Should Potatoes Go in the Fridge? Storage Guide

Potatoes are a common kitchen staple, but storing them correctly is important to maintain their freshness and taste. Many people assume that the refrigerator is a good place for storage, but that is not always the case. Whether or not potatoes should be refrigerated depends on how cold temperatures affect their texture, flavor, and overall quality. Let’s explore!

Why Cold Storage Changes Potatoes

Most vegetables love being in the fridge. Potatoes are different though. When they get too cold, below 40°F, something strange happens inside them. There’s this enzyme that gets turned on by the cold. Once that happens, it starts changing the potato’s starch into sugar really quickly.

This causes some real issues. The potatoes taste sweeter than they should, which messes up whatever is being cooked. Then when they get cooked, those sugars mix with other stuff and make more of this thing called acrylamide. Doctors say people should try to eat less of it. 

Plus, the potatoes turn brown way too fast and just taste wrong. Some kinds of potatoes can handle being cold a bit better. But even so, most people who know about storing food say the fridge should only be used when there’s no other choice.

The Best Home for Potatoes

Potatoes do best in places like those old root cellars. Cool but not freezing cold. Dark. A little bit of moisture in the air. The perfect temperature is somewhere between 45°F and 50°F. That’s warmer than a fridge but cooler than most kitchens get.

Keeping them in the dark matters a lot. When light hits them, they start making this green stuff called chlorophyll. That green color means there’s something called solanine in there, which is a natural poison. It makes them taste bitter and eating too much can make someone feel sick. 

A corner down in the basement works great. So does a shelf in the garage or just a dark cabinet. They need the right amount of wetness in the air too, around 85 to 90 percent. This stops them from getting all dried out but doesn’t let mold grow. Air needs to move around them. Paper bags with some holes work really well. 

Mesh bags are good. Even just a cardboard box does fine. Plastic bags are terrible because they trap water and make them rot and sprout. Also, keep them away from onions. Onions let off gases that make potatoes sprout way faster.

When Refrigeration Makes Sense

Not everyone has a basement. Most apartments don’t have cool spots to store things. When summer comes around, kitchens get hot. Sometimes the fridge really is the only option that makes sense. When the fridge has to be used, there are ways to make it better. 

Put the potatoes in the warmest part, which is usually the drawer at the bottom or the top shelf, not pushed way in the back where it’s the coldest. Before cooking, take them out and let them warm up on the counter for a few hours. 

This helps some of that sugar turn back into starch, which makes cooking go better. How they get cooked matters too. Boiling or steaming makes less of that bad stuff than frying or roasting. 

When making something like Chicken & Shrimp Fried Rice, cutting the potatoes smaller and cooking them at a medium temperature helps deal with the sweetness.

Knowing When Potatoes Have Gone Bad

Potatoes go bad eventually no matter where they’re kept. Knowing when to toss them out saves dinner and keeps stomachs happy. Soft spots are bad news. When the skin gets all wrinkled and shriveled, that’s another sign. Too many sprouts mean the potato is done. 

Cutting off one or two tiny sprouts is okay, but when the whole potato feels mushy or has sprouts everywhere, it goes in the trash. Green spots need to be taken seriously. A small green bit can be cut off, but cut deep, at least an inch around it. If the whole potato is mostly green, throw it all away. That bitter taste is telling something important.

The nose knows. If there’s a funky, gross smell, that’s rot starting even if nothing looks wrong yet. Black spots inside when cutting it open mean it got bruised or has some kind of disease. These might not make someone sick, but they really mess up how it cooks and tastes.

Extending Potato Freshness

How potatoes get bought makes a big difference. Getting just a few at a time instead of a huge bag means fresher ones are always around. At the store, pick ones that feel hard and don’t have any cuts, bruises, or green on them. Different types last different amounts of time. Russets with their thick skin usually last longer than the thin skinned red ones.

Don’t wash them before putting them away. Water makes them go bad faster. Just brush the dirt off with something dry. Washing happens right before cooking. Look at stored potatoes once a week. One bad potato makes all the others near it go bad quicker, so take out any bad ones right away.

Having good potatoes stored properly makes cooking things like Chicken Bibimbap Korean Rice way easier. Same thing with bigger meals like Chicken Laredo. How good the potatoes are really shows up in what gets served.

What This All Means

So going back to the question: can potatoes be stored in the refrigerator? Yes, it can be done. But that doesn’t mean it’s the best way. The cold changes how they taste and feel. There’s even some health stuff to think about. 

A cool, dark spot with air moving through and no onions around is much better for keeping potatoes fresh and tasting good. But things aren’t always perfect. A potato in the fridge is way better than one that’s all sprouted and gross on the counter. 

It’s about using what’s actually available.  For most people, that means finding some cooler spot in the house and only using the fridge when there really isn’t anything else. Want to use what was learned here? 

Look at more chicken recipes over at Sawera Cooking. Storing ingredients the right way plus good recipes makes meals turn out better. Fresh potatoes that were kept properly really do change how food tastes.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Do potatoes go bad faster in the fridge? 

Not really. The fridge can actually keep them from spoiling when it’s hot out. But it does change how they taste and cook. It’s picking between having them last longer or taste better.

2. How long do potatoes last outside the fridge? 

When kept right in a cool, dark place with air moving around, potatoes can last 2 to 3 months. Left out on a warm counter, maybe only 1 to 2 weeks.

3. Can sweet potatoes be refrigerated? 

Sweet potatoes hate the cold even more than regular potatoes. They get hard in the middle and taste weird. Better to keep them somewhere cool and dry.

4. Should cooked potatoes be refrigerated? 

Yes, for sure. Once potatoes are cooked, they have to go in the fridge within two hours. Eat them within 3 to 4 days or bacteria starts growing.

5. Why do refrigerated potatoes taste sweet? 

The cold turns the starch into sugar. That sweetness really comes through in recipes where potato is the main thing being eaten.