How to Use a Potato Ricer

If you like homemade mashed potatoes, a potato ricer may be the kitchen gadget for you. Using a potato ricer, you can make velvety smooth mashed potatoes right at home. Here's how to use a potato ricer.

Things You'll Need

• Potatoes
• Potato ricer

Instructions

1. Peel the potatoes and cut them with a sharp knife into small (approximately one inch) pieces.

2. Cook the cut potatoes on the stovetop in a pot of boiling water until they are fork tender.

3. Drain the potatoes using a colander. Return the potatoes to the hot pot used in the previous step or place them in a bowl.

4. Select the metal die that you want to use for your ricer. The dies that came with the potato ricer will vary in the diameter of the holes on the die. Place the die you have chosen in the potato ricer.

5. Scoop a small amount of cooked potatoes into the potato ricer using a spoon. Don't overcrowd the potato ricer.

6. Push the handle of the potato ricer down to press the top of the ricer onto your cooked potatoes. The potatoes will be pressed through the holes in the die of the ricer. This is called "ricing." Perform this step over a bowl to catch the riced potatoes.

7. Continue to add more potatoes to the ricer, repeating steps 5 and 6 above, until you have riced all of the potatoes.

8. Use the riced potatoes in your favorite mashed potato recipe.

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure that your potatoes are well cooked. If they aren't, you will have difficulty ricing them with a potato ricer.

• Scrape the inside of the potato ricer with the side of a spoon if you see it starting to get clogged with potato.