For a long time, I chose not to dehydrate mashed potatoes. Up until recently, most sources insisted dehydrating mashed potatoes just doesn’t work. The common reasoning was that home-dehydrated mashed potatoes don’t turn out like the instant potato flakes you buy at the store.

Here’s what you have to look forward to! Can you believe these were made with my homemade dehydrated mashed potatoes?

But over the past year, I started seeing more and more videos of people successfully dehydrating mashed potatoes—and getting great results. That gave me the push to try it myself. And you know what? I’ve been very pleased!

My motivation comes from wanting to get away from ultra-processed foods. Store-bought instant mashed potatoes nearly always contain additives. But when you dehydrate your own mashed potatoes, your jar contains just one thing: potatoes.

In this post, I’ll share the process I’ve tested, tips that make it easier, what equipment I used, and how to rehydrate the potatoes for delicious, homemade mashed potatoes anytime.

Why People Said Dehydrating Mashed Potatoes Doesn’t Work

The main reason people discouraged dehydrating mashed potatoes is because they don’t turn out like commercial instant flakes. If you try to grind them into flakes, they don’t rehydrate well.

The trick is to grind them into a very fine powder instead. When you do, the results are excellent.

How to Dehydrate Mashed Potatoes Step-By-Step

Now let’s get into how to dehydrate mashed potatoes step-by-step. The good news is that while it takes time (like most dehydrating projects!), it’s not hard, and the results are well worth it!

And by the way, be sure to read through to the end because at the end I’ll also show you how to rehydrate your homemade dehydrated mashed potatoes.

This article includes affiliate links.

Determine the Amount of Potatoes to Prepare for Dehydrating

First I want to mention that as you can see in the first images below, I started off with around six pounds of mashed potatoes. I’m not saying that this is how many you need to do! I’m just making note of the amount to give you an idea of how many pounds of mashed potatoes can fit into a dehydrator.

In my case, I used two dehydrators. I used my Cosori 6-tray dehydrator (Amazon) and my Excalibur 9-tray dehydrator (Amazon). Note that over time I’ve experimented more, and found that I can fit about 3 1/2 pounds of mashed potatoes into the Cosori and about 4 pounds into the Excalibur. So now that I have a bit more experience with it, if I’m planning to use both dehydrators, I start with a bit more than 7 pounds of potatoes.

Kitchen scale showing nearly six pounds of russet potatoes for dehydrating. — *Starting with almost six pounds of russet potatoes*.

"Large bowl filled with unpeeled russet potatoes. — *Six pounds of russet potatoes, ready to peel.*

Step 1: Prepare and Cook the Potatoes

Of course, the first step in dehydrating mashed potatoes is to first of all cook the potatoes. The good thing is that if you’ve ever made mashed potatoes from scratch, your initial steps will be exactly the same.

Peel and cube your potatoes into roughly 1-inch chunks. The size doesn’t need to be perfect, but uniform chunks cook more evenly.

By the way, peeling the potatoes is optional. However, since you’ll be grinding the dehydrated mashed potatoes into a powder, the peels will make the end result brown, which wouldn’t be as appetizing. So that is why I chose to peel them.

Bowl of peeled russet potatoes submerged in water. — *Peeled potatoes in water to prevent browning.*

One russet potato cut into cubes on a cutting board. — *Cube the potatoes into roughly 1-inch chunks for even cooking.*

Cover the potatoes with water (about an inch over the top). Bring to a boil and cook until very soft, 25–30 minutes.

Large pot filled with cubed potatoes and water." — *Cubed potatoes covered with water in a stainless steel pot.*

Potatoes boiling in a pot with foam on top of water. — *Skim off any foam that forms during boiling.*

You’ll want to cook the potatoes until they are very soft, because you want them to mash up really well.

Cooked potatoes in water with some foam. — *Potatoes after boiling — very soft and ready to mash.*

Once the potatoes are fully cooked, drain them. In the image below you can see that the potatoes are cooked enough that some are falling apart.

Boiled potatoes in a colander, some falling apart. — *Well-cooked potatoes draining in a colander.*

Step 2: Mash the Potatoes Until Smooth

Drain the potatoes and return them to the pot. Mash them thoroughly—smooth mashed potatoes dehydrate more evenly. I used an electric hand mixer. At first, before turning on the mixer, I used the beaters to mash down the potatoes some. The reason for this is that my pot was so full of potatoes, the beaters didn’t reach all the way to the bottom. Mashing them down a bit made it easier on me once I turned on the mixer.

