This southern side dish is perfect! It's just 4 ingredients, budget-friendly and quick to throw together. Stewed potatoes are healthy and naturally gluten-free! This cozy comfort food will warm your bones on a cold winter night.
What are stewed potatoes
Stewed potatoes are a thick and chunky version of mashed potatoes. They are chunks of potato boiled soft and served with thick starchy water just like a stew. Because we're using fresh potatoes, some butter, and salt & pepper you'll find this side dish both cozy and wholesome!
Just 4 ingredients
- Potatoes
- Butter
- Salt
- Pepper
Flavor ideas
Feel free to mix in or top your bowl of stewed potatoes with any of the following:
- Bacon bits
- Chive or green onions
- Caramelize onion
- Bacon grease!!
- Cayenne or chopped jalapeno
- Parsely
Which potatoes are best
You're welcome to use any potatoes that you already have on hand. Some potatoes are waxier or starchier than others but any will work. The classic choice for this old southern recipe is Russet potatoes which is just what I used!
Russet potatoes thicken the stew water perfectly and have the best creamy potato chunks. And you can find them for 50 cents a pound at Walmart & Aldi when you buy a big bag. Very budget-friendly.
How to get the perfect texture
The magic to making stewed potatoes comes down to these two things:
1.) Boiling the potatoes in just enough water that they're covered but not so much water that the water stays soupy. You want just enough water to ensure all the potatoes boil soft and give off enough starch to thicken the water.
2.) The size of the potato chunks are up to you. Because you want this stew to have some bite (not a bowl of mush) you'll want to be sure not to overcook the potatoes. I recommend cutting the chunks into slightly large pieces. That way as the potatoes cook and the edges soften they won't completely disintegrate.
Quick tips to make this fail-proof
- Once your potatoes are soft and finished cooking you can pour of any extra water if your water is soupy instead of thick like a stew.
- You can thicken soupy water with corn starch!
- Your potatoes are done when the thickest chunks of potatoes are soft in the middle. I like testing with a toothpick.
- I used large russet potatoes and added 1 TB butter per potato. 4 potatoes = 4 TB butter. More butter is great too!
Need more recipes?
Stewed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 4 large Russet potatoes
- 4 TB Butter
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Peel potatoes and chop them into large chunks. Add potatoes to boiling water.
- Boil potatoes on a medium until they're soft and tender but not mush!
- Once potatoes are cooked determine if you need to pour off any excess water or to thicken the water with corn starch. I didn't need to do either.
- Add butter to the stewed potatoes. I used 1 TB per large potato. 4 potatoes = 4 TB butter.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Stirred stewed potatoes and serve!
Video
Notes
- Once your potatoes are soft and finished cooking you can pour of any extra water if your water is soup instead of thick.
- You can thicken soupy water with corn starch!
- Your potatoes are done when the thickest chunks of potatoes are soft in the middle. I like testing with a toothpick.
- I used large russet potatoes and added 1 TB butter per potato. 4 potatoes = 4 TB butter. More butter is great too!
- Boiling the potatoes in just enough water that they're covered but not so much water that the water stays soupy. You want just enough water to ensure all the potatoes boil soft and give off enough starch to thicken the water.
- The size of the potato chunks is up to you. Because you want this stew to have some bite (not a bowl of mush) you'll want to be sure not to overcook the potatoes. I recommend cutting the chunks into slightly large pieces. That way as the potatoes cook and the edges soften they won't completely disintegrate.
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