Here's How To Thicken Mashed Potatoes Without An Actual Thickener

When you're looking for a comforting meal conventional meat and mashed potatoes can do the trick. Considering how easy this side dish is to make, classic mashed potatoes are often paired with countless dishes from chicken to fish and steak. However, if you were overzealous or in a rush and had a heavy hand that poured too much milk or broth into the cooking pot, it may have resulted in a runny mound. Thankfully, it's easy to fix by just mixing in a spoonful of flour, cornstarch, or potato starch into the runny spuds until they become fluffy.

However, if you don't have any of these thickening agents on hand, there are other options. The first is to simply mix some potato flakes into your cooking pot until your mash thickens up. Or simply condense the runny tubers on the stove. Just remove the cover of your cooking pot as the heat from the stove starts to evaporate all of that extra liquid, resulting in a thicker consistency.

If you neglect to stay and watch your boiling, coverless mashed potatoes thicken up as the extra moisture vaporizes, they may get so overcooked that they develop a gluey texture. It's best to stand by and monitor your cooking pot to avoid this result, as it's one of many mistakes you can make when cooking your spuds. While you're standing there, be sure to whisk your mashed potatoes every few minutes so that they don't end up adhering to the pot.

Alternatively, you can place the tubers in a lidless oven pot, and warm them in your oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes or so. The strong oven heat will evaporate the moisture from those runny potatoes until they get dense. If you've already got other food cooking in the oven, then you can use the extra space on your stove to simply boil up some more, smash them with a big spoon into a nice mash, and then mix that fresh, dry mush into your runny potatoes to thicken them into the perfect consistency. 

Instant mashed potatoes also offer the convenience of being able to thicken your runny spuds in a quick and easy process, and they won't affect the final taste of your dish. First, make sure the temperature of the pot containing your mashed potatoes isn't super high. Simply open your box or bag of instant taters, grab a spoonful of those flakes, and add them to your pot of mashed potatoes. Lightly mix the flakes into your mashed tubers until they become fluffy and creamy. Add additional spoonfuls if necessary.

You can also add some dehydrated potatoes to your runny spuds to thicken them up. Just mix in spoonfuls of the dehydrated potatoes into your soupy, mashed pot until the texture looks appetizing again. The dehydrated varieties will also reward you by boosting the creamy taste of your mashed potatoes. Now that you've saved your mashed potatoes, and they're ready to be eaten, time to grab a spoon and dig in.