How to Peel a Potato Without a Potato Peeler

If you need to peel a large pile of potatoes, use your head instead of your hands.

You can remove potato skins without scraping the potato or your knuckles. Blanching -- quick heat, followed by an equally quick cool-down -- is the trick to loosening skins so you can just pull them off with no fuss and no muss. If you only need to peel two or three potatoes, you'll probably be time and energy ahead to just peel them the old-fashioned way. But if you have a huge pile of potatoes that need to be deskinned, blanching will be a time-saving godsend.

Things You'll Need

• Potato
• Ice
• Water
• Knife
• Large pot

Instructions

1. Fill you pot half full with water, salt it and bring it to a boil. You can use any type of potatoes: Idaho, Yukon gold, russet, norkotah long white and so on.

2. When your water has come to a full boil, carefully score each potato around the middle with a knife. Do each potato you are cooking. Toss your scored potatoes into the boiling water for a couple of minutes.

3. If ready, take a bowl and fill it with ice and water. Remove each potato with tongs. Place each potato in the ice water for about 10 seconds. Swirl with your hands to feel if the potato has cooled down enough to pick it up. Hold each end of the potato and softly pull the skin from the center score. It will practically come off whole on each side.

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure your potato is cool to the touch before you pick it up. If two minutes is not enough to soften the skins, throw them back in the boiling water for another minute or so. Different types of potatoes will require different boiling times.