Can You Shorten the Cooking Time of Potatoes?

The cooking time of potatoes depends on the type, size, and whether you want to cook peeled or unpeeled potatoes. Floury varieties usually cook for less time than waxy ones. Small potatoes cook faster than large or medium-sized ones, and peeled potatoes are ready sooner than potatoes in their skins. Small, mealy potatoes, which you peel before cooking and ideally halve or quarter, cook particularly quickly. As a guide, you can expect about 20 to 25 minutes for cooking. Tip: Put the lid on the pot when cooking. Without a lid, heat escapes constantly and the cooking process takes around ten minutes longer.

If you use a pressure cooker, you can cut the cooking time by about half at a time. The preparation in the steam cooker is not faster than in the saucepan, but it is gentler on sensitive ingredients. You can also cook potatoes in the microwave. Simply put the potatoes in a suitable bowl and calculate about one minute in the microwave at 800 watts per 100 grams of weight. 400 grams, the usual amount for two people as a side dish, are ready after just four minutes.

Tips for cooking potatoes

• Always put raw potatoes in cold water. This is a very old household trick, but there are good reasons for it. You can find out exactly what these are in our food knowledge on the subject: Why do you put cold water on potatoes?
• Potatoes don’t always have to be cooked in salted water. Cooking in broth or with a little oil in the oven also results in delicious dishes.
• If you cook the potatoes in their skins, it will take a little longer to cook, but the skin protects the flavor and the water-soluble components of the tubers.
• Make sure you always cook potatoes of the same size together. This is the only way to ensure that all potatoes have the same cooking point.
• There is an unbelievable number of different potato varieties and types: early and late potatoes, waxy or floury potatoes, varieties from Linda to Ackersegen to exotic colorful potatoes such as the Red Amalie or the Blue Swede. Find out which variety you personally like best!
• Select the right variety for your dish: Waxy varieties are suitable for fried potatoes and potato salad, waxy varieties are primarily suitable for boiled or jacket potatoes, and floury varieties are suitable for soups, puree, and dumplings.
• Potatoes are easy to pre-cook. Cook the potatoes the night before and keep them in the fridge without water. You can easily continue preparing them the next day, saving you a lot of time.
• Be inspired by the variety of recipes! In our recipe selection, we explain, for example, how to prepare rosemary potatoes or how your mashed potatoes turn out best.