Potato Starch vs. Potato Flour: How to Use Each Potato Product

Potato starch is a resistant starch (it resists digestion) made from potatoes. It is a gluten-free alternative to other types of starch, like cornstarch, arrowroot starch, and tapioca starch. You can use potato starch in stews, puddings, gravies, pie fillings, and other more liquidy or viscous dishes as a thickening agent.

Manufacturers extract potato starch from the leucoplasts (starch grains high in amylopectin) found in the tubers, or thick stems, of potatoes. Then they grind these grains into a fine white powder. Since extracting the starch leaves cooked potatoes drier and crispier, potato starch is often isolated as a byproduct of making French fries or potato chips.

Potato starch can withstand higher temperatures than a thickener like cornstarch, tapioca flour, or Xanthan gum can throughout the cooking process. Keep in mind that one tablespoon of potato starch may not yield the same final results as when you use cornstarch or arrowroot powder in the same amount, for example. Consult a trusted source about conversions for your specific recipe to determine the best substitute quantity of potato starch for your overall baking measurements.

Potato flour is a gluten-free flour made from raw potatoes that you can use as a substitute for other types of flours; it gives dishes a potato flavor. You can use it in place of all-purpose flour or whole wheat flour in many general baking recipes.

Rather than extract starch granules, food processors use whole potatoes to make this type of flour. First, they cook the potatoes and then leave them to dry. Then they grind the dehydrated potatoes down into a beige fine powder—tiny potato flakes that you can then use to make gluten-free recipes in the same way you might use pure oat flour or brown or white rice flour.

This potato flour can be a substitute for baked good and gluten-free bread recipes—like dinner rolls, brownies, and even crispy matzo crackers if you wish to avoid traditional yeast bread. Keep in mind that the moist yeast potato flour produces is a blessing and a curse—using too much can lead to a gummy texture that’s difficult to chew.

Potato starch and potato flour are both very useful in the kitchen. Here are a few key ways you can tell one from the other:

1. 1. Appearance: Potato starch is a white powder, while potato flour has a more beige consistency.
2. 2. Nutritional value: While both potato starch and potato flour are high sources of carbs, potato flour contains more nutrients. Potato starch loses much of the potato’s natural minerals and vitamins as it undergoes its more arduous manufacturing process. Potato flour retains nearly all of the vitamin B6, dietary fiber, potassium, calcium, and other nutrients you will find in a natural potato.
3. 3. Versatility: Potato flour has far more applicable uses than potato starch. While potato starch is predominantly a thickening agent in recipes, potato flour can substitute for other kinds of flour in a host of baking scenarios. Each has a distinct purpose, so you should not use the two interchangeably.

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