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The Brown Russet Potato vs. The Red Potato

March 9, 2009 by Chris Mower 44 Comments

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featured-red-vs-brown-potatoes

Although there are numerous potato variations out there, this post compares the two most popular: the red and the russet (or brown) potato. Of course both types have their advantages over the other, but in the end they’re both still just good ol’ tasty spuds. They both will bake, fry, mash, roast, steam, and eventually be eaten. In other words, don’t lose sleep tonight wondering if you purchased the right ones. But if you are losing sleep over it (really?), maybe this little guide can be your Tylenol PM.

Red Potatoes

These tasty spuds…

  • …have less starch and more sugars than russet potatoes (and are therefore stickier).
  • …are advantageous for boiling, pan frying, grilling, scalloping, and steaming.  Try them in your salads, soups, chowders, and fried potato dishes.
  • …have a smooth, thin light-red skin with a white inside.  In fact, if you’re not careful when cleaning them, you can easily scrub the skin right off!
  • …are often cooked with the skin on because it’s relatively thin and soft and adds extra fiber to the dish.
  • …according to NutritionData.com (who gets their information from USDA SR-21) have the following nutritional information for 1 raw, medium red potato (see picture below).

Russet Potatoes (The Brown Ones)

These multi-purpose spuds…

  • …are high in starch which makes them light and fluffy, perfect for mashed potatoes.
  • …are advantageous when fried, baked, mashed, or roasted.
  • …are typically used for french fries.
  • …have a brown, thicker net-like skin (look closely you’ll see the net).
  • …according to NutritionData.com, 1 raw, medium-sized russet potato has the following nutritional data.

Nutritional Data

red-and-brown-potato-nutrition

For Both Types

  • Don’t store them in the refrigerator or freezer.  If you do, the starches will turn into sugars and your they won’t taste or fluff up the same.  Additionally, it makes the white insides darken.  Instead, do your best to find a darker, cooler place (preferred temperature is 40-50°F) with some ventilation.  If you don’t have such a place consider buying fewer potatoes more often.
  • Sometimes your spuds will grow sprouts out of its eyes.  You can break these off and still cook the potato. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can also cut a square 1-1/2″ of potato around the sprout and plant it 6 inches deep, sprout up, and grow your own.
  • Avoid eating potatoes that are soft, wrinkly, or have green-tinted skin.  These are signs of spoilage.  You can still eat them, but don’t expect the flavor or texture to be the best. Rotten potatoes are probably a delicacy somewhere.
  • Don’t wash your potatoes before storing them because it quickens their spoilage rate.
  • Most of all, just have fun and experiment!

Did you have a question or comment about russet or red potatos that was not answered in this post? Please write me (click here) or add them to the comments section below and I’ll do my best to respond within 24-hours, or update my post to include the answer to your question. Thanks!

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Filed Under: Food & Cooking Tagged With: Frying Potato, Grocery Store, Mashed Potato, Potatoes, Red Potato, Root Vegetables, Russet Potato, Staple Foods, Starch, Vegetables

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Comments, Kudos, and Thoughts

  1. Sherry Yeager boistrously expatiates...

    August 11, 2009 at 9:41 pm

    I’m a huge potato fan and only recently discovered the difference between these two types of potatoes for myself. The red potato does hold up better for soups and potato salads. But,there is nothing better than a good Russet potato fried in bacon grease with a good sprinkling of yellow onions! Yum! Goes great with cornbread and navy bean soup.

    Reply
    • P. Coleman rapidly fleshes out...

      March 3, 2014 at 6:33 pm

      You are making me hungry! I love me some fried potatoes with onions.

      Reply
  2. Paul Klenk cooly remarks...

    April 3, 2011 at 11:19 pm

    We grew potatoes in our garden as kids, and stored them with other foods Mom put up down in a cool cistern in our basement that we converted into a food storage room (complete with a heavy meat-locker style door).

    Each spring, we gathered up what was left of the potatoes we hadn’t used that winter. They were stored in gunny sacks. Most of them had sprouts bursting from the potatoes’ eyes.

    Then we cut them up into pieces, making sure each piece had an eye, hopefully with a sprout, and planted them in our dark Minnesota soil with the eye facing towards the sky. They grew into hundreds of potatoes by autumn.

    Harvesting potatoes is a hard, dirty job. You have to dig deep into the hard soil with a heavy spade, and dig out the potatoes by hand. Then you have to lay them out to let the damp soil dry, which makes it easier to clean. Yuck! I hated it as a kid, but we sure had a lot of great food to eat in the house!

    Reply
    • Patricia Bronk calmly comments...

      January 11, 2019 at 3:13 pm

      Thank you for sharing this. Our country should garden more…

      Reply
      • Chris Mower energetically divulges...

        March 11, 2019 at 10:07 am

        You’re welcome, and I agree. We keep moving and haven’t had space for a garden yet, although where I live now I may be able to get a small one going.

        Reply
        • Mark Taylor rapidly writes...

          March 18, 2021 at 10:53 pm

          If all else falls you can garden in 5-gallon buckets.

          Reply
          • Chris Mower magestically expatiates...

