Kitchen Know-How
Floury potatoes — Maris Piper and King Edward chief among them — fluff and break up as they cook, which is exactly what you want for a proper roast, a jacket potato or a bowl of chips. Waxy potatoes — Charlotte, Jersey Royal, anything sold as “salad” or “baby” potatoes — hold their shape instead, which is what a dauphinoise or a pan of boiled new potatoes actually needs. Everything else on the shelf, Desiree, Rooster, Vivaldi, most bags marked only “all-rounder,” sits in the middle and will do a fair job of most things without excelling at any of them.
Key takeaways
- Floury (high starch, low moisture): Maris Piper, King Edward. Fluffs and breaks up — best for roasting, jacket potatoes, chips.
- Waxy (low starch, high moisture): Charlotte, Jersey Royal. Holds its shape — best for boiling, dauphinoise, salads.
- All-rounder (medium starch): Desiree, Rooster, Vivaldi. A fair job of most things, and what most supermarket “baking” or “all-rounder” bags actually contain.
- The variety name on a seed catalogue rarely appears on a supermarket bag — the shelf-label table below maps what you actually see at the till to the named varieties behind it.
- Already know it’s roast potatoes you’re after? See our full guide to the best potatoes for roasting.
Floury vs waxy: what the difference actually is
The split comes down to one thing: how much starch is packed into the cells, and how much water sits alongside it. A floury potato — Maris Piper is the textbook example — has cells swollen with starch granules and comparatively little moisture. Heat the starch and it gelatinises and expands until the cell walls give way, which is why a floury potato falls apart into that soft, powdery texture the moment a fork goes near it. That is a virtue in a roast potato (all that broken surface crisps beautifully in hot fat) and a liability in a potato salad, where you want the pieces to survive being tossed in dressing without disintegrating.
A waxy potato — Charlotte, Jersey Royal — has the ratio the other way round: less starch, more moisture held in a firmer cell structure. The cells stay largely intact under heat, so the potato keeps its shape through boiling, layering or slicing. That is why a dauphinoise made with Maris Piper turns to porridge in the oven, while one made with Charlotte holds its layers.
Most named varieties sit somewhere on that spectrum rather than at either extreme, which is where “all-rounder” earns its keep as a category: Desiree, Rooster and Vivaldi are floury enough to roast reasonably and waxy enough to hold up in a traybake or a pan of boiled potatoes. If you only ever buy one bag of potatoes, an all-rounder is the sensible default.
Why roast and boiled potatoes go gluey or soggy
Both failures trace back to the same starch chemistry, in opposite directions. A gluey mash or a roast potato with a wet, pasty interior usually means the starch granules ruptured and released too much amylose — the long starch molecule that turns gummy when it’s knocked about while wet. Over-boiling a floury potato, or mashing it too vigorously once it’s cooked, breaks the swollen cell walls apart and lets that amylose flood together into a paste. The fix is mechanical, not a different variety: boil gently rather than at a rolling bubble, drain thoroughly and let the steam escape before you touch a masher, and mash with a light hand rather than a food processor.
Soggy boiled or salad potatoes are the opposite problem: using a floury variety where a waxy one was needed. Because floury cells break down readily, a Maris Piper boiled for a potato salad will start disintegrating at the edges before the centre is properly cooked, giving you a pan of cloudy water and ragged, waterlogged chunks. Swap to Charlotte or Jersey Royal and the same cooking time leaves the potatoes intact, with a firm bite right through.
The variety matters less than most kitchens assume — the starch-to-moisture ratio decides the texture, and the label on the bag decides whether you ever find out which one you bought.
UK potato varieties, one by one
These are the varieties most likely to appear by name on a UK supermarket bag or a greengrocer’s crate. Jersey Royal and Vivaldi are seasonal or occasional rather than year-round staples; the rest are available for most of the year.
| Variety | Type | Texture | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maris Piper | Floury | Fluffy, dry | Roasting, chips, jacket potatoes |
| King Edward | Floury | Fluffy, slightly drier still | Roasting, baking, mash |
| Charlotte | Waxy | Firm, holds shape | Boiling, salads, dauphinoise |
| Desiree | All-rounder | Creamy, holds together reasonably | Roasting, boiling, traybakes |
| Rooster | All-rounder | Firm skin, fluffier centre | Roasting, boiling, wedges |
| Jersey Royal | Waxy | Firm, delicate skin | Boiling, simply buttered, salads |
| Vivaldi | All-rounder | Firm, moist, holds shape moderately | Roasting, boiling, traybakes |
What the bag actually says: supermarket labels decoded
Ask a proper cook and they’ll name a variety without hesitating — Maris Piper, King Edward, Charlotte. Ask most shoppers what they bought this week and the honest answer is usually a generic label, because that is what most supermarket own-brand bags actually carry. This is the gap every other potato guide skips: the shelf doesn’t always say “Maris Piper,” it says “Roasting Potatoes,” and you’re trusting the retailer to have matched the label to the right variety underneath.
