harsh preparation method and nutrients can be lost in the water while cooking, so it’s important to reuse it. If you’re making mashed potatoes or potato soup, consider adding some of the boiled water to your recipe.

Recipes

CAUSA: Peruvian Mashed Potato Salad Recipe

Parmesan Fingerling Potatoes

Quick & Healthy Potato Soup
 

Steaming Potatoes

Steaming is one of the recommended ways to prepare potatoes by the U.S. Potato Board. Unlike other methods, steaming helps foods retain more nutrients, because fewer nutrients are leached into the water while cooking. Also, steaming allows for a light meal, because you can skip oils or fats and still get moist potatoes ready to eat or add to a recipe. You can steam potatoes for an easy side to a main dish, or as a light and healthy meal.

Recipes

Garlic Dill New Potatoes

Parsleyed Steamed Potatoes

Steamed Fingerling Potatoes in White Wine
 

Microwaving Potatoes

Microwaving is also recommended by the U.S. Potato Board as a way to cook potatoes. Like steaming, microwaving also helps foods retain nutrients while cooking, since they are not leached into water. Though all cooking methods involve loss of nutrients or vitamins, this is largely determined by the length, temperature and amount of liquid used (using more water can lead to greater nutrient loss). Because microwaving drastically reduces cooking times and does not require water for cooking, foods are allowed to retain more nutrients and are ready to eat in a shorter amount of time.

Microwaving is one of the most convenient and easy ways to make potatoes, so much that it can be a shortcut to some of your favorite recipes that usually involve baking, boiling or steaming. You can make baked potatoes, casseroles, mashed potatoes, oven-roasted potatoes, potato soups, potato salads and much more without the wait when you use a microwave. That’s why we created Express Bake PotatOHs — bringing together microwaving and steaming to give you a delicious and soft potato ready in just 7 minutes — to allow you to enjoy an a quick and healthy meal, or provide an easy shortcut to adding a cooked potato to your favorite recipes. Order PotatOHs right here on our site and try our recipes to see how microwave potatoes can save you time and make life a little easier.

Recipes

Cheesy Broccoli Baked Potatoes

Quick & Healthy Mashed Potatoes

Quick & Healthy Microwave Baked Potato Salad
 

References

Cooking Potatoes at Potato Goodness Unearthed
New York Times column on the effects of microwaving food