            September 13, 2021 at 8:46 am

            That’s a great idea. I had a hydroponic garden for a while, which I loved. I’ve considered using 5-gallon buckets here and there.

  3. sandy blue proudly expatiates...

    November 25, 2011 at 10:50 am

    i personally like the flavour of red potatoes better and buy them most of the time. they cost more but its well worth it for the flavour.

    Reply
    • Tonya reassuringly divulges...

      January 2, 2015 at 11:47 am

      I’m with you! I prefer red potatoes! 🙂

      Reply
  4. Roy brainily says...

    January 13, 2012 at 11:31 am

    My wife is on a low carb diet for type 1 diabetis.
    When I have served her white potato (boiled then fried) her blood sugar stayed normal.
    I preboiled some russetts then fried some the next day and she had a sharp rise in her blood sugar.
    Am trying to find out why and what the differences are.

    Reply
    • Chris Mower attractively mentions...

      January 13, 2012 at 11:52 am

      That’s an interesting observation. White potatoes, from my understanding, actually have more sugars per serving than a Russet potato. However if potatoes are refrigerated or otherwise get too cold, their starches turn into sugars. It’s possible that the russet potatoes had at some point in the process had this happen. Can anyone offer a more in-depth explanation and shed some additional light on the subject?

      Reply
    • Roy handsomely states...

      January 14, 2012 at 6:37 pm

      The russetts were refrigerated after cooking but I have been storing the white potatoes in the fridge before cooking.
      The problem is more carbohydrate than sugar (which is a carb).
      The russetts appear to be much more starchy which has a heavy impact.
      Hope to get more information as there are few things she can or will eat. For now she has sworn off potatoes which are a favorite.

      Reply
    • Dee cleverly divulges...

      November 16, 2016 at 3:31 pm

      The reason her blood sugar increased is because red potatoes have more sugar than starch. I know this partly cuz I tried making starch with the reds. I have 50 lb. bag of em why not?! If anyone wants to try making potato starch its very time consuming but fun.

      Reply
  5. Kim victoriously claims...

    January 26, 2012 at 3:44 pm

    So green tinted skin means the potato is starting to spoil but you can still eat it? A friend once told me that you shouldn’t eat the green so I started always peeling the green skin off, but I’d much rather eat it, it’s my favorite part! Most bags of potatoes I buy are already turning green, and I’m in Idaho! I only feel like my potatoes are fresh when I’m getting the, from my garden, but

    Reply
    • Kim handsomely says...

      January 26, 2012 at 3:46 pm

      . . . They never last long. Anyway, I’ve wondered about the green skin for a while . . . Maybe I’ll start eating it again! Thanks! 🙂

      Reply
      • Jo luckily affirms...

        January 25, 2013 at 7:23 pm

        Potatoes belong to the nightshade family, and once they begin turning green/sprout, they produce a toxic substance.

        http://www.snopes.com/food/ingredient/potato.asp

        Reply
        • Chris magestically mentions...

          January 25, 2013 at 7:29 pm

          You are correct, but keep in mind that you’d have to eat a lot of green spuds before it amounted to anything detrimental. You can always cut that spot out or get a new potato. I don’t really care for the flavor of the green spots and cut them out.

          Reply
          • Dave rapidly expresses...

            October 15, 2013 at 8:01 pm

            Green skin is typically caused by exposure to the sun during the growing season, e.g., not enough “hilling” around the plant.

  6. Diane Gonsalves bravely expresses...

    February 16, 2012 at 3:42 am

    Can red potatoes that are boiled be cut and put in a covered bowl prior to the day u r making your salad without the potatoes turning brown.?

    Reply
    • Chris Mower rapidly comments...

      February 18, 2012 at 10:19 pm

      Hi Diane! I replied via email to you (sorry for taking so long). For everyone else, yes you can cook, cool, and then refrigerate potatoes without having them turn brown. My wife and I do this often and then we pull them out to make a quick breakfast burrito in the morning or fried potatoes for dinner.

      Reply
  7. Diana cooly types...

    February 24, 2012 at 7:53 pm

    Love the potatoe info. As a matter of fact we are about to cook some delicious shrimp adding the red and brown potatoes to this dish. Hopefully it turns out well with some Healthy Advantages. Yum.

    Reply
  8. Sharen reassuringly chats it up...

    October 28, 2012 at 3:14 pm

    Chris, this comment has nothing to do with the potatoes, although I did find the information helpful. I absolutely love your choice of adverbs and verbs for your replies. I teach 8th grade and will be referring to your site when we get to narrative writing using quotes. Thanks for being so lively!

    Reply
    • Chris courageously types...

      October 29, 2012 at 4:59 pm

      Woohoo! 🙂

      Reply
  9. chip successfully expresses...

    February 26, 2014 at 9:59 pm

    trying to find out whether or not potatoes(russet) can be combined with fiber foods(like green peas) to slow or possibly defeat the blood sugar spike thing.

    Reply
  10. Joseph Eagan beautifully fleshes out...

