Can you still use sprouted potatoes? Yes – when you open a bag of potatoes and find they have all sprouted, use one – or more – of these ideas so that they don’t go to waste.
I’m so glad you’re here! Besides tips on using sprouted potatoes, AOC is a place where you’ll find easy, real food recipes, tips to be smart in the kitchen, and using up what we have. See more potato recipes here and more kitchen tips here.
When I found 5-pound bags of organic potatoes on sale for .99 each I, of course, had to buy two. However, since organic potatoes are not sprayed with a sprout inhibitor, I was faced with about seven pounds of sprouting potatoes only about a week later.
You know I try very hard not to throw food away, and yet I don’t want to eat potatoes for the next week, either. I’m thinking I’m not the only person ever faced with this problem, right? I did a little research and came up with a number of ways to use these potatoes before they become shriveled and inedible, which I thought I’d share with you (and because I’ve always wanted to have a picture of sprouted potatoes on my blog, ha!).
So grab your potatoes and choose one or more of these ideas – after you’ve washed them and cut off all the sprouts, that is (by the way, these ideas all work for non-sprouted potatoes, too, except for the last idea – then you’d actually want to wait until they’ve sprouted!).
7 Things To Do With Sprouted Potatoes
- Make Twice Baked Potatoes and freeze for later (to freeze: after stuffing, but before the second baking, lay them on a cookie sheet and freeze completely; transfer to freezer, removing as much air as possible, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw and bake as normal).
- Bake, grate, and freeze as Freezer Hash Browns. I love this so much – I’ve just done without hash browns for years because I didn’t want all the extra ingredients that come with store-bought. My family is really enjoying these again and it’s very convenient.
- Bake, cut, and freeze for Freezer Home Fries. This is a variation of the grated recipe in #2, except you just chop the potatoes to freeze and when you’re ready to eat, just cook them with butter, onions, and peppers.
- Boil, make mashed potatoes and freeze for later (the make-ahead mashed potato recipe with cream cheese seems to work best for freezing).
- Add some of the potatoes to a slow cooker and make Baked Potato Soup for dinner.
- Or save a few of the baked potatoes for tomorrow’s breakfast and make these awesome looking Egg-Stuffed Baked Potatoes for breakfast.
- Of course, if it’s potato-planting time where you live, you could always plant them in the the ground (if you haven’t grown potatoes before, make sure to check out my easy potato planting method).
Here are a few more recipes that use potatoes:
Easy Slow Cooker Garlic Scallop Potatoes
well doesnt help a bit. do you make the potatoes just as is? like if i boil them do i just throw them in hole sprouts and all? can i still use the whole potato how old does it get before i cant use it?
we all know how to make french fries and hasbrowns also a baked potato. especially the ones who just throw it in the microwave for 5 mins lol. but are the sprouts ok to eat?
Well, the article was on what to do with the potatoes, Mickey, not the sprouts. 😉 And no – don’t eat the sprouts – cut them out and toss them. If the potatoes are getting soft, that’s when you’d want to grate them or something – they won’t be as good for baked potatoes and such.
I bought 40 lbs. of Colorado russets in Delta, Colorado, for $10 and made $30 worth of homemade ranch tater tots with bacon. Sorry, Idaho. Colorado potatoes are superior to Idaho potatoes!
Wow, that’s a lot of tater tots!
Can you please answer a few questions for me? I am a brand new gardener and I have cut the ends off of some soft russet potatoes. What’s next? How long before the sprouts come out? Do the sprouts plant downward? How deep?
Thank you so much.
Elizabeth
Hi Elizabeth – I’m so glad you are venturing into the world of gardening! The sprouts will emerge from the ‘eyes’ of the potatoes, the little indentations that often show rough spots where the sprouts are starting. Your pieces should have at least 2-3 eyes on them. They will sprout in a few weeks and you plant them with the sprouts growing up (they are the potato plant stems, not the roots, so never plant them down). Here’s an article that goes into more details: http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/potato/sprouting-seed-potatoes.htm
Happy gardening!
I love the hashbrown idea! I am going to try that out. i have two big bags my friend brought me but no way i can eat them as quick as they need to be eaten!
If you have a pressure canner, you can can your potatoes! Peel, pack into jars raw, add warm water, salt and when your canning the potatoes cook to the perfect texture!
Great tip, Felicia – thanks!
People seem to think that when you buy potatoes in the winter they have just been dug up.these are all dug up in October.so if you buy in march they
are 5 months old. farmers store these
Correctly.dark and cold.there is no such thing as a fresh potato in the winter contrary to what people think.
I manage a small coffee bar/cafe/bookstore. We make a lot of our winter soups from scratch. Usually I don’t peel potatoes for our soups because I prefer my potatoes unpeeled (and I know it’s more nutritious to use unpeeled potatoes) (and it IS about me, isn’t it, lol??). Anyway. I had a bag of potatoes that was starting to sprout and decided to peel them–just to get the sprouts off, you see? Big Mistake, at least for that particular morning. I was either: too rushed or too unattentive…and ended up taking a huge chunk out of the tip of one of my fingers with the vegetable peeler. I will spare y’all the ensuing icky details!! However, from now on I will either: try to use up potatoes BEFORE they sprout (so as not to vigoursly whack off any more tips of my precious digits) or delegate this particular chore to my staff….’cause obviously peeling sprouted potatoes is not something I can effectively tackle!! So…cautionary tale here: Beware The Sprouted Spud. It is something that challenges (and potentially smacks back at) the best of us!
I will be doubly careful now. 🙂
A very handy post, since during the summer especially, those big bags of potatoes (which often cost less than the smaller bags here!) decline pretty quickly.
I thought you weren’t supposed to eat sprouted potatoes so I usually plant them or just throw them away. Growth inhibitor has never affected the growing capabilities of any of the potatoes I have planted ~ in fact, they grow better than the seed potatoes I have bought! I planted a whole #5 bag of sprouted store bought red potatoes one year and haven’t needed to plant potatoes again! I must have misssed one or two when harvesting and they come up EVERYWHERE each year now! :~/ Good thing I love potatoes! :~D
I had heard something similar, but come to find out it’s just the sprouts themselves that are toxic (and you’d have to eat a LOT of them for anything bad to happen) – but I always cut them off anyway. As long as the potatoes are still firm, you’re good to go!
I did not have your luck planting store potatoes – they were covered in scab when I harvested. 🙁 And I never have volunteers like you do – that’s kinda nice!
This is good to know. I didn’t know they spray potatoes with a sprout inhibitor. Another reason to buy organic when I can. Good potato ideas too.