The Best Potato Ricers of 2026

I don’t know about you, but I’m a little obsessed with mashed potatoes. They look so unassuming on the plate, but somehow fluffy mash potatoes always ends up being my favorite part of the meal. I get a little sad, though, if I’m greeted with a lumpy, gummy, overworked pile of spuds. They’ll still taste great, but their texture leaves something to be desired. I’ll let you in on a little secret: If you ditch the hand masher, food processor, or stand mixer and use a potato ricer instead—like our top-rated Chef'n FreshForce Potato Ricer Press (available at Amazon) —you’re almost guaranteed to get perfect mashed potatoes, every time.

You see, a potato ricer pushes the boiled potato through tiny little holes, breaking it up into the smallest pieces possible without disturbing the starch molecules. T​hat means fluffy, airy mashed potatoes. And, these gadgets aren’t unitaskers, either! We’ll talk more about the mountain of ways you could use your ricer in a minute, but let’s get to the main event first: Our winners.

We're looking for the best overall potato ricer—one that is easy to use, not a pain to clean, and doesn't require the force of two suns colliding to press the potato through. So, we chose eight top-rated ricers and put them through a series of tests. While none of them failed to make lump-free potatoes, some were certainly easier to use than others.

Other Potato Ricers We Tested

How We Tested

The Tester

Hi, I’m Lindsay Mattison, a trained professional chef and mashed potato fanatic. I was such a picky eater as a kid; it wasn't unusual for me to eat nothing on the plate but the potatoes! Over the years, I’ve perfected my mashed potato technique: Peel your potatoes, boil them whole, and run them through the ricer while they’re still piping hot. Then, briefly whip them with melted butter, warmed cream, and your choice of spices. The key to my secret technique: A good quality potato ricer, and I want to help you find one.

The Tests

Testing the potato ricers was relatively straightforward: We pressed unpeeled and peeled potatoes through each ricer and monitored the results. Ultimately, we were looking for a ricer that was both easy to use and created the least amount of waste. The ricer got bonus points if it came with additional disks (for a coarser or medium-sized mash).

Some ricers required serious brute force to push the potato through—those models fell to the bottom of the pack. Others were effortless to use but a pain to clean. I mean, all potato ricers are annoying to clean, so if one stuck out as being particularly difficult, that definitely meant there was a problem! We also paid attention to the quality of the pressed potatoes and determined whether the number of holes in the disk played a part in the final texture or yield (which was monitored by weighing the potatoes before and after pressing them through the ricer).

What Is a Potato Ricer?

If you’re thinking that you already have enough gadgets in your kitchen and you don’t want to add another one, think again. These giant garlic press-looking devices prevent your mashers from becoming gummy because of the way they break up the potato. Potatoes are full of starches, which are released as soon as you start mashing ‘em up. If you overwork those starches, they essentially turn into glue, gumming up and creating an unpleasant mouthfeel.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to fix the potatoes once you’ve gotten to that point, but using a ricer means it’ll never happen! Instead of breaking up the potatoes via mashing, a ricer gently pushes each potato through the disk’s tiny holes, creating the smallest pieces possible with the least amount of motion.

Earlier, we promised that a potato ricer isn’t a unitasker: It’s not just used for mashing potatoes. A ricer is essential for making great gnocchi or perogies, or you can use it to make tomato sauce, puree soft fruit for jam or baby food, or squeeze out excess water from frozen spinach. It can even be used as a citrus juicer in a pinch!

---

More Articles You Might Enjoy

• The Best Thanksgiving Tools
• 5 Reasons to Spatchcock Your Turkey
• The Best Food Processors