How do I cook new potatoes properly?
New potatoes are a different ingredient from maincrop, not a small version of one. How to cook them so the skins stay on, the flesh stays firm and they taste of something.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 20 min
- Read
- 3 min
Short answer
Scrub, do not peel. Start whole in cold salted water, simmer gently for 12–18 minutes depending on size, and stop while they still offer slight resistance. Drain, steam dry for a minute, then dress while hot with butter or good oil, salt and mint. New potatoes are dressed hot because their skins are permeable and they take flavour in at that moment.
A genuine new potato is lifted early, before the skin has set, which is why it rubs off under your thumb and why the flesh is dense and sweet rather than fluffy. Jersey Royals are the famous ones; Cornish earlies, Pembrokeshire earlies and any early variety sold from late spring behave the same way. What supermarkets label 'new potatoes' all year round are usually small waxy maincrop potatoes — good, but not the same thing.
Step by step
- Tell a real new potato from a small salad potato.Rub the skin with your thumb. On a true new potato it flakes away easily and the exposed flesh is bright and damp. A salad potato has a set skin that stays put. Both cook the same way; only the season and the flavour differ.
- Scrub rather than peel.A brush or a scouring pad under cold running water. The skin holds most of the flavour and keeps the potato intact. Rubbing off loose flakes is fine and looks better; taking the skin off entirely is a waste.
- Cook them whole and matched for size.Cut only the largest ones in half, to match the rest. Cutting increases the surface that leaks starch and flavour into the water. Sort them into two batches if the bag is very uneven.
- Start in cold, well-salted water.Cover by 2 cm, roughly 10 g salt per litre. Bring to the boil and drop straight to a gentle simmer. A hard boil splits the skins.
- Add a sprig of mint to the water if you have it.A traditional British habit and a good one — it perfumes the potatoes lightly. Fresh mint added at the end tastes brighter; mint in the water tastes deeper. Do both if you like.
- Test early and often, and stop at just-tender.12 minutes for small, up to 18 for larger. A skewer should meet slight resistance. New potatoes go from perfect to woolly in a very short window because they carry so much moisture.
- Drain, steam dry, dress hot.Off the heat in the dry pan for a minute so the surface water goes. Then butter or a fruity olive oil, flaky salt, black pepper and chopped mint, chives or parsley. Toss in the pan so everything coats.
Tips
- Steaming instead of boiling concentrates the flavour noticeably and removes all risk of split skins. It takes a few minutes longer.
- Leftover cooked new potatoes are excellent halved and fried cut-side down in butter until deeply browned — better, arguably, than they were the first time.
- They do not store like maincrop. Buy new potatoes in small quantities and use them within a few days; the sugars that make them taste good fade fast.
- Roasting or crushing them is a real option — toss in oil and roast at 200°C for 30–40 minutes, or boil then squash and roast.
Common mistakes
- Peeling them — You throw away the flavour and the structure, and the flesh then leaches starch into the water.
- Cooking them like maincrop and expecting fluffy — They are waxy and dense by design. Wanting fluffy means wanting a different potato.
Questions people ask
Do new potatoes need a cold start?
It matters less than for large maincrop pieces because they are small, but it still gives more even cooking and less split skin, and it costs nothing.
Why do Jersey Royals taste different?
Variety, the light sandy soil and traditional seaweed manuring on Jersey, and the fact they are lifted very young and sold quickly. They have Protected Designation of Origin status, so the name is legally restricted to that island and that production method.