How to Parboil Potatoes

Parboiling is the act of cooking food partially so that its cooking time is reduced when added to a recipe. Potatoes are commonly parboiled owing to their tendency to take a lot longer to cook than other ingredients. Start with Step 1 below to parboil potatoes before including them in a recipe of your choosing (though this article will give you a few ideas, too).

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Prep

1
Clean the potatoes. Check to see if the recipe requires them peeled or unpeeled and peel them if needed.^{[1]
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- If they don't need peeled, scrub them under running water until they're about as clean as they're going to get.
- If they do need peeled, with your potato peeler or a sharp knife (be careful!), peel them above a bowl or the trash. This makes clean up a lot easier. Wash them after peeling for good measure.
2
If necessary, cut them to matching sizes. Potatoes take a long time to cook, hence why you're parboiling them, right? To make sure they all cook at the same rate, cut them to the same size. If some potatoes are larger than others, they may not be done at the same rate as the smaller ones.^{[2]
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- And, in general, the smaller the potato, the quicker it'll cook. If you have really big potatoes, cut them into quarters just to cut down on your parboiling time.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Parboiling

1
Fill a saucepan with room temperature water and your potatoes. You want enough water to reach about 1" (2 cm or so) above your potatoes. This way they'll all cook evenly.
- Make sure your potatoes are clean and to size! You want to do them all at once, if possible, to make sure they're all the same level of doneness.
2
Bring to a light boil. Boil small to medium potatoes for approximately 7-10 minutes; boil larger potatoes for approximately 12-15 minutes.^{[3]
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- Some people swear on bringing the potatoes to a boil and immediately turning it off, leaving the potatoes in the hot water on the hot burner. This method generally takes a solid 15 minutes, but is better for ensuring you don't overcook your potatoes.
3
Remove the potatoes from the heat once this time has elapsed. If you're not sure how "done" the potato is, stick a fork into it. Preferably there should be a cooked outer edge and a raw middle; the potato should still be firm and your fork should meet resistance after the initial edge lets it through easily
- You can also take your knife to the edge of the potato. Do the edges come off all nice and fluffy-like? When you get to the center, is it whiter, harder, and clearly a bit uncooked? That's perfect.
4
Dip the potatoes straight into cold water. This stops the cooking immediately. They are now ready to be used as required in your recipe.
- Parboiled potatoes will not keep for very long time – aim to use them within a day or two, at most. Keep them in the fridge in a bowl, not a plastic bag (this causes them to sweat, softening them).

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Using Parboiled Potatoes

1
Roast baby potatoes. One of the best ways to use parboiled potatoes is for roasting. When your potatoes are parboiled and then roasted, you get this great, crispy outside and soft inside that satisfies all the taste buds.
- If you're a fan of the crispy, try wikiHow's How to Make Extra Crispy Roast Potatoes recipe.
2
Make a veggie stir fry. Another reason for parboiling is that potatoes take so much longer to cook than other vegetables. With parboiled potatoes, you can throw them right in with the rest of your stir fry and it will all take roughly the same amount of time!
3
Make shredded hashbrowns. A little-known secret for homemade potatoes? Parboil them first. Just like roasted potatoes, this makes them crispy in the right places and soft in others. Put down the frozen hash browns from your grocer's freezer and try making them yourself.
4
Roast sweet potatoes. In addition to regular ol' potatoes, sweet potatoes can be parboiled, too. In fact, any starchy vegetable can be parboiled, including carrots. Once you see the magic that is parboiling with potatoes, expand your repertoire with the rest of the starchy, root veggie family. boi

Community Q&A

Question

What is the best way to store parboiled potatoes in the refrigerator - in water or drained?

Community Answer

I drain the pan as soon as they are done and immediately fill it with cold water to stop them cooking any longer. But once they're cool to the touch - which can be around 15 minutes - I drain them and drop them into a dry bowl and pop in the fridge (unless I'm cooking them immediately). I don't know if keeping them in water would keep them ready any longer but so long as I use them within a day I've never found it necessary.
Question

How do I parboil potatoes in a pressure cooker?

Community Answer

Perhaps you should consider another method to parboil your potatoes as a pressure cooker would nearly cook them completely. Because it really takes minutes to parboil them in a pot of water, a pressure cooker would take less time and would require much more effort than is necessary.
Question

Twice I've made scalloped potatoes with different cooking times. Both times the potatoes were harder than I would've liked. Can I precook the potatoes in boiling water for a time before starting recipe?

Community Answer

Yes. For fresh potatoes, not the box mix, boil the potatoes whole, peeled until "al dente", still firm. Rinse under cold water until they are cool enough to handle, cut into slices and continue to make the recipe.