16 Creative Ways To Use Potato Peels

Cooking is not just about making delicious food — it's about learning how to take full advantage of what an ingredient has to offer. One thing you learn is that many of the leftovers thrown away during preparation can be reused in other ways, which helps you be more mindful during the cooking process and expand your skills. According to Feeding America, 38% of all food in the United States is wasted each year. While there are numerous contributing factors outside of your immediate control, adopting a sustainable approach to reduce throwing out food at home is a step that everyone can take. 

You'd be surprised what you can conjure in the kitchen with ingredient leftovers. Take potato peels, for example. They are perfectly edible, yet commonly thrown away. Along with having a wide range of culinary uses, most people aren't aware that potato peels contain more dietary fiber and antioxidants than the flesh itself. Suffice it to say, you've been missing out on this versatile leftover. Beyond its nutritional value, it can provide texture or be turned into an entirely new dish. Here are some sustainably creative ways to use potato peels.

After impressing friends with your baked potato peels, turn the heat up for an extra crisp. Crunch not only adds texture, but it may actually cause your brain to react in surprising ways. According to a Well+Good interview, gastrophysicist Dr. Charles Spence, Ph.D. shared the theory that the human brain may associate crunchiness with freshness. Eating crunchy foods also requires paying more attention — whereas mushy foods are quiet, a crackly sound impacts the experience.

Using a broiler is the ticket to crispy potato peels that satisfy your crunch cravings. Simply add it as an additional step to your regular recipe. Along with a delectable consistency, the fiery touch provides a layer of char that elevates each ingredient to mouthwatering heights. If you're wondering what to do with the discarded flesh, test the limits of tastiness with twice-baked potatoes. You'll need a few dedicated hours for baking, but we promise that you won't regret the wait.

Versatility is the best thing about tacos. They are completely customizable, which means that there is no shortage of taco styles to experience. A little culinary exploration never hurts either. Whether you're a purist who sticks to tradition or an adventurous taco lover, an empty tortilla is an opportunity to express your palate. You'll be surprised to find that potato peels are an awesome substitute filling for meat. Besides being vegetarian and vegan-friendly, they can also be used to add texture to your favorite taco fillings.

Fried potato peel tacos should definitely be on your culinary bucket list. In the motherland of tacos, tacos de pobre (or poor tacos) are a popular Mexican street food. Super cheap yet rich in flavor, the idea was borne out of working-class ingenuity. Whether you wear steel toes to work or use money for toilet paper, fried potato peel tacos are a meal that everyone can enjoy. Pair the potato peel filling with your go-to ingredients to marry the best of both crunchy and chewy worlds.

A flawless baked potato is like biting into a puffy cloud of deliciousness. They are the pot of gold waiting for patient home chefs at the end of the culinary rainbow. And thanks to someone truly virtuous, twice-baked potatoes exist. They take twice as long to bake and are twice as tasty. Beautiful and bulbous, the sight alone is enough to inspire hunger pangs. Making twice-baked potatoes is a sustainable and flavorful way to use both the flesh and the skin. It's like combining mashed, baked, and potato skins all into one scrumptious meal.

Apart from the cooking time, they are arguably superior to regular baked potatoes in every way. You can put the twice-baked touch on any recipe and enjoy it for the main course or as a hearty side dish. To ride the elevator up to the next level of baked potatoes, make sure to set aside at least 2 ½ hours.

From mashes and casseroles to soups and pasta, there are countless creamy dishes to enjoy. The biggest problem with creamy dishes is that they quickly become boring to the tongue. Although undeniably crave-worthy, the flavor profile gradually wears away at your tastebuds, melding into one solid mass of sameness. Rather than a one-note experience, texture introduces complexity to the arrangement. Ice cream is amazing alone, but with ingredients like nuts, chocolate chips, or fruit, the potential is limitless.

Potato peels can add texture to creamy dishes too. They can be incorporated into classic soups, pastas, sauces, casseroles, and more. If ground fine enough, you can even layer salads or macaroni and cheese with potato peels as a breadcrumb replacement. The best part about this texture trick is that it works for all potato varieties. Making these pseudo breadcrumbs is easy, too — you can roast them in the oven, or fry them in a stovetop pan.

Grinding your leftover potato peels into a powder is probably the last thing that you'd think to do. The process is more involved than simply cutting and baking, but the reward is a cooking ingredient that has a wide range of uses. Whip out your blender, food processor, or mortar and pestle. Making potato powder requires a dehydrator too, but fancy cookware aside, it's pretty easy to make. You can reduce food waste considerably with a dehydrator by turning leftover ingredients into powder.

Potato powder, also known as potato flour, can be blended into liquid-based recipes as a thickening agent. From savory gravies to flavorful sauces, it's super useful and can even be used to bake potato bread. Once turned into powder, it can last for up to six months if properly stored. The pantry, cabinet, or someplace that's dry and shielded from direct sunlight are the most ideal storage spaces. 

The jury's out on which mashed potato style is superior: Skin-in or skinless. One could argue that the skin-in variety is more nutritious, as mashed potatoes can be a butter-filled excursion. Skinless mashed potatoes rule in the taste department though. Creamy garlicky goodness often trumps health, for better or for worse. Luckily, there's a way to enjoy the best that both worlds have to offer. Rather than using whole potato peels, you can grind them into a powder that can be used for texture.

The idea is similar to pre-packaged dehydrated mashed potatoes, but infinitely better for your tongue and tummy. Unlike store-bought, you can adjust the fineness of the grind to your preference to give mashed potatoes a custom crunch. Whereas peelings can add an undesirable stringy consistency, potato powder melds seamlessly when eaten. Serve it at your next dinner party to help Teams Skin-in and Skinless settle the debate.

Potato peel pie sounds like a head-scratcher doesn't it? The idea comes from a movie named "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society," which was inspired by events that followed World War II. During the German occupation, resourcefulness was the only means of survival. The people responded to a food shortage by coming up with things like potato peel pie. While there is no proof that potato peel pie existed back then, the idea is endearing enough to try to recreate at home.

It's a simple dish that only requires three ingredients: potatoes, beetroot, and milk. Doesn't sound too appealing, does it? Well, before you discount it entirely, hear us out. The potato peels are used in place of pie crust and filled with mashed potato and chopped beetroot. Of course, you'll need to spruce this humble recipe up with seasoning. You can pull out the usual baked potato go-tos or opt for a simple combination of butter, salt, pepper, and chives.

Delicious eats aren't the only ways to reuse potato peels — skip the liquor run and brew yourself a buzzy homemade batch of vodka. While most people know that vodka is made from potatoes, you can extract a good time from the peels too. Talking about sustainable spirits, according to Leaf TV, potato peel waste can produce premium vodka when fermented with molasses and yeast. Unlike the traditional potato vodka method, it doesn't require a still, which is used to distill liquid mixtures.

Before you can unlock a barrel of fun, an important thing to take note of is whether the potato skins are fresh or cooked. You'll need a 4-liter bucket, 2 liters of water, 1 lb. of potato skins, ½ lb. of molasses, and ¼ lb. of yeast for the mixture. Seal the bucket and place it in a cool dry place to ferment. After a week or s0, the yeast will break down the peels and infuse them into the liquid, which means that the liquid is ready to be strained and sipped.