25 Ways Potatoes Are Eaten Around The World

It's hard not to fall in love with the potato. There are dozens of ways to prepare this tuber, and cultures around the world have adopted the potato as a dietary staple. After all, potatoes are relatively low cost, have nutritional benefits, and offer a blank canvas for regional ingredients and flavors.

The potato was endemic to the Andes region of South America 8,000 years ago but moved to North America and Europe with the movement of colonizers in the 1500s (via BBC Travel). The potato comes in numerous sizes, shapes, colors, and varieties, but all have a similar starchy texture and mild flavor. Potatoes are an excellent source of electrolytes like potassium, as well as vitamins and minerals (via UC Davis).

Here are some ways people have adopted potatoes into regional cuisines and flavors worldwide. From colcannon to potato candy, you'll never look back to ordinary mashed potatoes again.

Gnocchi are small potato dumplings made from rolling mashed potatoes, other savory ingredients, and flour into tiny, bite-sized pieces. According to Saveur, it's believed that gnocchi originated in Italy between the 1500s and 1600s, and this simple food has since been adapted to suit different regional sauce preferences.

In Veneto, Italy, gnocchi are eaten with a thin red sauce, while gnocchi in Lombardy is served in a butter sauce with a ton of Parmesan cheese (via The Pasta Project). Although standard russet or baking potatoes are commonly used for gnocchi, you can also make a variation on the traditional dish and enjoy sweet potato gnocchi.

Poutine is a Canadian delicacy of french fries piled high with gravy and cheese curds. The dish originated in Quebec in the 1950s (via the New York Times). Still, it spread from "poutineries" (eateries that specialize in this particular dish) to bars, restaurants, and fast food places across the nation and into the United States (via The Canadian Encyclopedia). You can also see poutine in fine dining applications from restauranteurs like Martin Picard's foie gras poutine. Although two different restaurants are in contention for who actually created the famous dish, Canadians have widely accepted it as a uniquely Canadian culinary masterpiece (via Chatelaine). After all, it's hard not to love fries, gravy, and cheese curds. 

Hasselback potatoes fit the definition of a perfectly engineered food product: a maximum surface area for the ultimate crispiness and topping potential. According to Hasselbacken, this potato preparation, which slices potatoes into an accordion shape on a wooden skewer, was first created in Sweden during the 1950s.

Hasselback potatoes can be baked or fried, and some variations of the recipe use sweet potatoes instead of regular baking potatoes. The shape of the potato makes it easy to slide pieces of cheese between each of the folds or sprinkle a bit of bacon on top for a savory surprise.

Colcannon was one of the first forms of mashed potatoes globally (via the Smithsonian Magazine). This Irish mashed potato dish combines cooked cabbage and onions with mashed potatoes with butter and milk. Some recipe variations also add a bit of heavy cream in lieu of the milk for a creamier mashed potato with a more decadent flavor. Others may use kale in place of cabbage.

Colcannon can be served with gravy or eaten as-is for a hearty boost of folate and fiber from the kale, per the Mayo Clinic. And if you aren't fond of kale (and to that, we don't blame you), you can use green cabbage instead.

French potatoes dauphinoise differ from other potatoes-and-cream recipes, such as a gratin or scalloped potatoes, because this dish omits cheese. These potatoes are rich and creamy and usually served with steak or roasted pork. According to French Moments, this potato dish was named after the French region it was developed in — Dauphiné.

To make it, russet potatoes are sliced and layered with heavy whipping cream (don't skimp on the fat here), garlic, thyme, and pepper for a soft casserole that will impress any dinner guest. The potatoes are just soft enough, but not mushy, because of the long bake time in the oven.

Hot dish is a Midwestern potato casserole that can use a variety of frozen potatoes (popularly frozen hash browns or Tater Tots) along with canned soup, sour cream, and cheese. Several variations on the hot dish recipe include everything from meats like bacon, chicken, or sausage to other dairy products, such as cream cheese. Minnesota hotdish, for example, combines the essential crunchy element of tater tots with corn and peas, ground beef, and cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup.

