Mashed potatoes are a popular side dish. People can dress them up with salt and butter and sour cream and chives and…. You get the idea. Even if everyone at the table has a different vision of what great mashed potatoes are, each person can craft their own mashed potato perfection. With some meals, mashed potatoes are practically a must have side.
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What to use Instead of a Potato Masher
If you need to make mashed potatoes, but don’t have a potato masher (old fashioned, hand held kind), here are a few common and not so common tools that you may have available to use as a potato masher alternative.
Further Reading: Best Utensils for Cast Iron
A Food Mill
Okay, I admit that food mills are no longer common in modern kitchens. Some of you may be asking what a food mill even is.
A food mill forces the potatoes to go down through small holes, breaking the potatoes up as they go through the tiny perforations.
While they are powerful and extremely efficient, they do not overdo the potatoes. Your mashed potatoes will still look and taste delicious, perfectly mashed and airy. Especially if you add at least some milk and butter.
But I do get that you probably don’t have a food mill handy.
Hand Mixer
A hand mixer is an excellent, common appliance used for everything from cookie dough to whipped cream to icing.
One of the best uses of a hand mixer is making mashed potatoes!
Milk, butter, sour cream, garlic, horseradish, and more can easily be mixed in with your mashed potatoes.
The hand mixer is the best potato masher substitute.
Making mashed potatoes with a hand mixer may make you glad you lost your potato masher!
Stand Mixer
Yes, a stand mixer is overkill for mashed potatoes. Unless you are feeding a sports team.
You will have to dig out your mixer. You will have a big bowl and attachments that need to be cleaned. It will probably be a pain.
But you will end up with perfect mashed potatoes. So, a stand mixer is a pretty good potato masher substitute.
A Potato Ricer
Potato ricers are a not very common kitchen device that is used only for making mashed potatoes.
Potato Ricers are essentially a hand press version of the food mill above, but they are sized specifically for potatoes. Instead of a turning a crank, forcing the potatoes down through small holes with a food mill, with the potato ricer you force the potato through small holes by squeezing your hand.
The mashed potatoes will be smoother than if made with a mixer or masher. Some people prefer on the potato ricer method of making mashed potatoes. I think they are great, but, just like with the food mill, be sure to add some milk and butter.
Boxed Mashed Potatoes
I am not joking and I am not crazy. Everyone has had terrible mashed potatoes from a box.
There is a company that has developed a magical product: Edward and Sons Organic Homestyle Mashed Potatoes.
Follow the link above and you can buy right from Edward and Sons themselves. This is not an affiliate link, I make no money from you buying these amazing potatoes.
They are just so good and so easy to make it’s crazy. The first time I made them they were done so fast (about 3.5 minutes) that I thought I did something wrong. After making them many times, I add a bit more milk than the box calls for, but you find out for yourself how you like them.
Summary
When you find yourself asking “what can I use instead of a potato masher”, consider a food mill, a hand mixer, a stand mixer, a potato ricer, and Edward and Sons Organic Homestyle Mashed Potatoes.
