Instant potatoes are made from real potatoes that have been dehydrated, so by adding ingredients you'd normally throw in with homemade mashed potatoes, you'll be well on your way to practically homemade potatoes in a fraction of the time.
Nutritionally speaking, instant mashed potatoes offer roughly the same vitamins and minerals as the real mashed potatoes with the exception of Vitamin C. To please palates, they tend to be higher in sodium, significantly higher than the amount of salt home cooks would add when making them at home from scratch.
Instant mashed potatoes are russet potatoes that have been cooked, mashed, and then dehydrated. This happens to be exactly how potato flour is made. But instead of milling the dried potatoes into a fine powder, they're crystallized into flakes, which helps keep them from clumping when you reconstitute them.
Instant mashed potatoes are dehydrated potato flakes with a lot of emulsifiers, trans fats, preservatives, and artificial flavorings. In other words, you're getting a whole lot more with your instant mashed potatoes than you probably bargained for, so make your own with only natural ingredients you can control.
Potato flakes are flat chunks of dehydrated mashed potato. How are they made? Potatoes are cooked and mashed, then crushed by rollers on the surface of a drum. The mashed potato is fast-dried until its humidity reaches the desired level, then the layer of dried, mashed potato is scraped from the drum.
After a few moments, the potatoes are ready to be served. People were understandably upset to discover that KFC's famous mashed potatoes are instant.
Instant mashed potatoes are dehydrated potato flakes or granules that, when liquid is added, create light and fluffy mashed tubers. A serving of these potatoes provides a dose of potassium, vitamin C, fiber, vitamin B6, magnesium, calcium, and iron (via LiveStrong).
They're surprisingly healthy.
According to Consumer Reports, store-bought mashed scored "good" in the nutrition category based on calories, fat, saturated fat, sodium, sugars, iron, calcium, and fiber—with most products prepared with 2 percent milk, unsalted butter, and salt.
Potatoes aren't grains, they're a type of starchy vegetable.
The Mistake: Overworking the Potatoes with a Food Processor, Blender or Mixer. Too much — or too vigorous — mashing will produce gluey potatoes.
Are dehydrated potatoes made from real potatoes? Yes. Dehydrated potatoes are made from real potatoes, with the water removed.
Refined carbohydratesFoods that contain flour, such as breads and crackers, and foods such as white rice and instant mashed potatoes are high-glycemic foods that cause inflammation.
Calories and Macronutrients
Instant potatoes also provide 23 grams of carbohydrates per serving, including 1.7 grams of dietary fiber, a type of carbohydrate that lowers your risk of heart disease. Each serving of instant potatoes also contains 11 grams of total fat, including 7 grams of harmful saturated fat.
Red Desiree Potatoes are part of the Red Potato family and are considered to be the healthiest of all potatoes, as they contain the highest levels of vitamins, minerals and healthy phytochemicals.
While microwaving does not, by itself, rob foods, including potatoes, of their nutrients, the exposure to heat and water can affect certain vitamins. But potassium, an essential mineral, is not affected by cooking in the microwave.
Potatoes are actually good for you. They are low in fat, high in potassium and only have 150 calories per potato/serving. These are not empty calories either. There's actual great vitamins and nutrients in those calories.
Nutrition Information
Potatoes are part of the vegetable group. Foods from the vegetable group provide important nutrients like vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium and fiber. Based on MyPyramid, ½ cup of potatoes provides ½ cup of vegetables from the vegetable group.
Frozen, dehydrated, or instant mashed potatoes are fine to offer to your dog in small amounts. Most consist of just potato, with milk, salt, butter, or water added later during the cooking process. Since dogs don't like spices, offering plain, unseasoned potatoes is a great treat that they'll welcome.
Yes. Botanically speaking, a potato is definitely a vegetable. It comes from an annual plant that is grown for its edible root.
What are the best instant potatoes? We tested three types of instant potatoes: Idahoan Buttery Homestyle Mashed Potatoes: These were our favorite! They had great buttery flavor, a good consistency and were fairly light and fluffy.
Overall, potatoes contain more vitamins and nutrients than rice, but when you add toppings such as butter, sour cream, gravy, bacon bits and salt, the number of calories and fat grams in a baked potato increases significantly.
Sometimes called potato buds, instant mashed potato flakes are dehydrated cooked potatoes. Reconstitute them with hot water or milk, and you've got mashed potatoes. While there's no question that making mashed potatoes from scratch is worth the effort, potato flakes do have their place.
A microwaved potato can generally offer the same texture and flavor as an oven-baked potato, says Cameron, but you do need to keep certain things in mind. Below, experts share their top tips for making baked potatoes in the microwave.
They are loaded with preservatives such as sodium bisulfate, BHA/BHT, and MSG. They also contain hydrogenated “GMO” soybean oil and corn syrup, maltodextrin (sometimes wheat-derived, causing concern for people with gluten intolerance), and dairy.