Whether as one word (hotdish) or two, hot dish is a popular food because it uses virtually any canned ingredient in your pantry and lets you walk away from the meal while it's baking. In short, the hot dish is Midwestern hospitality and economy at its finest.

Pierogis are a Polish dumpling dating back to the 1500s that have since evolved into the delicious savory treat we know today (via Pierogi Heaven). You can also find pierogis in America since the 1700s with the movement of immigrants from Eastern Europe.

While pierogis are stuffed with everything from seafood to sweet berries, the most traditional preparation method is the pierogi Ruskie. This version is loaded with cottage cheese, mashed potato, and onion and served with sour cream and pork crackling on top. Pierogis are eaten as a meal, snack, or for holidays like Christmas and often served with mushrooms and sauerkraut.

The French are at it again with Lyonnaise potatoes. Unlike cream-heavy French potato dishes such as gratin or potatoes dauphinoise, Lyonnaise potatoes are made by frying potatoes in a fat (usually butter, but a recipe may also use lard, oil, clarified butter, or duck fat) with onion. These potatoes are first parboiled and thinly sliced for ultimate crispiness.

The first Lyonnaise potatoes appeared in French history in 1845 and have lasted as a flavorful companion to meats and other French dishes (via the Taste the World Cookbook). The dish itself is named after the city of Lyon, in the French Rhone-Alpes region.

Papa rellenas is a Cuban dish found on many islands in the Caribbean. Ground beef or picadillo (a mix of ground beef, paprika, cumin, oregano, tomato sauce, green olives, and cilantro) are combined around a scoop of mashed potatoes before the ball is breaded and deep-fried until golden brown.

Papa rellenas are served with a mixture of mayonnaise and ketchup or without any dipping sauce, depending on the setting in which the appetizer is consumed. This recipe can also be vegan by substituting ground beef for a mixture of peas and carrots, but most recipes stick to the beef filling.

Silpancho isn't just a Bolivian potato — it's an entire meal. This dish starts with a bed of white rice covered in thinly-sliced fried potatoes, a pounded-flat burger patty, tomato salsa, and a hard-boiled egg on top (via 196 Flavors).

Celia la Fuente Peredo, a Bolivian chef from Cochabamba, received credit for creating this dish. According to Taste Atlas, the name of the dish is a derivative of the word Quechuan word "silpanch'u," which means "thin and pounded" (referring to the thinly pressed beef patty). This dish is full of flavors and delicious, filling ingredients that make one harmonious plate.

Kapsalon is a street food dish found in Rotterdam. Unlike other potato dishes from around the world, this Dutch favorite is a hybridization of flavors, textures, and foods from several cuisines. You'll find a bed of fries, Middle Eastern shawarma, grated Gouda cheese, and salad greens, topped with garlic sauce and the Indonesian chile paste called sambal oelek.

This multicultural dish was the product of hairdresser Nathaniël Gomes mixing his favorite foods together in 2003 (via Dutch Review). In fact, the word "kapsalon" roughly translates to "hairdresser" to pay homage to Gomes' menagerie of flavors. Other variations of the recipe include the substitution of chicken, fish, or falafel for the shawarma.

Potatoes — as a candy? Believe it or not, some regions in Appalachia do indeed transform potatoes into candy. According to True Treats Candy, the potato has been converted into candy throughout history in Germany, France, Ireland, and Russia — but the addition of peanut butter is uniquely American.

The taste of potato candy isn't anything like a fried potato since cooking the potato down removes most of its flavor qualities. The two main ingredients — mashed potato and powdered sugar — are cooked down into a moldable ball rolled with peanut butter and sliced into small spiraled discs. It is believed that peanut butter was used because of its relative inexpensiveness.