10 Helpful Potato Masher Uses

One of my favorite hand held tools in the kitchen?  My potato masher.  There are many types of potato mashers and they come in all different shapes and sizes.  Mine happens to be a little old fashioned.  It could be why I adore it so much.  It came to me in a box of random kitchen items passed on from my Great Aunt Obbey and it looks a little like this: 

I was fortunate enough to be of the perfect moving out age when my dear aunt passed away.  And what else where they going to do with all of her things?  So I was the lucky winner of her 1970's style pots and pans and all sorts of kitchen tools that I had no idea what to do with but fit perfectly in my new apartment.  It would be over 10 years before my beloved potato masher actually saw any potatoes.  

Since then, I have made many wonderful batches of mashed potatoes with it but that's not all this lovely tool can do.  Anything you can think of that requires "mashing" can be done with this thing.  It's amazing.  Check out these 10 unique ways to use your potato masher for more than just potatoes.

10 Unique Ways To Use Your Potato Masher

 1. Making Guacamole - I personally like chunky guac and my masher is the best tool for the job.  Just put all the ingredients in a bowl and mash away.

2. Browning hamburger - This idea came from my mom.  And I have to say, it works wonders!  I used to have a fancy Pampered Chef tool that broke up hamburger meat really finely.  Then one day my son used it as a sword and it's been missing ever since.  Potato masher to the rescue!

3. Applesauce - works great when your apples are nice and tender.  I mash half my batch with the potato masher and puree the other half.  It gives my applesauce the perfect balance of smooth and a little chunky.

4. Pastry cutter - for a few years I had a real pastry cutter on my Christmas wish list.  You know, for biscuits or pie crusts.  Maybe it was one of those things that was just too obvious and boring but I never received one as a gift.  It occurred to me one day that my masher might get the job done.  It did!  I can take that one off the list!

5. Stamp patterns into cookies (or playdough!) - It works great for peanut butter cookies.  And as a bonus, the kids like to play with it when they have the play dough out.  I've often wondered if it would even work for cutting a mango in those perfect little cube shapes.  hmm.... I'll have to try that.

6. Dice boiled eggs - yep, just press it all the way through a hard boiled egg.  That's it.

7. Ice cream toppings - You can use the masher to quickly chop up cookies and candies to top your ice cream.

8. Crush fruit - This has many uses.  You can mash up bananas for banana bread, strawberries or blueberries for yogurt toppings, or just for baby food.

9.  Crush tomatoes for stew - Got some tomatoes to use up?  Boil them without the skins and then use your masher to crush them up.  It's great for stews and soups.

10. Making brown sugar - Simply add a tbsp of molasses to a cup of white sugar and mash away until all mixed together.  And now you have brown sugar.

Have any great ideas for your potato masher?  Please share!  I would love to try it out.