If you think making mashed potatoes is a walk in the park, think again. There’s a fine art to smashing your spuds (and we’re only kind of joking). We’ve already taken a deep dive into tips you need when cooking mashed potatoes before, but let’s talk about this secret ingredient that can take your mashed potatoes to the next level. It’s easy to find, easy to use, you probably have some in your pantry as we speak, and may come as a surprise. It’s sugar.
Have you ever had salted caramel before? (If not, we suggest starting with these dark chocolate-covered salted caramels.) If so, then you know that sugar and salt just go well together. Adding salt to desserts is a popular trick to play up a treat’s sweetness, but you shouldn’t be afraid to add sugar to your savory foods, either. With potatoes, it can draw out some of that earthy flavor and make the dish taste milder and more rich. Simply sprinkle a little sugar into your mashed potatoes at the same time that you’re mixing in your other ingredients like butter, garlic, salt, and pepper, and experience the magic for yourself.
How should you add your sugar?
A bit of sugar tossed into a savory meal helps balance acidity, enhance other flavors, and add complexity to the taste of your dish. This is even more true if you use brown sugar. Brown sugar tastes similar to toffee or caramel due to the molasses in it, making it a great pairing for potatoes. You can easily soften brown sugar in six easy steps and add it to your potatoes while they’re still nice and hot so the sugar melts right in. It’s possible to toss in white sugar as well if that’s all you have, but you won’t achieve quite the same depth of rich sweetness with it. For best results, use a floury potato like Maris Piper, Early Puritan, or Linzer. The sugar blends into the starchy texture seamlessly.
You’ll only want to add a few pinches of sugar to your mashed potatoes. We’re talking a teaspoon or two at most. You only want enough sugar to accentuate the other flavor notes in your spuds, not to bring an obvious and overt sweetness to them. Treat it like salt: You can always add more later, but you can’t subtract. Be sure to sprinkle in a small amount at a time, mix to combine well, and taste test after each addition. Make sure to only toss in any extra sugar after you put all of your other ingredients in, or else you won’t get an accurate flavor profile. So there you have it: Just a (tea)spoonful of sugar (or less) and you’ve got yourself some truly elevated mashed potatoes.
