Cooking Potatoes Just Got So Much Better With This Appliance

Once a chef technique that sounded scary to home cooks, sous vide cooking has made its way into the home kitchen—and with good reason. With sous vide machines now more affordable than they were, the sous vide method is a really useful way to cook a variety of foods.

While there are lots of great ways to use your sous vide machine, one of the best ways to take advantage of it is by using it to cook potatoes. Yes, potatoes.

The most important thing to know about sous vide is that it translates to “under vacuum.” While the cooking part takes place in a water bath, the key to sous vide usually is the preparation of the food that will go into that bath. This requires either a fully vacuum-sealed bag or a properly prepared zip-top bag.

RELATED: 5 Things You Should Know About Cooking Sous Vide Before Trying It at Home

Vegetables aren’t usually one of those things you might think of for sous vide, since they tend to cook well with conventional methods. But potatoes can actually really benefit from sous vide.

Think about how many recipes call for boiled potatoes. While boiling is a great, quick way to cook them, it also can waterlog your potatoes and leach out important vitamins and nutrients.

By cooking your potatoes sous vide, you get the benefits of keeping all of those nutrients inside. Further, potatoes shouldn’t contain extra moisture, no matter how you’re serving them. Sous vide will give you fluffier mashed potatoes and potato salad that won’t turn to mush. Sous vide is also a great way to par-cook potatoes for finishing in an oven or on the grill.

RELATED: What Is Sous Vide and Why Are People Obsessed With It?

Preparation couldn’t be simpler:

Cut into one-inch chunks or discs (small fingerlings or baby potatoes that are no larger than an inch in diameter can go in whole).

Note: If you want to cook your potatoes together with a protein sous vide, you’ll need to plan ahead—proteins cook sous vide at a lower temperature. Either make the potatoes ahead and then reheat with your protein, or you can also start them in advance, then lower the temp to the right one for the protein.

The FoodSaver is a great product for home cooks who want to vacuum seal bags of food, either for the freezer or for sous vide cooking. But here’s the thing: You don’t need one to seal bags! Use the water displacement method to get the same result.

Instead of using a vacuum machine that sucks the air out of the plastic bag, you are going to use water to push all of the air out instead.

1. Fill a deep pot with cold water.
2. Place foods in a well-sealed zip-top bag, but leave the top open for now.
3. Gently lower the bag into the water until you reach the bottom of the seal. The pressure of the water will push all of the air out the top, allowing you to easily seal it and continue with your recipe.

If you're ready to try cooking with sous vide, you can get Amazon's top-rated machine here.