Want Fluffier Mashed Potatoes? Add A Pinch Of This Pantry Staple Before Mashing 'Em

For mashed potatoes to live up to their ultimate comfort food potential, the details matter. Adding the right amount of fat and salting mashed potatoes at the correct time gets the flavor on point, but then there's the texture. There's a fine line between gummy and fluffy, and just a bit of overmixing results in a dish that could be confused with papier-mache adhesive. But according to senior test kitchen editor at Budget Bytes, Jessica Rice, there is one pantry staple that can prevent a gluey tragedy.

"To achieve the fluffiest mashed potatoes, and avoid a sticky, gummy version of the dish, adding a tiny pinch of baking powder can really help," Rice said. However, the key to using baking powder to produce fluffier spuds is timing. "I only recommend this if you've just begun the process of mashing the potatoes and want to ensure they are light and fluffy," Rice said. And a little bit of the pantry staple goes a long way. Just add ⅛ teaspoon to 3 pounds of potatoes with the butter or cream because "adding too much can result in bad flavor," Rice cautioned.

While baking powder works as a preventative measure by producing an "air-trapping effect," Rice noted that "food scientists generally view it as a temporary structural workaround." This means it won't succeed as a quick fix with overmixed mashed potatoes that already look like they would do a decent job of spackling a hole in the wall.

Think of using baking powder to create fluffier mashed potatoes like training wheels on a bicycle. It will impede mishaps from wrecking the texture while you're getting the hang of making them, but eventually, it's best if you can eliminate it from your recipe. Jessica Rice indicated there are two primary factors folks should focus on that will help the training wheels come off. " ... The best advice I can give is to choose the right variety of potato, and to avoid overworking the potatoes, which results in a gummy, sticky texture instead of fluffy, light potatoes," Rice said.

Aside from choosing the best type of potatoes, which are high-starch varieties like russet potatoes or Yukon gold, having the proper tools is important too. Rice shared that "the single biggest factor in achieving fluffy mashed potatoes is using a handheld rudimentary potato masher or a food mill instead of a hand mixer."

You may still run into problems once you've decided to ditch the baking powder, but not to worry. If your dish is starting to look gluey, Rice recommended using a simple trick to save gummy mashed potatoes. "If you're in a bind and teetering on the edge of gummy, add an extra tablespoon of butter and gently fold it in instead of trying to fix it with baking powder," she said.