Soft boiled potatoes in a stainless steel pot after draining, ready to mash. — Cooked potatoes returned to the pot, ready for mashing.

Using a hand mixer to mash boiled potatoes in a large stainless steel pot. — Starting to mash the potatoes with a hand mixer. I hadn’t added water at this point.

As you can see in the image above, the potatoes are completely dry. I then added 1 cup of water to the potatoes. Note that I’m using water, instead of milk, as the dehydrated mashed potatoes will be shelf stable much longer if they don’t contain milk.

By the way, you’ll need to experiment a bit with the amount of water to add. It’s best to start off with less and add more, if you find the potatoes are too thick. You’ll see that’s exactly what I did.

ouring water into mashed potatoes to reach the right consistency for dehydrating. — Adding water to thin out the mashed potatoes for easier spreading.

You can see in the image above that the potatoes were reasonably smooth, but they were still a bit too thick for spreading, so I added about an additional half cup water.

a pool of water sitting on top of mashed potatoes. — Additional water added to mashed potatoes

After adding more water, I ran the mixer again until the potatoes were nice and smooth.

Close-up of smooth, lump-free mashed potatoes in a stainless steel pot. — Smooth mashed potatoes ready to spread on dehydrator trays.

Rubber spatula holding mashed potatoes to show ideal texture for dehydrating. — Checking the texture — smooth enough to spread easily, but not too watery.

Tip: You want the mashed potatoes thin enough to spread easily, but not watery. However, don’t worry if you put in too much water. Watery mashed potatoes simply take longer to dehydrate. Having said that, it’s best to add water a little at a time to avoid adding too much water.

Step 3: Spread on Dehydrator Trays

The amount of potatoes you’ll want to put on each tray depends on how large your dehydrator trays are. Initially I started off with 1 cup of mashed potatoes on my Cosori trays, and 1 1/2 cups on my Exacalibur trays, since they are larger. Over time I’ve learned that I can do up to but no more than 1 1/2 cups of mashed potatoes on each Cosori tray and 2 cups on my Excalibur trays.

A scoop of mashed potatoes placed on a dehydrator tray before spreading — Depending on the size of your dehydrator tray, start with a blob of 1-2 cups of mashed potatoes.

The bottom line is to spread 1–2 cups of mashed potatoes per tray, keeping the layer no thicker than 1/8″. Smooth them as evenly as possible.

How to Spread the Mashed Potatoes on the Dehydrator Trays

I experimented with different spreading methods:

I started off by using the rubber spatula. This worked reasonably well, but I found it difficult to get the potatoes spread smoothly.

The next method that I used was wet hands. I was able to smooth the potatoes in a mostly smooth layer using wet hands. The reason for wetting my hands is because when my hands were dry, the potatoes stuck to them. I was able to smooth the potatoes onto the tray without them sticking to my hands when they were wet. A benefit of using my hands was that I was able to feel lumps that hadn’t been mashed completely, and used my fingers to mash them a bit.

Mashed potatoes spread in a thin layer on a dehydrator tray, slightly uneven texture. — Mashed potatoes spread onto a tray — a bit uneven, but close enough! These are potatoes that I spread onto the tray with my wet hands. That is why you see some little “dimples” caused by my fingers.

The best method that I found was to use an offset spatula, like this one, that you can pick up on Amazon. I was able to get the smoothest layer using the offset spatula.

Offset spatula being used to spread mashed potatoes evenly on a dehydrator tray. — Using an offset spatula to to get a smooth, even layer.

Here’s a closeup of the mashed potatoes that I spread onto dehydrator trays using the offset spatula. In spite of the lighting not being great, you can see how much smoother they are compared to the tray that I used my hands on to spread the mashed potatoes.

Step 4: Dehydrate and Flip

Dehydrate at 125°F for 8–10 hours. After about 5 hours, flip the sheets of potatoes onto mesh trays so the bottoms can dry. Note that this isn’t absolutely essential, so, if like me, you often dehydrate food overnight and because of that can’t flip them, don’t worry about it. But if you are around, removing the potatoes from the dehydrator sheets, and flipping them over so the bottom side is up, will help them dry faster.

