Boiled Potatoes

Freshly boiled potatoes
Recipe by Joe Jones
  • Recipe difficulty - easy
  • Preparation time - 5 minutes
  • Cooking time - 15-20 minutes
  • Serves - 1
  • Dietary - Vegetarian Vegan Gluten free Dairy free
  • Allergens -

This Learn to Cook section has been put together to help give you the information and knowledge needed, to develop the confidence and basic skills required to begin making more recipes and meals at home from scratch for you and your family.

Being able to cook from scratch at home is THE single biggest positive and lasting change we can make to our diets and overall lifestyles. It gives us control over what goes into our meals, saves money and provides one of the most important life skills that we can pass onto our children, other family members and friends. Once we have mastered the basics of preparing and cooking simple ingredients, we can start to adapt, add to and experiment with countless numbers of recipes.

Ingredients

SERVINGS 1

Ingredients

  • 1 heaped handful of small waxy potatoes (skins left on)

Utensils

  • Colander
  • Kitchen scales
  • Knife
  • Large saucepan

Instructions

Method

  1. Fill the kettle and put on to boil
  2. While the kettle is boiling, gently wash any excess dirt from the potatoes under running water and cut any larger ones in half so they are all roughly the same size
  3. Place a large saucepan onto the hob and add the potatoes
  4. Turn the hub onto high heat and carefully pour the water from the kettle into the saucepan until the potatoes are covered
  5. Place the lid on to the saucepan and once the water is boiling again, turn down the heat to low and leave to simmer
  6. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are tender, a metal skewer or point of a sharp knife should easily push into the largest potato with no resistance.
  7. Once tender, turn off the heat and immediately drain the potatoes into a colander over the sink, before placing the potatoes on to a bowl or plate ready to serve
  8. Always drain boiled potatoes from the water straight away, as leaving them soaking will make them overcooked, too soft and gluey

Nutrition per serving portion (one heaped handful)

Each 80g of potato (unpeeled) contains on average

  • Energy

    222kj 53kcal 2.65%
  • Fat

    0.2g 0%
  • Saturates

    0.1g 1%
  • Carbohydrates

    0.0g 0%
  • Sugars

    0.8g 1%
  • Salt

    0.02g 0%
  • Protein

    0.0g Low
  • Fibre

    0.0g Low

Healthy choice

Potatoes are a great choice as part of a balanced diet. They are filling, a good source of energy and are also a good source of vitamins C, B6, folate and minerals such as potassium, magnesium and folate

Boiling potatoes

Boiling potatoes and many vegetables is an easy way to cook. Although when the water is thrown away, much of the water-soluble vitamins such as vitamin c, folate and the B vitamins are lost. However, if the cooking water is kept, such as when making a soup or stew, then none of the beneficial nutrients are lost