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How To Cut Potatoes

Keyword: How To Cut Potatoes

SEO Title: How To Cut Potatoes: Fries, Wedges, Slices, Thin Slices and Cubes

Meta Description: Today's article on how to cut potatoes will show you how to select, clean, and cut potatoes for popular dishes.

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Today's article on how to cut potatoes will show you how to prepare this versatile vegetable. We start with the selecting process.

Potatoes You Should Avoid

Take home the firm ones that are evenly yellow or pinkish, and avoid those with:

Dark spots
Bruises
Cuts
Sprouts
Evenly green skin

The first three signs mean that the potatoes have already been manifested by bacteria and will go bad in a few days. Technically, you can slice these parts off and the rest is still edible, but since you’re getting no discount, it’s better to buy something free of blemishes.

The last two inform that the potatoes are sprouting and are very likely inedible already. When potatoes sprout, chemicals like Glycoalkaloids and such form in the sprouts and areas around them. We cannot tell for sure which part isn't contaminated, so it’s best to discard the whole thing.

Once you’ve picked out the right ones, bring them home and give them a cleanup.

How to Clean Potatoes

Potato skin is actually edible and pretty nutritious, so many people choose not to peel them. Very often they need nothing but a quick rinse in salted water, maybe a little rubbing action, but sometimes they do need to be scrubbed.

If so, use a hard-bristle brush and rub it against the skin, until all the dirt has come off. Rinse them under the faucet, then soak for another 5 minutes in salted water to kill residual bacteria, like so:

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But if you decide to peel the skin, you can skip this part and move straight to peeling.

How to Peel Potatoes

We don’t think it’s more efficient to use a knife here—you must have excellent handling skills to trim just the peel. It’s easier to stick to the vegetable peeler:

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Next, submerge the peeled potato(es) in a water bath to prevent them from going brown:

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If you’re not cooking a lot of potatoes, skip this step and move on to cutting.

The Correct Cutting Position

Place a kitchen towel on a flat surface (your kitchen countertop) and place the cutting board on top, like so. The towel helps to stabilize the cutting board:

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Hold the knife with your dominant hand, index finger aligned along the back of the knife:

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Hold the potato with your other hand, curling your fingertips inward:

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Here are a few technical notes:

As you finish one cut and about to move the knife to the next spot, move the potato-holding hand as well. Your knuckles should always be touching the side of the knife, so you can always intrinsically locate where things are, minimizing the risk of self-cutting.
Don’t lift the knife up too high. Ideally, you want the blade just about 1/2” above whatever you’re cutting, never higher than the knuckles. Positioning the blade above the knuckles may put yourself at risk.

Most importantly, take things slow if you feel like it. To move two hands in harmony is like to ride a bike: tricky at first, but achievable with careful first attempts.

How to Cut Potatoes Into Fries

For the classic French fries you need to work with peeled potatoes.

Cut out a small slice along its length to create a flat, wide surface:

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Treat this surface as the base to hold the potato in place, and start cutting, with the technique we’ve shown above. We prefer the cuts to be 1/2” apart:

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Then, stack two slices together and cut them into fingers. When you’re used to it, stack three:

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Rinse these fingers very well to remove excess starch, then boil them for 8 minutes. Spread them out on a tray, pat them dry with a paper towel, then deep-fry them, twice (the first on medium heat, 5 minutes; the second on high heat, 5 minutes,) for a crunchy snack.

How to Cut Potatoes Into Wedges

Potato wedges look better with the skin on, so it’s crucial that you clean them very well as we’ve shown.

Begin by cutting the potato in half, lengthwise:

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Lay each half flat-side down on the cutting board, and cut them in half:

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Flip a quarter so that the sharp edge faces upward. Carefully aim the knife so that it's right in the middle of the quarter, and then cut it in half, like so. Repeat with the rest:

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Treat them like you would treat the fries after cutting. They are quite large, however, so we usually coat them in cornstarch before putting them away to make them crispier after frying.

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How to Cut Potatoes Into Cubes

Potato cubes work best in salads, roasts, casseroles, etc., and they are relatively easy to cut.

Start with a peeled potato. Cut it in half if you want large cubes:

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Or cut it into three slices, if you want medium cubes:

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Lay each slice flat onto the cutting board. Cut them into fingers:

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Then cut the fingers into cubes:

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Then you can place them into a bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and microwave for about 10 minutes on medium heat to partially cook them. They will take just about 5 extra minutes to roast, bake, grill, etc.

How to Slice Potatoes (with a knife)

These slices are perfect for scalloped potatoes.

Start with a peeled potato. Cut out a thin slice on the side of the potato to act as a base. Hold the potato firmly and cut it into thin slices, 1/4” apart from each other.

Place the slices into a water bowl to prevent browning.

How to Slice Potatoes (for Potato Chips)

A lot of people like to use skin-on potatoes so their chips have this decorative brown edge. Skin-on or skin-off, they’ll surely become super crispy once shaved very thinly.

To do so, we need a mandoline’s help. We’re using a simple mandoline slicer in this demonstration, a pad with a blade in the middle:

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Place the mandoline on top of a clean container:

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Cut your potatoes in half, width-wise:

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Hold the mandoline in place with one hand, applying pressure to keep the whole structure from moving as you work. Hold the potato in the other hand, and run it against the blade:

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Place the potato slices into a water bath to rinse off starch:

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Heat a pot of water and boil the potato slices for about 3 minutes. Scoop them out, lay them on a baking tray lined with paper towel, and pat them dry before frying.

If this sounds like too much work, instead of patting them dry, coat them in cornstarch instead. They’ll turn out with a crispy coating and very tender interior.