The two Greatest Potato Ricers of 2024, Examined & Reviewed

Pay attention, I like simplifying a job as a lot as the following individual. After I’m staring down the barrel of a five-pound bag of potatoes that have to be mashed, I’d love to look to my meals processor or stand mixer for an help. Nevertheless, neither of those home equipment will make appropriate spuds. For the silkiest, fluffiest mashed potatoes the secret is to attenuate the mashing, as they include quite a lot of starch and can grow to be gummy if overworked. Enter the potato ricer. 

Consider a ricer like a big garlic press. Cooked potatoes go in a perforated hopper basket, then a lever will get pressed right down to push the potatoes by small holes (typically the dimensions of a grain of rice, therefore ‘potato ricer’). As I discussed above, the much less you’re employed potatoes, the much less starch is launched, leading to a fluffier mash. There are different choices for mild mashing, like meals mills or potato mashers, however in case you’re in search of a simple method to mash potatoes that just about ensures you received’t overwork them, a potato ricer is your finest guess.

To seek out the perfect ones, I examined 9 potato ricers. After 18 kilos of mashed potatoes, I landed on my two high picks.

The Winners, at a Look

Joseph Joseph found out a greater method to rice potatoes with its distinctive ricer that makes use of a twisting movement quite than a lever. In my checks, it labored quicker and was simpler on the wrists. The easy design makes for simple cleanup with no additional elements or crevices for potato to cover in.

Should you want the extra typical press-style ricer, the Chef’n was a dream to make use of. The twin-gear hinge presses potatoes easily with much less effort than different fashions. The handles are snug to make use of and the hopper basket detaches from the physique for simple cleansing. 

This heavy-duty ricer simply match a complete potato, urgent the spuds out swiftly because of its all-over perforations.

The Assessments

• Potato Take a look at: I examined every ricer by, properly, ricing potatoes. I used every ricer to make a batch of Kenji’s Extremely Fluffy Mashed Potatoes, noting how straightforward every ricer was to load with cooked potatoes, the time it took to rice them, and the ultimate consistency of the mashed potatoes. 
• Cleanup Take a look at: I then washed every potato ricer by hand to judge the cleansing course of.

What We Realized

All Potato Ricers Will Rice Potatoes

Not one of the ricers failed to supply silky, fluffy potatoes. I struggled to detect variations between nearly the entire mashed potato samples processed with the assorted ricers. So, whereas there have been nearly no true ricing failures (at the very least among the many pool of ricers I examined), some ricers had been much more nice to make use of.

Easy and Sturdy Was Greatest

What separates a so-so ricer from ricer is an easy design and durable development. The ricers I preferred finest lacked quite a few crevices for mashed potato to make its manner into. Sturdy development was additionally key, as urgent potatoes by a ricer requires you to make use of strain—and a flimsy deal with is certain to bend or break over time.

Snug, well-sized handles had been vital as properly. Hole handles with metallic edges (like these on the Bellemain and Precedence Chef) pressed into my arms and fingers unpleasantly, whereas strong handles (just like the handles on the Norpro and Chef’n) had been extra snug to make use of. 

One Press Plate Was Sufficient

A couple of fashions we examined got here outfitted with a number of plates with holes in varied sizes. Whereas this is perhaps helpful when you have plans to rice quite a lot of greens, in case you’re primarily going to be utilizing your ricer for potatoes, the additional elements appear pointless. So long as the holes had been comparatively small—between 1/16- and 1/8-inch—the ensuing potatoes will come out silky easy. 

The hopper baskets on some fashions (just like the RSVP and OXO) had holes solely on the underside (like a garlic press) whereas others had holes on the perimeters as properly (just like the Norpro and Williams Sonoma). Whereas fashions with extra holes had a minuscule velocity benefit when ricing, that saved time slipped away once I needed to scrape lingering potato tendrils from two to 4 surfaces as a substitute of 1. 

The Standards: What to Search for in a Potato Ricer

A very good potato ricer ought to have an uncomplicated design with sturdy development. I preferred a ricer and not using a bunch of nooks and crannies for errant potatoes to smush into. Stable handles with out sharp edges that had been at the very least six inches lengthy had been essentially the most snug and simple to make use of. A hopper basket with a large opening to simply load potatoes in and small perforations make for a fantastic, fluffy mash. Should you’re planning on making quite a lot of mashed greens having press plates with different-sized holes is perhaps advantageous, however in case you’re simply going to be mashing potatoes, I don’t suppose they’re needed. 

Search for a mannequin that may go within the dishwasher. (Each ricer I examined was dishwasher-safe.) I don’t see any motive to complicate your life by including a software to your kitchen that requires hand-washing when there are such a lot of choices that don’t.

Our Favourite Potato Ricers

What we preferred: This mannequin felt like somebody thought of tips on how to make a potato ricer higher. It employs a distinct method than each different mannequin I examined. As an alternative of urgent two handles collectively vertically to drive the potato by the hopper, you push two levers collectively—not in contrast to a pair of hedge clippers. The ricer is comprised of two separate items. The underside half homes the hopper basket whereas the highest is a cylinder-shape with a spiraled canal across the sides that screws snugly into the basket. All sides has one deal with hooked up. After loading the basket with potatoes, you line up the 2 halves of the press utilizing the purple dots on both facet for steerage after which press the 2 handles collectively. This twists the cylinder on the highest and screws it down into the metal basket, pushing the riced potato out of the underside.

