Once You Use Instant Mashed Potatoes In The Air Fryer, You'll Never Turn Back

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Instant mashed potatoes are a staple you should always have in your pantry because they're inexpensive, convenient, and most importantly, versatile. Of course, you can add milk and butter to instant mashed potatoes to turn them into a fluffy, creamy side dish. But there are so many more ways to elevate and transform instant mashed potatoes into entirely different dishes. So, instead of whipping them into mashed potatoes, you should whip out your air fryer and use instant mashed potatoes as breading for your favorite fried dishes.

Instant mashed potatoes are dried, salted flakes, making them a seasoned and sometimes gluten-free substitute for breadcrumbs. An air fryer makes fast work of cooking and crisping food to deep-fried heights. If you've ever used the air fryer to make crispy potato wedges, recipes might call for parboiling or soaking potatoes to extract their starches, making for a shatteringly crispy crust. With instant mashed potatoes, you're getting pre-baked potato dehydrated into ultra-starchy flakes that will crisp up beautifully in the air fryer. Plus, their earthy, rich flavor will bring even more depth to the breading and pair just as well with any protein or vegetable on the menu.

There are no extra steps to making the switch from breadcrumbs to instant mashed potatoes. Simply prepare a dredging station with a wet egg wash bowl and a bowl full of instant mashed potatoes and whichever extra seasonings you desire, running the protein or veggie through each one before air frying them to crispy perfection.

While cream and broth are wet ingredients to elevate instant mashed potatoes, if you're using them as the dry dredge, you'll want to bring more flavors to the table with powdered seasonings and dried herbs. If you're making a chicken Parmesan or eggplant Parmesan, for example, mix in some Italian seasoning, freshly ground pepper, and shredded parmesan into the instant potato flakes before dredging and air frying. 

For an easy shortcut, you can buy flavored instant mashed potatoes, saving you the trouble of seasoning them yourself. Use instant roasted garlic mashed potatoes for a caramelized and aromatic coating on your next air-fried wiener schnitzel. Coat cream cheese-stuffed jalapeños in the Idahoan Monterey Jack instant potato flake, dredging for the ultimate air-fried jalapeño poppers. Temperatures and frying times will vary depending on the food and air fryer in question, so it's best to follow a specific air fryer recipe when trying the instant potato breading swap.

Instant mashed potatoes aren't just a breading substitute for your meat and veggies, but they can also become a type of french fry themselves. Instead of leaving the bread crumbs out and subbing instant mashed potatoes, you can transform instant mashed potatoes into smiley fries by adding bread crumbs, eggs, and a bit of flour. The air fryer will get them crispy in a fraction of the time of an oven roast, and there'll be no greasy mess from deep frying.