Mashed potatoes are one of the easiest dishes to make even for beginners. But knowing how to make the proper amount to use for each meal won’t be for anyone. So how long are mashed potatoes good for so you can figure out what to do with the leftovers? We will help you with that after just a few minutes of reading.
How Long Are Mashed Potatoes Good For?
For the room temperature, you can leave the mashed potatoes to cool down after cooking for 2 hours. Then, you should put them in the fridge to prevent the risk of bacteria and mold. Under a fridge condition, you can keep your leftovers for up to 3 or 5 days. If you are not going to use them within a week and don’t think about throwing them away, using a freezer can be a good idea since you can keep them up to a month without changing any texture of the food. In fact, this will work out for any kind of food.
How To Properly Store Mashed Potatoes?
It must be done after two hours of cooking. Otherwise, you might end up with a dish that is full of bacteria and likely to cause you some stomach problems. For fast cooling, adjust the temperature setting of the fridge to the lowest. It also stops the growth of bacteria on your food.
Then, put them in an airtight bag or a shallow container with a maximum depth of 3 inches. After putting them in your fridge, make sure to regularly check on your food and throw them away if you find any signs of mold or strange smells. If you put them in it a freezer, you won’t have to worry about that but how to reheat the mashed potatoes in the right way.
How To Reheat Mashed Potatoes?
Knowing how to properly reheat leftover mashed potatoes is as important as knowing how to store them accurately. It is suggested that you should always reheat frozen mashed potatoes on the stove. You could do it in an oven, a stove, or any kind of heating kitchen product. Whatever you choose to do, make sure you avoid using the microwave for this specific task. This is especially important because any kinds of food that have been frozen for a prolonged period of time and have lost water, as they may become dry due to water loss and gluey due to overheating.
Depending on how the potatoes are packed in the airtight bag, they should be thawed in the fridge overnight or for 6 hours. After that, put them on a hot pan with medium heat.
Some extra ingredients that can be added to prevent the potatoes from being dry are milk, cream, or buttermilk butter. Start with a half of a cup for every 4 cups of mashed potatoes, then gradually add more while stirring gently until you get the consistency that you want. Don’t add too much or else, it will turn into potato soup. Keep in mind that you need to stir it consistently or else, the mixture will get sticky.
How To Tell If Your Mashed Potatoes Gone Bad?
If you forget to check on your mashed potatoes daily, there are some signs that you should notice because they might imply the bad status of the food
1. The appearance looks strangely different. Your mashed potatoes might have gone bad if they have any moldy patches, seem shiny in spots, or have dry patches. Fresh mashed potatoes should appear normally, and if you add some dairy ingredients, they might appear somewhat golden. But when you notice they look strange, you should dump them right away.
2. They smell funny. Normally, when the look of the food is off, the smell will be bad as well but it’s not like that every time. Although they might look not much different, you should not use them if the smell is funky. This unpleasant smell might come sooner if you add any dairy ingredients to your mashed potatoes.
3. The taste is wrongly odd. You should stop eating immediately as soon as you feel the taste isn’t right.
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Conclusion
You have reached the end of our article on how long are mashed potatoes good for. In short, this is an easy-to-make dish but not everyone can estimate the right amount of potatoes in one cooking. So, you should put the leftovers for up to 3 or 5 days and more if you but in a freezer. When the potatoes have shown the signs of being spoiled, throwing them away is a good choice.
Don’t hesitate to leave some comments if you have any questions about our topic.
