…potato starch is one of those quiet kitchen heroes. It rarely takes the spotlight, but when needed, it saves sauces, adds moisture to cakes, and makes crispy things even crispier. And the best part: you can easily make it yourself – with nothing more than potatoes, water, and a little patience. Especially if you like to know what goes into your food, homemade potato starch is a small kitchen experiment with a big ‘aha!’ moment. Find out how to make homemade potato starch with my step-by-step guide!

Why does it make sense to make your own potato starch?

Potato starch is pure plant flour, gluten-free, and flavorless. Industrially, it’s produced by washing, shredding, and rinsing the starch from potatoes – exactly the same process can be done at home, just on a smaller scale.

Homemade means:

• no additives

• perfect use of simple potatoes

• a better feel for ingredients and processes

• and a little bit of kitchen knowledge along the way

Which potatoes are best suited?

Floury potatoes are best, but as you can see from our photos and video, we used waxy Ditta potatoes, and it worked.

Floury potatoes have a high starch content (> 16.5%), fall apart easily when cooked, and are ideal for mashed potatoes, soups, dumplings, gnocchi, or baked potatoes. Well-known varieties include Ackersegen, Adretta, Agria, Bintje, Gunda, Augusta, Aula, Saturna, Prestige, Violetta/Blue Congo, and Tippo.

Step-by-step to potato starch

First, peel the potatoes and grate them coarsely. The finer they are grated, the easier the starch will dissolve. Place this mixture in a bowl and cover with cold water.

Now comes the crucial part: vigorously wash the grated potatoes. Squeeze out the liquid with your hands or through a sieve. The emerging water will look milky and cloudy – that’s where the starch is.

Let this liquid sit for a few minutes. A fine, white sediment will settle at the bottom of the bowl. This is the potato starch. Carefully pour off the clear water above it.

The moist starch paste is then spread thinly on baking paper or a clean cloth and air-dried. This takes several hours to a day, depending on room temperature. After that, the homemade potato starch will be hard and crumbly and can be crushed or ground into a fine powder.

What you can use homemade starch for

Potato starch is a true all-rounder:

• for thickening sauces, soups, and ragouts

• for moist cakes and biscuits

• for extra crispy breading

• in gluten-free cooking as a flour substitute

• for puddings, creams, or fruit fillings

Even small amounts are enough – it thickens more strongly than flour.

Check out our video:

Save the recipe or share it on Instagram using #letsdocookingfoodblog – I look forward to your variations and ideas!

Try it out and tell me what you think!

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