| What the bag says | Usually contains | Type |
|---|---|---|
| “Roasting Potatoes” | Maris Piper or King Edward | Floury |
| “Baking Potatoes” / “Jacket Potatoes” | Maris Piper or King Edward | Floury |
| “All-Rounder” / “Everyday” | Desiree, Rooster or Vivaldi | All-rounder |
| “Salad Potatoes” / “Baby Potatoes” | Charlotte, Jersey Royal or Anya | Waxy |
| “New Potatoes” | Jersey Royal (spring) or a waxy own-brand equivalent | Waxy |
A genuinely useful piece of budget sense here: an own-brand bag correctly labelled “roasting” will roast equally well as a named-variety bag costing considerably more. Paying a premium for “Maris Piper” on the packet buys certainty about which variety you’re getting, not a better potato than the supermarket’s own “Roasting Potatoes” bag sitting next to it. Save the named-variety spend for when the dish depends on it — a dauphinoise where waxy is non-negotiable — and buy on the label the rest of the time.
Which potato for which dish
A quick-reference table for the dishes people actually ask about, with a link through to the full method where we have one.
| Dish | Best type | Named varieties | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roast potatoes | Floury | Maris Piper, King Edward | See our full guide to UK potato varieties for roasting — parboiling method and the skin-on shortcut. |
| Chips | Floury | Maris Piper, King Edward | High starch gives the fluffy interior under a crisp shell. |
| Jacket potatoes | Floury | Maris Piper, King Edward | Large, evenly sized ones bake through most reliably. |
| Dauphinoise / gratin | Waxy | Charlotte, Jersey Royal | Waxy layers hold their structure under cream and a long, slow bake. |
| Boiling / buttered new potatoes | Waxy | Charlotte, Jersey Royal | Stay intact rather than clouding the pan. |
| Traybakes / wedges | All-rounder | Desiree, Rooster, Vivaldi | Firm enough to hold a wedge shape, floury enough to catch the seasoning. |
| Mash | Floury | Maris Piper, King Edward | Included here for completeness — not covered in depth on this page. |
| Potato salad | Waxy | Charlotte, Jersey Royal | Included here for completeness — not covered in depth on this page. |
King Edward vs Maris Piper (and other close calls)
Both are floury, both roast well, and in practice most people cannot tell the difference on the plate. The distinctions that do exist: Maris Piper has a slightly higher, more reliable starch content and a thinner skin, which is why chip shops lean on it almost exclusively. King Edward has a marginally drier, more mealy texture once mashed and a longer pedigree as the traditional Sunday roast potato of choice — the one your grandmother probably meant when she said “a good roaster.” If a recipe only says “floury potatoes” and doesn’t specify, either will serve you well; buy whichever is fresher or better priced that week.
Storing potatoes so they last
Keep potatoes somewhere cool, dark and dry — a larder or a cupboard well away from the oven, not the fridge, where the cold converts starch to sugar and leaves them tasting oddly sweet and turning brown too fast when fried. Store them in a paper bag or a hessian sack rather than sealed plastic, which traps moisture and speeds up rot. Keep them away from onions: both release gases that make the other spoil faster stored side by side. A potato that has gone green under the skin, or one that has sprouted extensively, is best discarded rather than trimmed — the green indicates solanine, a compound worth not testing your luck with.
Growing your own
Seed potatoes are sold by the same floury/waxy logic: “earlies” (including Jersey Royal-type varieties) are typically waxy and ready from early summer, while “maincrop” varieties — Maris Piper and King Edward among them — go in later and are lifted in autumn for the floury roasting and baking potatoes that store through winter. If you’re growing your own vegetables more widely, our guide to raised beds for vegetables covers the groundwork that makes a potato bed considerably less back-breaking to harvest.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between floury and waxy potatoes?
Floury potatoes have more starch and less moisture, so they fluff and break apart when cooked — good for roasting, chips and mash. Waxy potatoes have less starch and more moisture, so they hold their shape — good for boiling, salads and a dauphinoise.
Are King Edward potatoes floury or waxy?
Floury. King Edward is one of the two classic UK floury varieties, alongside Maris Piper, and is a traditional choice for roasting and mash.
Is Maris Piper the same as King Edward?
No, they are different varieties, though both are floury and both roast well. Maris Piper has a marginally higher starch content and a thinner skin; King Edward has a drier, more mealy texture and is the more traditional choice for a Sunday roast.
What is the best all-round potato?
Desiree, Rooster and Vivaldi are usually sold and marketed as all-rounders — floury enough to roast reasonably, waxy enough to hold together in a boil or a traybake. If you only buy one type of potato, an all-rounder is the sensible default.
Can you use waxy potatoes for mash?
You can, but the result will be denser and less fluffy than mash made with a floury variety, because there is less starch to gelatinise and expand. Floury potatoes (Maris Piper, King Edward) make lighter mash.
What are the best potatoes for boiling?
Waxy varieties — Charlotte or Jersey Royal — hold their shape through boiling rather than clouding the pan and breaking apart at the edges.
What are the best potatoes for a dauphinoise?
Waxy potatoes, ideally Charlotte or Jersey Royal. Their firm structure survives thin slicing and a long bake in cream without collapsing into the sauce.
What are the best potatoes for roasting?
Floury varieties. For the full method, parboiling times and the skin-on shortcut, see our dedicated roasting guide.
Updated 16 August 2026 by Linda Garrould.
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