Potato Purée Recipe: 3 Tips for Making Potato Purée

Potato purée, or pomme purée, is a side dish or accompaniment composed of very soft potatoes emulsified with various fats, like butter and heavy cream. Cooks can incorporate this purée into dishes like a gratin, beneath roasted chicken or braised pork, or alongside other classic side dishes like steamed green beans or sautéed asparagus. Popular toppings for pomme purée include parmesan, fresh thyme, or chives.

Great potato purée takes practice—and the practice rounds are still delicious. Here are some tips to consider when making your batch:

1. 1. Patience. Making potato purée involves more than blitzing potatoes in a food processor. The cooking process centers on building texture and flavor in real-time, keeping a close eye on the purée at every stage, and allowing it to absorb each round of butter or cream completely. This process takes more time than mashed potatoes, but it’s worth it for the final result.
2. 2. Keep hot water on hand. If your purée begins to look oily, not creamy, the emulsion has likely broken. Add a little hot water to the mix, and continue stirring to build it back.
3. 3. Use sweet potatoes. For a healthy twist on the classic side dish, make a simple sweet potato purée with a stick of butter, a ½ cup of half and half, a ½ cup of orange juice, a few teaspoons of orange zest, and salt and pepper.
4. 4. Use the right type of potato. Potato selection is key when making this purée. Yukon Gold or Russet potatoes offer the ideal texture for blitzing into creamy goodness. Waxy potatoes, like red skin and fingerlings, have a higher moisture content and are lower in starch, so they don’t break down as easily and can become gummy if blended or processed.
5. 5. Vary the fats. Use a combination of fats, like clarified butter (or ghee), cold cubes of unsalted butter, heavy cream, buttermilk, sour cream, or crème frâiche to find the flavor of your preference. Add the fats in a tablespoon or so at a time, incorporating them completely into the purée and noting how they affect the texture.

The key differences between mashed potatoes and potato purée are the final texture, and the time it takes to get there. Mashed potatoes can have a creamy or chunky texture (like in smashed potatoes). In contrast, potato purée tends to have a smooth, luxurious mouthfeel due to the use of a potato ricer, food mill, or food processor that breaks the potato down.

Additionally, mashed potatoes require less cooking time than potato purée, which involves boiling, sautéing, and using a potato ricer to achieve a smooth texture.