Okay, so a friend of mine gave me a great recipe for loaded potato skins, and in the recipe it says to cook the potatoes in the microwave, use a spoon to get all the baked potato out of the skin, mix in yummy ingredients, then put it back in the shell to bake.

So I figured, hey why can’t I do the same thing to make mashed potatoes?! Not only will it save me time… I don’t have to peel the potatoes!

I was worried the potatoes might taste different, in all honesty I didn’t notice a difference at all! This is a great tip to use if you are short on time or just don’t feel like peeling your potatoes!

Step 1:

Clean your potatoes.

Step 2:

Poke a few holes in the top of your potatoes with a fork. I usually stab each potato 3-4 times with a fork.

Step 3:

Pop them in the microwave! I have a baked potato setting on mine, but if you don’t have one one yours it takes 15 minutes to bake 4 potatoes. I think this is an overestimate, and it could actually take less time. So check the potatoes after 10 minutes and see how they are looking.

Step 4:
Once your potatoes are cooked, cut them open to release steam and let them sit to cool about 3-4 minutes.

Step 5:

Using a spoon, scoop out all of the potato that you can! My potatoes were still hot, so I also used a clean wash cloth to hold the potato while I scooped out the insides.

Step 6:

Once you have scooped out your potato, place it in your mixing bowl

Step 7:

Add your milk, salt and pepper. I can’t give you exact measurements, I just add to taste and until the potatoes are to the consistency that I like!

Step 8:

Whala! You have just made yummy mashed potatoes:

1. Without peeling the potato

2. In the Microwave!

3. In Less Time!

Enjoy!