Best potatoes for your potato dish? Why you're using the wrong potatoes

Potato, potahto.

Georgia Mahood

4 min read

January 18, 2024 - 3:49PM

Honey-hasselback-potatoes-recipe

Potatoes. We love them. You love them. Everyone loves them. But with so many potato varieties available, it’s hard to know which spud is the perfect one for your dish. So with the help of our Food Director, Michelle Southan, we’re going to answer all your potato-esque questions.

How many kinds of potatoes are there?

You’ve probably noticed when doing your groceries that there are a million types of taters. To simplify it, Michelle says potatoes tend to fall into three categories: floury, waxy and all-rounders.

Waxy

High in moisture and low in starch, waxy potatoes are the best spud for when you need a potato that can hold its shape while being boiled or baked. They’re not a fluffy tater, so if you’re looking to make mashed potatoes, a waxy is a big no-no.

Waxy varieties

Dutch Cream: a long oval-shaped potato with a rich yellow buttery flavoured flesh.
Kipfler (pictured): these are easily recognised by their elongated shape and are mostly purchased dirty.

kipfler-potatoes

Floury

Unlike the waxy varieties, floury potatoes are higher in starch and lower in moisture, which makes them perfect when you need a fluffy spud (think: mashed potatoes) – or if you need a potato that can crisp up nicely (roasting and frying).

Floury varieties

Sebago aka brushed (pictured): they are mainly found dirty.
King Edward: an oval, white-skinned potato with pink colouration.
Russet: large potatoes with thick dark skin.

sebago-potatoes

All-rounders

In between the waxy and floury potatoes comes the APPs (all-purpose potatoes). These spuds are fluffier than a waxy potato but hold their shape better than floury taters, meaning they’re pretty much good for any potato dish. So if you only want to have one kind of potato on you, all-rounder potatoes should be your go-to.

All-rounder varieties

Kestrel: easily recognised due to their purple-dotted skin.
Desiree: distinct pink skin and have an oval shape.
Coliban (aka washed): have pink skin and pale yellow flesh.
Carisma (pictured): these are purchased washed and have an oval shape. Plus, they are lower GI and contain 25% less carbs than your average potato,
Crème Royale: an oval brushed potato with light yellow skin and creme flesh.

Which potato is best for different potato dishes?

A potato can seriously make or break a dish. Use a waxy tater for mash and you’ll end up with mash that closely resembles Clag paste – or, use a floury spud for potato salad and be faced with mashed potato salad (still delish though).

In order to combat these issues, Michelle details the spuds that should star in our favourite potato dishes.

Potato bake

Probably the most popular potato dish (so not one you want to mess up), Michelle says a floury potato like Sebago or all-rounders such as Desiree and Coliban are best for potato bakes. The key to the perfect potato bake is picking a potato that breaks down slightly and with a natural starch that allows the potato slices to cling together and thicken the sauce.

Michelle says to avoid waxy potatoes because they don’t break down like a floury or all-rounder would.

If you’ve got some floury or all-rounder spuds lying around and are in need of the ultimate comfort, then check out our recipe for caramelised potato bake. It’s creamy, cheesy and drizzled in golden syrup.

Potato salad

If you’re in charge of bringing the potato salad to the next summer soirée, then make sure you buy waxy potatoes because they hold their shape – integral for a good potato salad. Michelle says if you’re not wanting to peel the skins for your potato salad you could use baby all-round potatoes such as Coliban (often called ‘chat’) because they’re small enough to boil whole and then can be sliced in half after cooling.

You can check out Australia’s best potato salads.

Roast potatoes

Michelle says the trick to the ultimate crispy roasted tater is to boil the potatoes first and then dry them out. Then, rough up the edges of the spuds by shaking the pan or using a fork. Floury work best for roast potatoes due to their low moisture content but be careful not to overcook them when boiling as they will break up easily.

All-rounders such as Coliban, Desiree, Kestrels and Carisma are easier to boil without overcooking and are still light and fluffy to ensure you get that signature crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside roast potato.

Grab our recipe for the BEST roast potatoes to ensure perfect roast taters every time.

Jacket potatoes

Floury potatoes, particularly Sebago, make the best soft, light and fluffy baked whole potatoes. When you bake these potatoes whole and cut them open, you reveal a light and fluffy texture inside (almost like mashed potato!).

When it comes to classic jacket potato toppings nothing beats Tuna mornay – it’s creamy, protein-packed and makes for the perfect midweek dinner.

Mashed potato

The perfect mashed potato needs a floury spud (the Sebago is the ultimate mashing tater). However, if you’ve got all-rounders on hand like the Desiree, Kestrel or Crème Royale, Michelle says they’re great for mash because they have great buttery textures.

If you’re looking to level up your mash game, then look no further than our muffin pan French onion duchess potatoes. These little morsels of goodness are essentially mashed potatoes that are piped and then baked to golden perfection.

Muffin pan French onion duchess potatoes

Homemade chips

No one likes a soggy chip so, when it comes to making chips at home, opting for a floury potato such as the Sebago will ensure you get chippies that are crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside – perfect for dousing in chicken salt.

Check out our guide to making chips.