Note that when you flip them, since they are more solid at this point, there is no need to keep them on the fruit leather trays or sheets. Instead, put them onto mesh trays, since they have better airflow than the solid trays.

Partially dehydrated mashed potatoes beginning to crack after five hours in the dehydrator. — Here’s what the mashed potatoes looked like after 5 hours in the dehydrator. You can see that they look quite dry, but they are actually pretty damp on the bottom side. But they are dehydrated enough to pick them up and flip them over.

Dehydrated mashed potatoes flipped onto mesh trays to finish drying evenly. — Flipped mashed potatoes on mesh trays for better airflow and faster drying.

Completely dehydrated mashed potatoes on dehydrator trays, dry and crisp. — Fully dehydrated mashed potatoes — dry, crisp, and ready to grind. Note that the potatoes look more yellow in this photo than they actually were.

Tip: In the Excalibur dehydrator (Amazon), I found the trays too close together when the potatoes curled. This made it difficult to pull out the trays. Because of that, after the first time I dehydrated mashed potatoes in the Excalibur, I decided to use only 4 trays instead of 9, so I could put some space between the trays. Naturally, this meant I couldn’t dry as much mashed potatoes at a time, but it worked a lot better. The interesting thing about this is that I can use all 6 trays in the Cosori (Amazon), and can therefore dehydrate almost as many mashed potatoes at a time in the Cosori.

Step 5: Break and Grind into Powder

Once fully dry, break the potatoes into chunks and grind them in a high powered blender. A Vitamix with a dry grains container (Amazon) works beautifully, but any strong blender will do.

Grind as finely as possible—don’t stop at coarse flakes. A fine powder rehydrates much better.

Big chunks of dehydrated mashed potatoes in a mixing bowl before grinding in a blender. — Large pieces of dehydrated mashed potatoes before grinding.

Broken pieces of dehydrated mashed potatoes in a blender, ready to grind. — Breaking the dried potatoes into smaller pieces before blending.

Blender with coarsely ground dehydrated mashed potatoes, showing uneven texture. — This is too coarse — don’t stop here! Grind them finer for best rehydration.

Pro tip: You can see how the potatoes are more finely ground in the image above, compared to the one before it. However, if you look closely, there are still some larger bits. What I found works best is to get the potatoes “almost into a powder” and then pour them into a mason jar. I like to let both the powder and the blender cool down completely before pouring about a pint’s worth of powder back into the blender and running it again to powder it to the point that it’s the consistency of flour.

Step 6: Store

Store the potato powder in airtight jars. I let the powder cool before sealing the jars to avoid condensation. I like to use a mason jar vacuum sealer, like these found on Amazon.

Note that when vacuum sealing powder, I like to put a coffee filter on the top of the powder (below the lid) to keep the powder from being sucked up onto the rim of the jar. This helps maintain a good seal.

💡 Dehydrating Tip: Want to keep your dehydrated foods fresher for longer? Vacuum sealing your jars helps protect against moisture, air, and pests — all things that can shorten shelf life and ruin your hard work.

This small, easy-to-store vacuum sealer is made for mason jars. It’s cordless, simple to use, and a great tool for long-term food storage.

👉 Check it out here.

Step 7: Rehydrate into Mashed Potatoes

Rehydrating mashed potatoes that you’ve dehydrated yourself is similar to, but a bit different than working with instant mashed potatoes. Now if you’ve powdered them well, they will indeed rehydrate quite quickly, without trouble. But they may need to sit a bit longer than instant mashed potatoes you get from the grocery store.

Here’s what I’ve found that works well.

Ratio of Water to Dehydrated Mashed Potatoes

To rehydrate, use a 1:4 ratio — one part potato powder to four parts liquid (water, milk, or a mix).

For example:

½ cup potato powder
2 cups heated water or milk

The Basic Process

Here’s the basic process of preparing your home dehydrated mashed potatoes. I’ll give you the short version, and then show you with step by step photos.

First, using the above potato to water ratio, whisk the water into the potato powder. It will look watery at first, but as you let it sit for 5–10 minutes, it will start to thicken up. Note that it’s a good idea to stir it a few times especially at the beginning to make sure you get all of the potato powder mixed in.

Top with pats of butter and salt and pepper to taste. Then microwave it for 2 minutes to heat the potatoes through, and melt the butter. Stir it one final time to mix in the melted butter and salt and pepper.

