Whether mashed, fried, baked, or boiled, there are a gazillion ways to serve potatoes. Once you decide on a potato recipe, you face another tricky problem: Which variety works best? We boil down the characteristics of the three major types of potatoes and the dishes that suit them best with help from our culinary expert. Plus, find a few recipes to try.
Tanya Holland is an award-winning chef, author, and restaurateur at Brown Sugar Kitchen in Oakland, California, and host of the podcast Tanya's Table.
3 Major Types of Potatoes
For culinary purposes, potatoes are categorized according to their starchiness, which determines the dishes they're best for. Here, we break down the differences between waxy, starchy, and all-purpose potato varieties.
Waxy
Waxy types of potatoes—like new, red, and fingerling potatoes—have a lower starch content and thinner skin. They are best used in recipes that need potatoes to hold their shape pretty well. Generally, waxy potatoes are best for potato salads, boiling, and roasting.
Starchy
Starchy potatoes—such as Idaho, russets, and sweet potatoes—have relatively low moisture. They get soft and fluffy when cooked, so they're the best potatoes for baking, mashing, and frying, as well as for soups and casseroles. They most readily absorb moisture, which is great when cooked with butter or milk, but when boiled in water, these potato varieties fall apart into a mushy mess.
All-Purpose
Yukon gold, white, yellow, blue, and purple potato varieties are the happy medium of the potato world. They're a great potato staple and are not too starchy or too waxy. Though not as fluffy as starchier potatoes when mashed and not as firm as waxier potatoes when boiled, all-purpose potatoes provide a next-best alternative if that's all you have on hand.
Sample Recipes and Which Potatoes to Use
For some tater recipes—like mashed potatoes—the best type of potato may just be a matter of preference and presentation. But with other recipes, where the starch of the potato is needed to help with the dish's consistency, opting for a waxier potato like fingerlings or creamers may make your potato dish a bit disappointing. Read on for the best potato varieties to use in your favorite recipes.
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Mashed Potatoes
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The best potato to use for mashed potatoes depends on your personal preference:
- Yukon gold potatoes give you that lovely creamy mashed potato mouth-feel without becoming too gummy.
- If you like your mashed potatoes a little more rustic and "smashed," using a thin-skinned red variety like Red Bliss allows you to mash with the skin on, which cuts back on prep time and boosts the nutrition.
- For a different take, try making mashed sweet potatoes, which are fluffy and soft—and full of fiber.
Try It: Creamy One-Pot Mashed Potatoes
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Potato Salad
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Pretty much any potato variety works in a potato salad, so it depends on your personal preference. "For potato salad, I love Yukons [and] Red Bliss potatoes. I make a sweet potato salad with yams—it depends on the look and textures you're looking for," says Holland.
Try It: BBQ Potato Salad
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Baked Potatoes
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For a classic twice-baked or baked potato, pick one of the fluffier, starchy types of potatoes. "Look for something with a thicker skin, like an Idaho potato," Holland recommends. "Sweet potatoes also work beautifully baked."
Try It: Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes
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Soups and Stews
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The best potatoes for stews and soups depend on the ideal texture of the potatoes in the finished product:
- For a smooth, creamy potato soup, a starchy potato like a russet easily blends into the finished product.
- Waxier potato types, like small new potatoes, work better in a hearty stew where you want chunks of potato to remain intact.
- Sweet potatoes also work wonderfully in soups and stews. You can either puree them into a creamy sweet potato soup or add sweet potato to a hearty stew like this vegetarian chili.
Try It: Loaded Potato Soup
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French Fries
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Err on the starchy side for homemade French fries and other fried potato recipes like potato pancakes or home fries. "I like a big starchy Kennebec potato for French fries," Holland says. Waxy potatoes tend to contain too much moisture to develop the perfect crunchy-on-the-outside, fluffy-on-the-inside texture that French fry fans adore.
Try It: Oven Fries With Garlic Aioli Dipping Sauce
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Cheesy and Creamy Potato Dishes
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Your potato pick matters most for cheesy potato recipes like potatoes au gratin or scalloped potatoes, where you need to rely on the potato's starch to help hold the rest of the dish together. Russet potatoes work great for these types of recipes—or try all-purpose Yukons.
"Different potatoes have different flavors and different levels of starch," Holland explains. "If you're making potatoes au gratin and use a potato that's lower in starch, the potatoes don't stick together well."
Try It: Cheesy Potato Casserole
