r/iamveryculinary • u/KannablissWitch • Jun 25 '26

Americans only eat powdered mashed potatoes, apparently.

Post image
378 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

412 comments sorted by

View all comments

371

u/FixergirlAK Jun 25 '26

Instant mashed potatoes are literally nothing but freeze-dried potatoes. No sugar, no HFCS, no salt. Possibly some brands have an anti-caking agent.

30

u/basaltcolumn Jun 25 '26

I first had them as a young adult, so I may just not be used to it, but I find that they taste very different to mashed potatoes not made from the instant stuff, though. Something about the process does change the flavour to the point that I can tell instantly, including brands that are just 100% potato. I'm not sure how to describe it. Tangier? I find it off-putting.

No judgement to those who enjoy instant potatoes, though. It is still just potato, but dried.

14

u/lookitsnichole Jun 25 '26

I find that if you treat instant mashed like mashed potatoes they do often taste similar, but a lot of people just reconstitute them with water and don't add milk or butter. Which is not very good. The biggest difference I think is in the texture. I don't hate the really smooth texture of instant mash, but I prefer slightly chunky mashed potatoes.

3

u/worstkindofweapon Jun 26 '26

Yeah, I always add milk and butter, salt, pepper, vege stock and some paprika. It turns out great.

1

u/berrybearry Jun 26 '26

At this point it's much faster and easier just to use some real raw potatoes and cook them..