A good potato masher or ricer will not only give you smoother mashed potatoes, but can also make smashing all kinds of foodβfrom beans to avocadosβeasier and even fun. It's the most efficient masher you can get. This masher cuts into potatoes and other foods faster and more easily than the competition. It was also the most efficient model of its kind: With its perforated plate, it cut into potatoes and beans quickly and effortlessly.
The horizontal handle offered the best leverage among the mashers we tested and made it easier to work the OXO tool around a bowl to make sure all of the ingredients were evenly incorporated. The OXO is dishwasher safe and a breeze to rinse clean.
Because of its compact design, it stores easily in a drawer. Not only did it make the creamiest potatoes of any ricer we tested, but it was also the simplest to operate and clean compared with larger, more unwieldy ricers. This ricer takes a little more effort to set up, use, and clean than a masher, and it occupies more storage space. But all of that may be a worthwhile trade-off for the satiny potatoes of your dreams.
Mashers and ricers produce mashes with different consistencies. Here are the main ways these tools differ:. Of course there are other ways to mash potatoes and other foods. Some people like using food mills to create thin, smooth potato purees.
In our tests, we preferred the fluffier and more substantial potatoes from mashers and ricers. Food mills are better suited for advanced cooks looking to make sauces, jams, and purees beyond basic mashes. But this is not a category with a lot of technological innovation. When you cook a potato, the starch lining the cell walls absorbs the water around it and becomes a gel that fills the cell. Bad mashed potatoes happen when the cells break open, spilling the sticky gel, which then results in a mash with the consistency of library paste.