This unorthodox design had no downsides. It’s straightforward to load potato into the hopper with out the highest half of the ricer in the way in which, there are fewer surfaces to scrape potato from, the handles are snug, and the twisting movement requires much less effort than conventional ricers. On high of all of that, the removable halves and crevice-free design made it one of many best fashions to scrub.

What we didn’t like: I couldn’t discover something to complain about with this one, although I want it got here in numerous colours.

Key Specs

• Supplies: Nylon and stainless-steel
• Variety of perforations: 106
• Distance between perforations: 1/8-inch
• Weight: 1.1 kilos
• Deal with size: 6 3/4 inches
• Opening dimension: 3 1/8 inches
• Care directions: Dishwasher-safe

What we preferred: Should you’d want a extra conventional potato ricer this mannequin from Chef’n is a superb possibility. The “twin gear” hinge makes urgent potatoes by the hopper a noticeably simpler and smoother expertise.

Whereas many fashions included each plungers and hopper baskets product of stainless-steel, leading to an disagreeable metal-on-metal scraping when urgent the ricer shut, the plunger on this mannequin is product of the identical plastic because the physique. This makes for a easy, scrape-free ricing expertise. The lengthy plastic handles are well-made and cozy to carry. The stainless-steel hopper is large for simple loading and removable for painless cleansing. 

What we didn’t like: This mannequin is heavier. It’s additionally the most costly ricer I examined.

Key Specs

• Supplies: Plastic and stainless-steel
• Variety of perforations: 271
• Distance between perforations: 1/16-inch
• Weight: 1.5 kilos
• Deal with size: 6 1/2 inches
• Opening dimension: 3 1/4 inches
• Care directions: Prime-rack dishwasher-safe

What we preferred: Should you’re after a mannequin that may accommodate a complete potato in its hopper, it is a good possibility. It has snug handles and perforations on all sides of the hopper, permitting potatoes to maneuver by simply.

What we did not like: It is fairly massive, heavy, and messy to make use of (because of the aforementioned perforations). Due to its dimension, it is harder to retailer, too.

Key Specs

• Supplies: Solid aluminum and rubber deal with, stainless-steel
• Variety of perforations: 1,260
• Distance between perforations: 1/16-inch
• Weight: 2 kilos
• Deal with size: 6 3/4 inches
• Opening dimension: 4 inches
• Care directions: Dishwasher-safe; hand-washing is really helpful

The Competitors

• OXO Good Grips Stainless Metal Potato Ricer: The quick handles on this mannequin had been uncomfortable to make use of and the slender opening on the hopper basket made it troublesome to load.
• Williams Sonoma Potato Ricer: This ricer is made by Chef’n and is nearly similar to our winner. The one distinction is the perimeters of the hopper basket are perforated in addition to the underside. I discovered that additional holes provide little greater than one other floor to scrape potato from, however in case you’d like extra holes this mannequin is barely cheaper than the Chef’n.
• RSVP Worldwide Spud Potato Ricer: This can be a strong ricer, although it did really feel a tad flimsier than different fashions. It’s straightforward sufficient to scrub, nevertheless, it’s important to make sure that every bit is totally dry earlier than reassembling. In any other case, the items are likely to get caught collectively.
• MyLifeUNIT Heavy Responsibility Business Potato Ricer: The handles of this stainless-steel ricer had been uncomfortable to make use of and the development was chock-a-block with nooks and crannies for mashed potatoes to make their manner into.
• Bellemain Potato Ricer: This mannequin felt unstable throughout use along with having uncomfortable handles and a hopper basket that slipped away from the physique when opening the ricer.
• Precedence Chef Giant Potato Ricer: This ricer’s development was flimsy. The plunger is held loosely to the physique, permitting it to wiggle from left to proper as you’re utilizing it. I didn’t just like the scraping of metallic on metallic when opening and shutting the ricer, and the handles had been uncomfortable.

FAQs

How do you employ a potato ricer?

Most (however not all) potato ricers are designed like massive garlic presses. You place cooked potatoes (or different greens) right into a perforated hopper, then apply strain with a lever that pushes the meals by small holes.

What’s a potato ricer for? 

Effectively, primarily potatoes. Although you possibly can press different tender meals gadgets by it, like avocados to make easy purées, most different greens want one thing just a little extra forceful to interrupt down their powerful fibers and cell partitions.

What’s the purpose of ricing potatoes? 

Ricing is an effective way to mash potatoes whereas guaranteeing that they don’t grow to be gummy. The ricer breaks down the potato whereas solely rupturing the cells as soon as as they cross by the hopper. It is an particularly useful gizmo in case you’re making one thing like gnocchi that requires a very fluffy mash, or in case you simply wish to assure you received’t overwork your potatoes. 

How do you clear a potato ricer?

Each mannequin I examined was dishwasher-safe, although we do advocate placing it on the highest rack the place it’s furthest from the heating component. Test the producer’s directions for his or her suggestions. Should you don’t have a dishwasher or want to scrub by hand, a bottle brush did a terrific job of getting potato out of the ricer’s many small holes.

Why We’re the Consultants

• Andrea Rivera Wawrzyn is a contract meals author and recipe developer and was previously an affiliate editor at America’s Take a look at Kitchen.
• She has developed recipes for a number of New York Instances bestselling cookbooks, together with an IACP award winner.
• For this overview, Andrea examined 9 potato ricers by utilizing them to rice potatoes. She additionally examined how straightforward they had been to function and clear.