5 Common Customer Complaints About KFC's Mashed Potatoes

Let's start with the disclaimer that there is no single correct way to make mashed potatoes. Some people like it silky smooth, others like the textural variety that comes with a few lumps. Mashed potatoes can be hearty or decadent. They can be minimalist, loaded, or served with gravy. In fact, even the type of potato you pick has a bearing on the mash you end up with, not to mention all the different methods you can employ to make mashed potatoes. Basically, if you're running a professional kitchen, it should be hard to go wrong with mashed potatoes — which is why the sheer variety of complaints customers have about KFC's take on the global classic is noteworthy.

Kentucky Fried Chicken has been serving mashed potatoes forever. Even an original 1952 menu that popped up on Reddit has whipped potatoes on it. KFC's love affair with mash continued into the 21st century. In 2006, KFC famously launched its Mashed Potato Bowls, which topped its mash with corn, fried chicken, and gravy. More recently, it introduced the Smash'd Potato Bowl, where the mash is topped with fries, bacon, and cheese.

Given the fact that it's been selling versions of mash for so long, you'd think KFC would've figured it out by now, but as it is with fast food chains, recipes keep evolving — and not always for the better. In fact, Colonel Sanders himself ranted about a 1970s version of KFC's mashed potatoes. While this is one of the many lesser-known facts about KFC's mashed potatoes, what everyone seems to agree on is that the version served today is way off the mark. Here are five of the most common customer complaints.

If you asked 100 people to describe the stand-out characteristic of a well-made mash, the word "creamy" is likely to come up fairly often. Whether you get there by adding butter, milk, or heavy cream into the mix, the goal is to whip the potatoes to a thick, silky consistency. KFC's mashed potatoes are nowhere close to this.

This is something that we made note of when Tasting Table ranked fast food mashed potatoes from worst to best. Crown Fried Chicken's mash was the worst, while Boston Market was crowned home of the fluffiest mashed potatoes. And what about KFC's mash? "They're almost too thin to carry any creaminess," we observed at the time, adding that KFC's mashed potatoes were closer to a whipped dip than a side dish. "I'd call it a 'potato puree' before mashed potatoes," we wrote, putting it at fourth-place out of five.

This is an opinion that's shared by several customers online too — some even echoing the potato puree description. "Their mashed potatoes are more like a potato puree for how slimy and oozy they are," one customer wrote on Reddit, adding, "Mashed potatoes should be something where if you turn the bowl upside down, the potatoes stay in place." Another Redditor described it as bland, hot, salt slush. The only sliver of appreciation came from a KFC fan, but this was very much a case of distance making the heart grow fonder. "I'm sad because I'm in Japan for the year and they don't serve mashed potatoes at KFC here," they wrote. "You don't know what you have. Appreciate the mash because I can't."

When it comes to opinions about food, a lot of factors are subjective. For example, a dish that's too spicy for one person can be seasoned just right for another. While there are ways to expand your palate, food preferences will always be intensely personal. Having said that, if you're ordering a bowl of mashed potatoes, the very least you should expect is that it tastes like potatoes. According to customers, KFC's mash does not.

"Generally speaking when you cook a potato and mash it up it tastes a certain way and KFC's 'mashed potatoes; don't taste anything like that," one customer wrote on Reddit. "My question is, what does KFC do to their mashed potatoes to make them not taste like a mashed potato?" Oddly enough, there is a very specific answer to this. As it turns out, KFC's mashed potatoes are not made of fresh spuds, with several employees confirming that it's made by mixing instant mashed potato powder with water.

Not all customers are willing to buy that. "Instant tastes way better than this," one customer wrote about KFC's "instant" mashed potatoes. Another commenter echoed these sentiments. "I use instant mashed potatoes aka flakes all the time. Works fine for me." As it turns out, the best instant mashed potatoes have been around since the 1950s. These dehydrated potato flakes are cheap and easy to make, and there are several ways in which they can be elevated. KFC's version? Not so much.

While the verdict on the quality is pretty unanimous, there are quite a few customers who have a problem with how much mash comes in KFC's small serving of mashed potatoes. On a thread in the Expectation vs Reality subreddit, a commenter posted photographs of the advertisement for KFC's individual portion of mashed potatoes, and the actual serving he got. They placed a disposable plastic battery package and their wallet next to it as a reference for the size. 

"That is the smallest mash and gravy container I've ever seen," one Redditor wrote. "It looks like it's a serving for babies. Lol." While one user said the size had stayed the same for the last 15 years, another believed they had definitely shrunk. "Remembering the old small size, the new ones are honestly more of a taste of mashed potatoes," they wrote. "It's a couple spoonfuls of potatoes and the rest gravy."

KFC isn't the first fast food chain to face customer backlash over customer complaints. It's happened to Chipotle too, who were accused of short-changing guests, with those who ordered online allegedly getting less meat in their burritos than those who ordered in the restaurant. At the time, Redditors came up with ideas on how Chipotle could fix complaints over portion sizes. With KFC, not everyone is seeing small portions as a negative. There were at least a couple of cheeky comments suggesting the extra-small serving was, in fact, a good thing. "You should be grateful it is not bigger," one customer posted, tongue firmly in cheek. "It's really gross now." 

Colonel Sanders is known for having brought the idea of quality and consistency to the table where American fast food is concerned. The logic behind it was simple — he wanted people to be loyal to the brand and not to their neighborhood outlet. A Kentucky resident described KFC in the 1970s as "something to behold." KFC was already one of the leading fast food chains of the decade, but while it was fast food, the quality standards were high. "You picked up a bucket full of chicken to take home to the family, along with potatoes, gravy, and rolls," the old-timer from Kentucky wrote. 

When it comes to its mashed potatoes, there are still a host of fans who remember a time when it used to be good. "Scooping up some mashed potatoes and gravy with some of the coleslaw in one bite has been god-tier since like the 90s," one customer said. Another Redditor wrote that the mashed "used to be their favorite" at KFC. "I miss the old mashed potatoes. It tastes like plastic now," a third wrote, with a fourth adding that they couldn't finish the portion of mash the last time they ate there. "I used to love their mashed potatoes, but now the taste is weird," they wrote.

One of the reasons KFC has grown to become one of the most influential restaurant chains of all time is that you can recognize that bucket of chicken from a mile away, no matter which part of the world you're in. Customers don't feel the same about the gravy that's served on the mashed potato though. According to them, the taste and thickness of this keeps changing from one outlet to the next. "Always wondered this," one Redditor commented. "Different restaurants, different times, different gravies. Sometimes it's delicious, at other times it's flavorless. Sometimes it's watery. Sometimes it's really thick. What's going on?"

What's going on is that the gravy, much like the mash itself, is made by mixing gravy powder from a packet with water. "The difference in taste and consistency is probably because not everyone makes the gravy the same even if it is supposed to be made with the same recipe," one employee wrote. Employees on Reddit admit to eyeballing the amount of water they use, and not paying particular attention to the temperature they're making the gravy at. While this is bound to impact the thickness, you'd imagine the taste would remain consistent given that it's coming out of a packet. Turns out that not all outlets add oil drippings and crackling bits of chicken and breading from the fryer, which gives KFC's gravy its distinctive taste. Some only add oil, while others simply mix the powder and water. It's little wonder that both the mashed potatoes and gravy finished in the bottom three when we ranked 10 KFC side dishes from worst to best.