How to Cut Potatoes

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This is an easy tutorial how to cut potatoes. Learn the best way to cut a potato into slices, wedges, sticks or cubes for your favorite recipes!

Potatoes

Potatoes are such a common kitchen staple. You really can find them in just about anything! If you know how to quickly, efficiently, and safely cut potatoes, your cooking prep will be forever changed for the better. No need to buy frozen fries or dehydrated mashed potato if you know how to quickly chop up your potatoes yourself.

Potatoes are pretty high in carbs, so they’re not exactly keto friendly. However, as anyone from northern Europe will tell you, the humble potato can be a relatively healthy choice if you’re eating a balanced diet. Think about it: if you can avoid slathering your spuds in oil or butter, they suddenly seem much healthier, right? Especially if you include the iron-rich skin. Potatoes, when prepared right, are really high in vitamin C, iron and potassium. In fact, they boast more potassium than even bananas.

How To Clean a Potato

Being ground vegetables, the first thing you need to do when preparing your potatoes is wash them. Getting them nice and clean for chopping makes everything else much, much easier. In fact, any tuber, even organic ones (especially organic ones!) need to be cleaned properly to avoid any contamination of your cooking surfaces. They come out of the ground and will often have vestiges of soil clinging to the potato. You don’t want to get dirt and contaminants on your peeler, or worse, one of your precious kitchen knives.
To clean a potato, first rinse your potato under cold running water. Use a vegetable brush, some paper towel, or a clean dish cloth to rub away any dirt on the surface of your spud.
Don’t scrub so hard that you remove the potato skin!

How To Cut A Potato

The potato can be found in many cuisines from all over the world. Cutting it will vary from recipe to recipe, and region to region. To cut your potato, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with a few different cuts depending on what you’re making:

Wedges for oven fries
Slices for potato gratins
Sticks for smaller fries or the first step in cubes
Cubes for everything from soups and stews to potato salads
Diced for mash

Potato Wedges

Who doesn’t love potato wedges? Perfectly seasoned and crispy on the outside, tender and steaming on the inside.

Use a sharp knife to halve your potato. The cutting motion should come from towards the handle, in a rolling motion from handle to tip of the blade.
Once you’ve sliced the potato in half, slice each half in two lengthwise. Then cut each of these quarters in half once more. This gives you eight roughly even wedges per potato, so they’ll cook evenly. If you’re using a massive potato, such as some varieties of sweet potato, you’re welcome to cut the eighths in half again.

Potato Slices

Taking your sharp knife, start at the root of your potato and slice to your desired thickness. About half an inch or one centimeter per slice is usually plenty for most recipes.
Continue this until you reach the other end of your potato. Voila! Sliced potato.

Sticks

Potato sticks are perfect for making chips and similar foods. Using your sharp knife, make a thin slice lenghtwise across the long edge of your potato. It should be able to sit flat along your chopping board.
Now slice the potato lengthwise to whatever your desired thickness is.
Stacking the slices together, flipping the stack over so it’s cut side down, cut lengthwise to make sticks. This is pretty similar to the sliced potato cutting method, but with an additional step to make sure you can make your potato sticks.

Potato Cubes

Here, you’re starting with potato sticks, then making perpendicular cuts across these sticks to create your delectable little potato cubes.

How To Store Cut Potatoes

You’ve probably cut up some potatoes, and realized you’ve prepared too much! In that case, you need to store your cut potatoes. Unfortunately, potatoes love turning brown when their soft interior is exposed to the air. What to do?

Place them in water!

Place your spuds in fresh water and store them in the fridge for freshness.

Potato FAQs

Can you freeze cut potatoes?

You’ll want to blanch them first. You can blanch, then flash freeze your potatoes on sheets, then bag them. Otherwise, you really shouldn’t try freezing your potatoes after cutting.

How long can you keep cut potatoes in water?

The cut potatoes will keep in their soaking water for up to 24 hours. After that they will decay and degrade, which isn’t what you want. Best to use them within a day of cutting to ensure you have the best potato results.

How do you soften potatoes for cutting?

Sometimes, a large potato will be really tough to cut. It might be too thick to get through with your knife, or too tough to get any good purchase with even your sharpest, heaviest kitchen knife. What to do?
Enter the microwave. Microwave your spud for one to two minutes, depending on how big it is, which will soften the potato. Microwaves cook things by agitating water molecules, and potatoes are really high in water. That’s why they’re so crunchy when raw! The microwaving will gently, slightly cook the potato, softening its flesh enough for you to cut it up to your heart’s content.

Recipes with Potatoes

Lyonnaise Potatoes

Farfalle Pasta

Oven Roasted Potatoes

Baked Salmon with Potatoes

Healthy Mashed Potatoes

Garlic Roasted Potatoes

Aloo Palak

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