    April 19, 2014 at 12:14 pm

    I make all natural cut fries with red potatoes in the oven it’s awesome! Spray with Pam before you bake and it’ll give you that fried taste with zero fat!

    Reply
    • Bernie beautifully writes...

      May 12, 2014 at 6:47 am

      @josephEagan
      Love this.

      Thanks!

      Reply
    • C kaiser vivaciously chats it up...

      July 16, 2016 at 11:05 pm

      What a great story you have shared. My husband (proudly of 32 1/2 “year” has he says) extended family are So. Dakotan’s. The home that his grandfather built in Hoven., had a basement that stunk! Now I kno the reasoning . Thank you for your childhood experience , which was not always so pleasant at harvesting. Good memories now, right?

      Reply
    • C kaiser attractively states...

      July 16, 2016 at 11:09 pm

      Into red potatoes as opposed to the all time russets. I will definitely give your short & quick suggestion a try. Thank you.

      Reply
  11. Rudy courageously chats it up...

    September 1, 2014 at 3:37 pm

    What a wonderful site!! Just wanted to know difference between Yellow/white/red onions, now I know.

    Reply
  12. Niki Nichols briefly scribbles...

    December 5, 2014 at 7:39 pm

    Potatoes and beans are RS. Resistant Starch has R1 – R4..If the potatoes; either kind are baked or boiled first, and not cooked till mushy, then put into the fridge to cool they become R3. Good to eat or I cut them up in chunks, add a little EVOO plus sea salt, put on a flat sheet and bake at 350 till brown, then flip them over..for a bit. I turn off the over and let them sit in the over. I like then toasty.

    And there you have it – perfect food for those who do not want their glucose to rise. Also, RS is Uncle Ben’s Original parboiled White Rice…same,,cook and make sure it is then refrigerated. Then you can eat it in stir fry et al. No glucose rising. Check our.www.freetheanimal.com. All about diabetes and paleo.

    Reply
    • C Kaiser vivaciously mentions...

      July 17, 2016 at 8:03 am

      Very good / knowledgeable information. We are “potato” fans. However we are concerned about glucose & starches that come with their great flavor. Thank you!

      Reply
      • Chris Mower cooly asserts...

        July 17, 2016 at 10:19 am

        Yeah, if you’re trying to lose weight, avoid potatoes. Otherwise, having one now and again isn’t the end of the world. And mashed potatoes? Who can resist those?

        Reply
  13. Michael Redbourn bravely affirms...

    February 1, 2015 at 6:37 pm

    When you store them in a dark place, put them on a few sheets of newspaper.

    They will last a very long time and after a couple of weeks their skins will harden.

    Reply
    • Sonya J molodically announces...

      March 21, 2018 at 7:00 am

      Thank you!

      Reply
    • Chris Mower proudly claims...

      May 17, 2018 at 2:53 pm

      Yes! Thank you for adding this great tip! We kept potatoes wrapped in newspaper all winter long down in milk cans in the cellar. They’ll even sprout a bit while wrapped up, so you can plant the next year’s crop.

      Reply
  14. Tiffany luckily claims...

    September 23, 2015 at 9:24 pm

    I sent the hubby to get potatoes for ham & potato soup and he came back with russets instead of red…hoping the soup still comes out OK! :-/

    Reply
    • Chris Mower magestically discloses...

      September 24, 2015 at 10:23 am

      You ought to be okay, just be sure to not overcook them. I’ve made soups with russets in them before and they turn out alright. Not my favorite, but still good.

      Reply
  15. Sally Cashman rapidly chimes...

    April 26, 2016 at 2:35 pm

    Recipe for potato lakes calls for russet potatoes but my husband bought red potatoes. Should I wait till I get russets it can I use the red without a failure? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Chris Mower magestically chats it up...

      April 26, 2016 at 3:17 pm

      Hi Sally,

      The russets will have a bit more starch and will likely flake better because of it. However, I don’t forsee a huge problem making flakes out of red potatoes.

      Reply
  16. Melissa courageously affirms...

    December 17, 2016 at 10:37 am

    Are red potatoes better for soup? How will the texture be different exactly from the russet?

    Reply
    • Chris Mower enthusiastically asserts...

      December 24, 2016 at 8:10 am

      It really depends on what you want. Red potatoes are a little waxier than the brown Russet potatoes. I really love the red ones in soup, especially when they’re miniature.

      Reply
  17. Jay Roseman totally states...

    July 30, 2017 at 9:14 pm

    I like any baked potato refrigerated and I just pick it up and ear it. It’s delicious and requires no butter, sour cream or salt

    Reply
  18. Walter Matera rapidly expresses...

    July 25, 2018 at 4:26 pm

    I find that my red potatoes don’t keep as long after harvest as other types so I’m inclined to dig them the day i want to eat them from mid-summer until they’re gone and then switch to whites and blues. And I’m another one who loves his potatoes fried with onions in bacon grease!

    Reply
    • Chris Mower totally reveals...

      October 4, 2018 at 1:46 pm

      Our stored fairly well (but did seem to go bad sooner) in the cellar wrapped in newspaper and kept in milk cans. However, nothing beats a freshly dug-up potato.

      Reply

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