Why whipped potatoes are rising in popularity

Forget mashed potatoes - whipped potatoes are the new side you didn’t know you needed.

Rebecca Nittolo

2 min read

December 16, 2023 - 5:05PM

Australia, I have found the ultimate festive side dish for you. Sure, we all love serving salads with our seafood and ham but, as someone who was brought up with a traditional Christmas dinner complete with roast potatoes, I sometimes always just want a little potato hit as part of the special feast.

Meet whipped potatoes, also known as duchess potatoes. They’re basically potatoes that are mashed, piped then baked… and this is the result:

They’re pretty, right? These little carby swirls were popular back in the 90s, often served as a fancy side at dinner parties. But we’ve noticed them making a comeback this year, with the above traditional butter version recipe increasing in page views since last year.

Whipped potatoes

Why do people love whipped potatoes?

Other than the fact that they look incredible, they’re also full of flavour due to generous seasoning, a lot of butter and the richness from the egg yolks. The yolks also give them a smooth, glossy texture and help them keep their stunning form while they bake.

When they come out of the oven, not only do they look impressive but they’re sublimely creamy on the inside, yet golden and crispy on the outside.

Whipped potatoes

Muffin pan French onion whipped potatoes

Our newest version of duchess potatoes is made traditionally with potatoes, egg and butter. But our foodies also added… French onion soup mix. We know how much you love that magic powder! It adds so much depth to the flavour, goes perfectly with the butter and brings just the right amount of savoury and sweet.

Check them out:

Whipped potatoes

How to make duchess potatoes

It’s pretty simple really. Duchess potatoes start out like mash. You boil peeled potatoes until tender, drain and leave to dry out (or cool hack – return them to the hot pan for 1 minute until the liquid all evaporates), then mash them.

No masher is required here. Our food editors love to mash their spuds by pressing them through a sieve using the back of a spoon – this guarantees that there will be absolutely no lumps. Lumps are a BIG no-no with whipped potatoes.

They then whip through a mixture of melted butter and the French onion soup mix, plus the egg yolks. They’re piped onto a tray using a fluted nozzle and baked for about 20 minutes. We also baked these French onion versions in a muffin pan to help them keep a uniform shape.

I drizzled extra melted butter over mine to serve and I recommend you do the same.

Get our whipped French onion duchess potatoes recipe.