Should You Soak Potatoes In Salt Water Before Cooking?

Potatoes are one of the most versatile ingredients to use in the kitchen. There are so many recipes you can make with a simple potato or two, but there are different ways you need to prepare potatoes before cooking them.

Should you soak potatoes in salt water before cooking? You should soak potatoes in salt water before cooking, especially if you are making French fries or baked potatoes, or when you are preparing potatoes ahead of time. Soaking potatoes helps to draw out water and remove excess starch, giving you firmer potatoes when cooked.

It might be slightly time-consuming to soak potatoes in salt water before cooking, but it is definitely worth it if you want crispy French fries and perfect baked potatoes!

Do You Need To Soak Potatoes In Salt Water Before Cooking?

Soaking potatoes in salt water before cooking helps to draw water out of the potatoes, and it helps to remove excess starch.

This allows the potatoes to be crispy and firmer when cooked, which is what you would want when making French fries and baked potatoes.

You don’t absolutely have to soak potatoes in salt water before cooking — you can still cook raw potatoes that haven’t been soaked; the results just won’t be as good.

If you plan ahead and have the time to soak the potatoes, it is definitely worth doing so!

Does Soaking Potatoes In Salt Water Change How They Cook?

Soaking potatoes in salt water definitely does change the way the potatoes cook and how they turn out at the end.

The two most common times when potatoes are soaked in salt water before cooking are when making French fries and baked potatoes.

For French fries, soaking the potatoes before cooking helps to remove the potato starch, which is essential for ensuring the fries do not stick together during the frying process.

Next, soaking the potatoes helps to give the French fries a golden-brown exterior, but with a soft and fluffy interior.

By removing the water and moisture from the potatoes you will also allow the French fries to fry up drier, and be more rigid when cooked.

The water content that would have been in the fries becomes replaced with fat during cooking, making them more flavorful too.

The other time that potatoes are usually soaked is when making baked potatoes. This can also be done when making potato wedges.

Soaking potatoes in salt water for baked potatoes gives you a crisp jacket on the outside, and soft, fluffy potato on the inside.

Do I Need To Add Vinegar To A Salt Water Soak For Potatoes?

Some people choose to add a teaspoon or two of vinegar to their salt water soak for potatoes, but this is really up to you.

The added vinegar supposedly helps extract more moisture and starch from the potatoes, which gives them a better finish overall, but this can be achieved with salt water on its own.

It is also believed that soaking the potatoes in vinegar can help give them more flavor, but once again this will be up to personal preference too.

Do I Need To Dry Potatoes After Soaking Them?

Once you have left the potatoes to soak for the right amount of time, you should dry them before cooking them.

Drain the fries or the whole potatoes, and then lay them down on some clean paper towels.

Use another few pieces of paper towel to blot the potatoes to remove excess moisture, and repeat this until the potatoes are dry and ready to cook.

The Pros And Cons Of Soaking Potatoes In Salt Water

When deciding whether or not to soak your potatoes in salt water before cooking them, you would want to look at the pros and cons.

Pros

There are a few really good pros to soaking potatoes in salt water. The main benefit is that the salt water helps to draw out excess moisture and starch from the potatoes. 

This in turn gives you crispy, firm French fries that do not break or mush apart and are crispy and brown on the outside, yet soft and fluffy on the inside.

The same is true for baked potatoes and potato wedges, which will have a deliciously crispy exterior with a soft, tender interior.

Cons

When making French fries or jacket potatoes, there is only one con with soaking the potatoes in salt water, and this is the time it takes to prepare them.

You will have to plan ahead and prepare the potatoes well before cooking in order to give them time to properly soak for this process to be effective.

How Long Do You Need To Soak Potatoes In Salt Water

You can leave potatoes to soak in salt water for up to 24 hours before cooking, but the amount of time you have to soak them depends on what you are making.

Baked Potatoes

When you are making baked potatoes or potato wedges, you only need to leave the potatoes to soak for between 2-8 hours for the best results.

French Fries

French fries can be left to soak in salt water for up to 24 hours, but they should not be left for longer than this as they might begin to absorb moisture again.

However, you do not need to leave them to soak for this long — soaking them for just 30 minutes before cooking will make a difference.

How To Soak Potatoes In Salt Water

Soaking potatoes in salt water is fairly straightforward; you just need to plan ahead to get it done on time.

Can You Soak Potatoes To Prevent Discoloration?

A less popular reason why potatoes can be soaked in salt water is to prevent the potatoes from discoloring.

Like apples or other fruit or vegetables, potatoes can turn a grayish-brown color when they are exposed to air — soaking them can help prevent this.

While this discoloration does not affect the taste or texture of the potatoes, it does not look visually appealing.

Placing potatoes in water straight after peeling and chopping them will stop the potatoes from coming into contact with oxygen, and therefore stop them from discoloring.

To do this, you do not necessarily have to add salt to the water, unless you are making French fries or baked potatoes — for other types of potato meals, such as mashed potatoes, you can just use plain cold water.

You can leave the potatoes to sit in the water until you are ready to use them, but do not let them sit in the water for longer than 24 hours.

When it is time to cook the potatoes, drain them and cook them as usual.

Final Thoughts

It is recommended to soak potatoes in salt water before cooking, especially if you are making French fries, baked potatoes, or wedges.

Soaking potatoes in salt water helps to remove excess water and remove starch so that the French fries and baked potatoes are crispy and firm on the outside, yet soft and tender on the inside.

You only need to soak the potatoes in salt water for a few hours to get great results, but do not leave them to soak for longer than 24 hours.

If you have the time, it is definitely worth soaking potatoes for French fries and baked potatoes before cooking them!

Related Questions

Now that we’ve learned all about soaking potatoes before cooking, and how to do so, here are some additional questions that we thought you might have.

Should I cut my potatoes before soaking?

It is a good idea to cut potatoes before soaking them in salt water, unless you’re making baked potatoes. This gives more surface area to each piece of potato to be rid of more moisture and to have as much starch removed as possible.

What happens if you do not soak potatoes before frying?

If you do not soak potatoes before frying, there will be excess starch in the potatoes — this means that the outside of the potatoes could stick to each other as they cook, and there is a chance that the potatoes will break apart easily.

Should I soak potatoes before making hash browns?

It is a good idea to soak potatoes before making hash browns to release some excess starch. This helps the outside of the hash brown be crispy and brown, and it leaves the center soft and moist.

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