How long do I boil potatoes and how do I know when they're ready?

The easiest thing to boil is potatoes. But the many varieties make the cooking time vary. Overcooked potatoes begin to crumble and do not look aesthetically pleasing on the plate. To use such a product for the preparation of salads is not possible at all.

What you need to know about boiling potatoes

On average, the product is ready in 15-20 minutes from the start of cooking. But it is necessary to take into account:

1. Young potatoes will be cooked much faster than old potatoes.
2. Whole tubers cook much longer than a vegetable cut into pieces.

Important! You should not cook potatoes of different varieties in the same pot. By the time some tubers boil, others may already be overcooked.

If you add a piece of butter to the container in which the root vegetable is boiled, the tubers will cook much faster. A thin film on the surface will prevent water evaporation, which will increase the speed of heating the potatoes. This way you can save about 5 minutes of time.

Especially when boiling, you need to watch out for those varieties of vegetable with high starch content. They are easily overcooked and begin to crumble. Experienced housewives, to use such potatoes for a salad, soak them in water beforehand. To do this, the tubers are washed, cleaned and cut into cubes. After that, put them in a pot and pour cold water for 24 hours. After 12 hours, the liquid can be replaced with a new one. Before being put to boil, sliced potatoes are tipped into a colander and rinsed in running water. Then the boiled product will hold its shape.

How long do potatoes take to boil

Boil this familiar product can be not only on the fire, but also in a steam cooker, microwave, multicooker. There are also several ways of cooking.

1. To boil potatoes in jacket, on average, it will take about 25 minutes. We are talking about large tubers. Smaller ones will be ready in 20 minutes.
2. Peeled vegetable, placed in the pot whole, will be ready in 20-25 minutes. It all depends on the variety and size of tubers. Young potatoes will cook in 15-20 minutes.
3. In soup, potatoes sliced into strips will cook for 13-14 minutes.
4. A microwave will help save some time. It takes 10-13 minutes to cook the root vegetable.
5. Steamer will help to preserve most of the valuable vitamins and minerals in the potatoes. After 20-23 minutes the dish can be served.

How do you know if the potatoes are cooked?

It is enough to pierce the tuber with a fork, knife, toothpick or matchstick to about the center. If the object goes through without effort, you can drain the water.

Other methods:

1. Take the topmost potato out of the pot and cut it in half. Taste the core, if it doesn't crunch on your teeth, the vegetable is done!
2. If you stick a kitchen thermometer into the potatoes and it reads 82 ° C or more, it's a sure sign that the root vegetable is ready to eat.

What to do if the potatoes are undercooked

If you've emptied the water and the potatoes aren't cooked completely - no problem! Put them on a plate and put them in the microwave for 4-5 minutes.

Tip: The undercooked potatoes can be cut into sticks and fried in a frying pan with sunflower oil.