One half a cup of potato powder in a casserole dish.

Pouring in two cups of hot water into the potatoes. Note that you can use hot milk instead, or half milk and half water. I decided to go with just water this time, as I was serving gravy over the potatoes which add enough richness.

Whisk the water into the potatoes until they are well combined.

At this point you may be panicking a bit, because look how watery those potatoes look!

But in just a few minutes, they had thickened up beautifully!

Here’s an example of how it’s easy to miss some of the potato powder. Be sure to stir it well enough and double check to make sure there aren’t any dry spots.

This shows the texture of the final product. Note that if you prefer thinner mashed potatoes, at this point, you can add a bit more water or milk until the potatoes are your preferred consistency. Wait until the potatoes have sat a bit and absorbed all of the liquid before making adjustments.

Tip: Start with less liquid and add more if needed. It’s harder to fix runny potatoes than thick ones.

Here’s what the potatoes looked like after I had topped them with butter and salt and pepper, and microwaved them for 2 minutes. At this point, I stirred in the melted butter and salt and pepper.

Videos on Dehydrating Mashed Potatoes

When I was exploring the possibility of dehydrating mashed potatoes, I found these videos very helpful. If you’re more of a visual learner, you may enjoy seeing the process in action:

The video above is the one that got me started on dehydrating mashed potatoes. She does use a process that I think it’s a bit more complex than mine, but I still think you’ll find it helpful. Again, it was the jumping off point for me for knowing how to dehydrate mashed potatoes.

What I like about the video above is that not only is the process of dehydrating mashed potatoes shown, at the end, are recipes for making flavored mashed potatoes mixes similar to the packages of instant mashed potatoes you buy from the grocery store.

Final Thoughts

Dehydrating mashed potatoes isn’t difficult, and the results are both satisfying and practical. They don’t turn into instant flakes like the store-bought version, but when ground to a fine powder, they rehydrate beautifully.

This has been a game-changer for me in stocking my pantry with clean, additive-free foods. If you’ve hesitated to try dehydrating mashed potatoes, I encourage you to give it a go!

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How to Dehydrate Mashed Potatoes

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Learn how to dehydrate mashed potatoes step-by-step for clean, shelf-stable storage. This simple method makes it easy to rehydrate creamy, homemade mashed potatoes anytime—without additives or preservatives.

Materials

Potatoes - I used russet potatoes

Tools

Large pot
Colander
Hand mixer or potato masher
Dehydrator (Cosori or Excalibur recommended)
Dehydrator fruit leather or mesh trays
Blender or Vitamix (for grinding)
Mason jars or other airtight containers
Mason jar vacuum sealer (optional)

Instructions

1. Prepare the potatoes. Peel (optional) and cube the potatoes into roughly 1-inch chunks. Boil until very soft, about 25–30 minutes.
2. Mash until smooth. Drain the potatoes, return them to the pot, and mash well. Add water—not milk or butter—until smooth and spreadable.
3. Spread on dehydrator trays. Spread 1–2 cups of mashed potatoes per tray in a thin, even layer (no thicker than ⅛ inch). An offset spatula works best for spreading.
4. Dehydrate. Dry at 125°F for 8–10 hours, flipping after about 5 hours if possible. Potatoes should be completely dry and crisp when done.
5. Break and grind. Break the dried potatoes into chunks and grind them into a fine powder using a blender or grain mill. A fine grind ensures easy rehydration.
6. Store. Let the powder cool completely, then store in airtight jars. For long-term storage, vacuum-seal the jars.
7. Rehydrate when ready. Use a 1:4 ratio of potato powder to liquid (water, milk, or a mix). Whisk together, let sit 5–10 minutes, then adjust liquid as needed for your preferred texture. Add butter, salt, and pepper to taste.
8. Microwave for 2 minutes to heat the potatoes and melt the butter. Stir the melted butter and salt and pepper into the potatoes.

Notes

For best results, start with less liquid when rehydrating and add more as needed.

Home-dehydrated mashed potatoes won’t look like instant flakes—but when powdered finely, they rehydrate beautifully.

Store in a cool, dry place for long shelf life.

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Have you tried this yourself? Have a question or tip to share? Leave a comment below — your experience or question could help someone else, too!

How to Dehydrate Mashed Potatoes for Your Prepper Pantry