The Easiest Way To Get Your Potato Peels Right Off

Peeling potatoes can be a real hassle. If you're making a potato salad recipe or a big batch of mashed potatoes, the last thing you want to do is peel each one meticulously with a potato peeler. And if your potato peeler is on the old side, you might even need to dig into the potato just to get the skin off. 

By the time every potato is peeled and ready to cook, your fingers, hands, and wrists are probably aching, and you might never want to see another potato again — despite the fact that you're making a potato dish.

Have you gone through this potato-peeling frustration? If so, you might be looking for a different solution that's a little bit easier. Thankfully, there's a quick, simple way to peel potatoes — and you don't even have to break out the peeler. Peeling every potato at once, without a peeler? Win-win.

Instead of spending hours with a potato peeler, leave your stress at the kitchen door and try this method for making potato peel slide right off. The answer is simple: Boil potatoes with the peel on (per Williams-Sonoma). While most people peel potatoes before boiling them, there's no rule that says you can't do it the opposite way.

Grab a pot big enough to hold the entire batch of potatoes, fill it with lightly salted cold water, and add the unpeeled, whole potatoes. (The cold water is important, as you don't want to overcook the potatoes.) Boil the potatoes over medium-high heat, and after the water begins to boil, turn the heat down to a simmer. Once the potatoes are the desired consistency, drain and cool them. After you've cooled the potatoes enough to hold them, pull where the potato skin has started to peel. If you need to, you can also use a paring knife, but getting the potatoes peeled should be much easier regardless (per Better Homes & Gardens).

To make the process even easier, Foody Tube suggests making a small indentation around the center of your potatoes before boiling them, skin-on. Supposedly, this makes the peeling even easier.

The boiling trick isn't limited to potatoes. There are multiple other vegetables that peel easily when you expose them to boiling water. 

Beets are one such vegetable. Follow the same process: Boil the beets on medium-high heat, let them simmer, then drain them when they're cool and peel them, using a knife for assistance (per Greatist). Nothing "beets" that.

This hack even works on some fruits — tomatoes are a prime example. If the recipe calls for tomatoes without the skin or you just don't like the texture of tomato peels, boil them in hot water for a short period of time. And don't forget to put them in an ice bath to cool after you boil them (per Food Network). This will stop the tomatoes from cooking and cool them enough so that you can peel them. Whether you're peeling potatoes or another fruit or vegetable, there is an easier way than spending hours with a vegetable peeler.