If there’s one side dish I always want an extra helping of, it’s mashed potatoes. Pillowy, creamy, buttery, and salty, mashed potatoes are, to me, the perfect food. But for the best results, there are a few key techniques I always use, including when and how to add the butter.
Butter plays an important role in creating the super-smooth mashed potato texture we all love. Plus, it adds plenty of rich, delicious flavor. But can you just throw any butter in while mashing potatoes? Should it be heated up first? For such a simple dish, there are certainly many ways to cook it.
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To Melt or Not To Melt?
There are many cooks who go to the trouble of melting butter before adding it to a batch of mashed potatoes. I’m not one of those people.
This extra step can certainly be worth it if you have the time and want to make the extra effort. Melted, warm butter produces a super velvety texture, but I don’t believe it’s worth the trouble. After all, it’s just more prep time and an extra dish or pan dirtied along the way. Instead, I prefer to use room temperature butter.
Cold Butter vs. Room Temperature Butter for Mashed Potatoes
When you add cold, straight-out-of-the-fridge butter to mashed potatoes, you’re not doing the mixture any favors. Cold butter meeting the warm potatoes causes the natural starches to seize, resulting in the gluey texture we’re all trying to avoid. Adding cold butter also makes it harder to achieve smooth, uniform incorporation, so you end up mixing far more than you need to.
While I don’t go to the trouble of melting butter before adding it to mashed potatoes, I do ensure I’m not adding cold butter. Room temperature butter provides the ideal middle ground. Letting your butter soften to room temperature doesn’t require much effort, but it will make a significant difference compared to cold butter.
For the best results, cut it up into smaller pieces. The chunks of softened butter will mix in more easily and better bind to the potatoes. From my experience, this produces a lovely texture and smooth consistency, and adds all the buttery flavor we love in mashed potatoes—no extra dishes required.
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