What to do with leftover potatoes?

Potatoes are very popular in Finland. They are a part of the leading daily meal for most families. Back in time, potatoes were also highly used, especially in winter, when there were not many fresh vegetables available. Still today, potatoes are among the most versatile and accessible food. Everybody can quickly notice the wide variety of potatoes in the shops classified, such as General potatoes (Yleis peruna), Firm (Kiinteä), and floury (Jauhoinen). It means that they are potatoes for general use, or potatoes with a harder texture suitable for salad or soup, and flour-texture potatoes suitable for making mashed-potato. If you have a family, you may end up cooking a large number of potatoes which are not all eaten then, in this article we would like to give some ideas about what to do with those leftover potatoes.

Potato salad

Potato salad is such an excellent way to use your leftover potatoes, delicious, easy, and appealing. Just use any vegetables you like, chop them all, add to potatoes (made into cubes), plus some delightful salad dressing, you then create a wonderful meal. Use vegetables such as cucumber, cherry tomatoes, baby spinach leaves, fresh basil, parsley, dill, or mint for better aroma. As for salad dressing, use your favorite one, or merely some vinegar, salt, and pepper. Here is a recipe for you to try Potato Salad. 

Potato cakes

You can quickly turn your leftover potatoes to a delicious and yummy looking potato-cakes, or better call it potato-pancakes if you have kids around, to get them excited and willing to eat. Here is a recipe for you to try Potato Cake. 

Mash your potatoes with a fork or by using a potato masher and adding a few spoons warm/boiled water to mash them well. Add one chopped onion and one-two grated carrots, some fresh herbs such as parsley, one spoon tomato puree-concentrate, some chop nuts (optional) such as walnuts or pecan nuts, salt and pepper (optional) to taste. This recipe is for a simple basic potato-cake, then you can add a half cup of any cooked grain such as rice, millet, buckwheat, quinoa, barley, etc. Combine all ingredients well, give a flat shape to them (using hands or spoon), cook on the pan or in the oven for about 20 minutes. If you wish to have a more crispy result, coat the potato-cakes with bread-crumbs (korppujauho), and then cook. If you use ingredients that are all already cooked, then it is enough to warm them up slightly on the pan to both sides.

Roasted Potatoes in the oven

Roasted Potatoes makes simple snack food, or side dish, or accompanied with your main meal. Cut the potatoes into cubes, sprinkle with some salt and pepper, plus your favorite herbs such as rosemary, paprika, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, chili, etc. You could combine all herbs, salt, and pepper in a bowl, mix well, coat your potato cubes with this mixture, spreading them well while placing them on the baking sheet, cook in the oven at 200 degrees for about half an hour, or until crispy. Since the potatoes are already cooked, it might need less time in the oven to get crispy, therefore check the oven regularly. You could also eat them with your favorite toppings such as ketchup, mustard, and salsa.

Potatoes in a soup

For a cold day or a relaxing evening meal, warm soup is always a good idea—a fast, simple way of making soup with your leftover potatoes. Open a pack of frozen chopped vegetables bought from food stores, add a vegetable stock (optional), your potatoes (cut into cubes if they are big), some favorite herbs, add water and bring to boil, cook for 5 or 10 minutes until well combined. To make the soup more appealing, add some almond flakes (optional), and noodles in the end, kids in particular love noodles, and they would eat the soup happily then. Here is also another example of soup Ground Soup.

Mashed those potatoes

Mashed potatoes are another simple, delicious way of using leftover potatoes. Add your favorite dry or fresh chopped herbs such as parsley, basil, dill, chives, mint, etc. Combine all ingredients well then add salt and pepper to taste. 

You can get fun and colorful mashed potatoes by cooking or steam-cook vegetables (for faster option chop them up) such as carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips, swede, turnips, or other favorite roots. Mash them all together with potatoes and add salt and pepper to taste. 

Garlic and onion mashed potatoes can be made by simply sprinkling some salt, garlic powder, or onion powder to your mashed potatoes. 

Potatoes with various toppings

If you don’t have time to cook anything with your leftover potatoes, peel them and eat them with your favorite toppings. 

Written by: Mehri Riviere