How To Boil Potatoes (2024)

Published: Mar 06, 2024 by Neli Howard

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Learn how to boil potatoes perfectly for an effortless side dish to accompany all of your favorite meals. Simple and easy to make, and perfectly seasoned, with hardly any prep time.

Simple buttered boiled potatoes are one of my go-to side dishes. Whether it’s as part of a quick and easy weeknight meal, or as a larger celebration dinner, there’s no bad time for these!

Learn how to boil potatoes perfectly every time, and be sure to grab all my top tips to serve a restaurant-quality side.

Be sure to try my other potato recipes too: Garlic Roasted Potatoes and Baked Potato Wedges!

Ingredients

• Potatoes: You can use baby gold potatoes, Dutch potatoes, fingerling potatoes, gold, Yukon, yellow potatoes, or any waxy potatoes will work well.
• Butter: A little salted butter turns these boiled potatoes from okay to amazing. It gives them a wonderful rich flavor. If you don’t want to use butter, a good olive oil would be a good substitute.
• Garlic: Freshly minced garlic adds a nice layer of flavor to every bite.
• Salt and pepper

How to boil potatoes

• Place potatoes in a medium pot or a large saucepan on the stove and cover with cold water. Season generously with a teaspoon of salt.
• Bring to a boil, then reduce heat slightly and simmer until potatoes are fork tender, about 20 minutes (total time will depend on the size of spuds).
• Drain potatoes using a colander and return to pot. Add butter, salt, and pepper and toss gently until the potatoes are covered with butter. Serve immediately, with chopped parsley if desired.

How long to boil potatoes

It will take around 15 to 20 minutes to cook once the water starts to boil. Take care not to over-boil the potatoes to the point they are falling apart. They should be fork-tender but still hold their shape.

The exact time it takes you to boil potatoes depends on the size and type of potatoes you are using, as well as what you are making with the potatoes.

• Russet potatoes: Russet potatoes are starchy and they fall apart quicker and absorb more water while boiling. If you cut them in cubes, they need less time to cook than waxier potatoes, only about 10 – 15 minutes, or until they are fork tender.
• Yukon Gold potatoes: I prefer Yukon Gold potatoes for both mashed potatoes and potato salad because they have a creamy texture and buttery flavor. If you are making mashed potatoes, you will need to boil the cut potatoes for about 15 – 20 minutes. Read more . If you are making potato salad, boil them for 10 – 15 minutes. Read more tips on making the best potato salad.
• Small golden potatoes: Similarly to Yukon Gold potatoes, they need about 15 minutes to cook once the water starts boiling.
• Red potatoes: Red potatoes are waxier and they may need about 20 minutes to boil.
• Sweet potatoes: If you are boiling sweet potatoes to make a sweet potato mash or sweet potato cassserole, you need to boil the potatoes until they are soft when pierced with a fork, about 20 minutes. You can reduce the cooking time if you cut the sweet potatoes into 1″ slices.
• Making skillet potatoes: If you are making skillet potatoes using … you only need to parboil the potatoes beforehand. That should take only about 5 – 10 minutes.

The waxier the potatoes and the larger the pieces, the longer they will take to cook.

Can you make them ahead of time?

These boiled potatoes are quick and easy to make, and if you are looking for a make-ahead side, then these are a great choice. Make up the whole recipe, let the cooked potatoes cool and then keep them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. You can then easily reheat the potatoes in the oven at 300F for around 10 minutes till warmed through to serve. Cold-boiled potatoes can also be used to make a great classic potato salad.

Do you need to peel the potatoes?

This is entirely up to you. If the potatoes are larger and have thick skins, I prefer to peel them, but if they have thin skins, you can just give them a good scrub to get rid of any loose dirt. The skins can provide more texture and they also contain fiber and a lot of nutrients.

More Kitchen Tutorials

If you found this tutorial helpful, be sure to check out my other kitchen tutorials and guides.

• How To Make Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs
• How To Make Candied Pecans
• How To Cook Lentils
• How To Poach an Egg

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How To Boil Potatoes

Learn how to boil potatoes perfectly for an effortless side dish to accompany all of your favorite meals. Simple and easy to make, and perfectly seasoned, with hardly any prep time.

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 4 servings

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INGREDIENTS

• ▢ 1.5 lb baby Dutch yellow potatoes, chopped or use mini/fingerling
• ▢ 2 tablespoons butter, cut into slices
• ▢ 2-3 cloves garlic, finely minced
• ▢ 1 teaspoon salt, plus more for boiling the potatoes
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ▢ Chopped fresh parsley

INSTRUCTIONS

• Place potatoes in a medium pot and cover with cold water. Season generously with salt.

• Bring to a boil, then reduce heat slightly and simmer until potatoes are fork tender, about 20 minutes (time will depend on size of potatoes).

• Drain potatoes and return to pot. Add butter, salt and pepper and toss gently until the potatoes are covered with butter. Serve immediately, with chopped parsley if desired.

TIPS & NOTES

• Start the potatoes in cold water and then bring them to the boil, rather than placing directly into boiling water. This will help them to cook more evenly.
• Salt your water well. This will help to add flavor right from the beginning of cooking.
• Simmer rather than boil the potatoes. They will cook quicker if you boil, but you risk the center being undercooked.
• You can use baby gold potatoes, Dutch potatoes, fingerling potatoes, gold, Yukon, yellow potatoes, any waxy potatoes will work well.

NUTRITION

Calories: 184kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 15mg | Sodium: 642mg | Potassium: 731mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 259IU | Vitamin C: 35mg | Calcium: 27mg | Iron: 1mg

AUTHOR Neli Howard

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword easy boiled potatoes, easy potato side dish recipe, how to cook potatoes

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