Mashed potatoes make the whole Thanksgiving feast. Who hasn’t created a perfect bite, stacking turkeycranberry sauce and stuffing on a forkful of potatoes? But this favorite last-minute side dish can cause some justified anxiety in holiday cooking. Read on to learn the chef’s tips for keeping mashed potatoes from getting mushy and lumpy — and how to fix them if they go bad.

Use the right potato

“The number one cause of gooey mashed potatoes is selecting the wrong type of potato,” says Danny Grant, chef and managing partner of Chicago-based Maple Hospitality Group (which operates Maple & Ash, Monarch and Kessaku ). “If you choose a potato with too much starch, you’re fighting an uphill battle from the start. I prefer Yukon Gold potatoes because they have a lower starch content but still provide great flavor and texture.

Farmer Paul Meulemans of Wild Coyote Farm in Berrien Springs, Michigan, agrees that potato choice is key.

“Red or golden potatoes are fluffier,” he says. “The flavor will be creamier, whereas if you get a white potato or a russet potato, they make a very fluffy mashed potato but you’ll probably want to add more cream or butter.”

He also points out that supermarket potatoes have been dried, meaning they are older and therefore drier. “If you like them really soft and they’ll hold up really well on the spoon,” he says, dried potatoes are the perfect choice. However, if you want tastier potatoes, ask your farmer for “new”, recently harvested potatoes.

Invest in a potato masher and don’t overload them

The tools you use to create your pureed masterpiece are also important. Grant suggests using a potato masher, which “breaks the potatoes into small flakes, allowing you to incorporate your liquid and butter without overmixing them or making them gummy.” Grant never uses a blender or immersion blender to mash – it’s a direct path to gooey potatoes. Instead, he recommends adding the butter, milk and seasonings with a stiff whisk or rubber spatula.

Consider baking your potatoes instead of boiling them

For her Make-Ahead Creamy Mashed Potatoesrecipe developer Ann Taylor Pittman cooks the potatoes instead of boiling them, which reduces the water content and makes them drier to begin with; this prevents the gummy character later.

What to do if your mashed potatoes turn out lumpy

“A quick solution to lumpy mashed potatoes is to pass them through a colander,” says Grant. “At the restaurant, we use equipment called sievewhich allows us to push the potatoes through and leave any lumps or lumps, resulting in silky smooth mashed potatoes. At home, you can achieve similar results by using a fine mesh strainer and pressing them with a flexible plastic scraper.

What if they are sticky?

“Fixing gooey mashed potatoes is tricky, but there are ways to cover them up,” says Grant. Adding more butter can improve the texture, but, if all else fails, he suggests stirring in grated cheese, then placing the mixture in a casserole dish and baking until the top is golden brown. Garnish with chives and green onions, and your gooey, cheesy mashed potatoes could become the most requested recipe of the season!