3 Ingredient Old Fashioned Potato Candy (no bake)
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Easy 3 ingredient, no-bake, old fashioned potato candy is such a surprisingly delicious and addictive treat that’s perfect for peanut butter lovers and gift-giving alike!
For more candy recipes that are sure to be a hit, check out my much-loved posts for Spring Confetti Crock Pot Candy, Soft Caramels, Christmas Crack, and Best Ever Caramel Corn.
Holidays are the perfect time to enjoy candies, cookies, and treats, but why wait all year to make sweet treats? I say any time is a great time for something sweet. My mom is a fantastic candy maker and one of the things I look forward to is when she makes her peanut brittle, English toffee, and potato candy.
Potato candy at its core is simply an old-fashioned candy you just can’t mess up. With only 3 ingredients (4 if you’re feelin’ craaaaazy) and no baking time, it’s so easy to make…and no it doesn’t taste like potato at the end, it tastes so sweet and kind of soft and cloudy. Just trust me on this!
Why This Recipe Works
Potatoes — I mean, not only can you not call this “potato candy” without the potatoes, but you need the starches in the potato to turn the powdered sugar into something creamy that tastes more like fudge or divinity.
Peanut butter — I say give me the peanut butter everything! It just works with this potato candy recipe. However, see below for more fillings you could use in this candy.
Incorporating powdered sugar slowly — I suggest you add the last 4 cups of powdered sugar one at a time to get each cup incorporated into the mashed potato or you will end up with lumpy candy. Each cup will mix in easily, though it will get thicker as you add.
Chill time — It’s waaaaay easier to cut this potato candy into pieces if you chill it for about 30 minutes first. Otherwise, your knife will just kind of mush everything together. So do allow for the candy to have some time alone in the fridge before cutting.
Here’s How You Make It
So now that you know what makes this recipe work, you probably want to know how to make potato candy right? Read on!
- Place the small (peeled) potato in a small pot, cover it with water, and then boil it until it’s very tender. Then, drain the water and transfer the potato to a large bowl. Mash the potato with a potato masher (or use a hand mixer) until it’s smooth and lump-free.
- Next, add 4 cups of powdered sugar to the bowl with the potato and mix until blended (will be a sticky mess and this point). If opting to use vanilla, mix in now. Mix in the remaining powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until mixture is very thick (slightly thicker than cookie dough).
- Now, lay down a large sheet of wax paper and sprinkle it generously with powdered sugar. Transfer the candy mixture to the wax paper and sprinkle the top of it with more powdered sugar so you can easily roll it out to a ¼-inch-thick rectangle.
- You’ll then spread the peanut butter evenly over the flattened potato candy. Roll it up tightly (long side toward long side) into a long log. Wrap it up in the wax paper, cut the whole thing in half crosswise and put the two halves inside a large resealable bag. Seal the bag and chill the candy for at least 30 minutes or until it’s firm. Or, cut it just 30 minutes before you’re ready to serve it.
- To slice, unwrap the candy and use a knife to cut it into 1-inch thick slices.
- Serve or store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Expert Tips
- The traditional way to make this potato candy is to spread peanut butter in the center, but it’s 2021 and we live on the edge now, so other fillings are perfectly acceptable. Some of my favorite ways to mix it up include cookie butter, almond (or another nut) butter, Nutella, crunchy peanut butter, chocolate chips, sprinkles — go crazy!
- I suggest between 6-8 cups of powdered sugar. It’s hard to predict what you’ll actually need. So start with the 4 cups, then do one at a time from there until your dough is kind of playdoh like. You want to be able to roll it so it can’t get too stiff, nor should it be too sticky. I guess if you have to make a few batches to get it just right, then you can have a taste-test with your family after!
- If you are going to give some of this as a gift, I recommend putting small pieces of wax paper between each piece or layer in the container that you choose. Also remember to tell the receiver to keep the candy in the fridge.
3 Ingredient Old Fashioned Potato Candy (no bake)
Ingredients
- 1 small potato , (should fit in a 1 cup measuring cup, you can also use half of a medium potato) peeled and cut into 1-2 inch pieces, (alternate option: ½ cup plain mashed potatoes)
- 6-8 cups powdered sugar
- ⅔ cup peanut butter , (or cookie butter)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla (optional)
Instructions
- Place potato in a smal pot, cover with water, and boil until very tender. Drain and transfer to a large bowl. Mash (or use a hand mixer) until smooth and lump-free.
- Add 4 cups powdered sugar and mix until blended (will be a sticky mess and this point). If opting to use vanilla, mix in now. Mix in more powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until mixture is very thick (slightly thicker than cookie dough).
- Lay down a large sheet of wax paper and sprinkle generously with powdered sugar. Transfer candy mixture to the wax paper and sprinkle the top with more powdered sugar. Roll out to 1/4 inch thick rectangle.
- Spread peanut butter evenly over candy. Roll tightly (long side toward long side), then wrap in the wax paper. Cut in half crosswise and put the two halves inside a large resealable bag. Seal the bag and chill for at least 30 minutes until firm, or until about 30 minutes before ready to serve.
- Unwrap candy and slice into 1-inch thick slices and serve or store in airtight container, chilled, up to 2 weeks.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can you make this with sweet potato?
I use this dough to make chocolate covered cherries and chocolate covered mints
How?
We’ve made homemade peppermint patties with this dough.
This is awesome!!
My oldest sister used to make this. It just didn’t get any better than this for Christmas candy. So addicting. Explains why I have diabetes today. Still it was just great.
Looks so amazing. I am going to try making some, maybe a little chocolate over the peanutbutter.
What else would be good instead of the Peanut butter? Yummy!! I love this candy!! Thank you for the recipe!!!! 😉
Nutella, jam, jelly, warm melted chocolate chips.
OMG! I come from a German background and this candy was made every year since I can remember, and I’m 59! This was the only candy my Dad made(everything else was Mom’s dept!), for Christmas every year. This is always my favorite! Thank you for this great recipe!! We never used potatoes, but I’m going to try this!
Cheryl…..
What did you use if not Potatoes?
This is amazing. I am into cookie butter this season, too ! Thank you for this lovely idea ! Have a pleasant week !
What is cookie butter?
Trader Joe sells it, I don’t think anyplace else does, it’s like peanut butter made out of cookies. A lot of people just love it. It doesn’t taste like peanut butter, it is hard to describe. I am not that crazy about it but I have a few friends who go nuts over it. It’s reasonably priced .
My mom made these for us kids at Christmas time fifty years ago. Brings back happy memories.
This recipe for Patoto Candy sounds very interesting, and something I’d like to try: but I have a question regarding the instructions.
You mention boiling the patotos, then placing them in a bowl and adding powdered sugar, but there is no mention of “mashing” the potatos. My assumption is that I would do that prior to adding the powdered sugar. Am I correct in my assumption? Also, would utilizing Instant Mashed Potatoes work with this recipe?
Thank you for all your efforts and please keep up the GREAT WORK.
Thanks so much for catching that Tom, that was a typo on my part – I updated the recipe to include that! 🙂
Yes Tom mash the potatoe before asding the powdered sugar and yes yiu can use a cup of plain mashed potato instead. This stuff is awesome my mother used to make it every year
Yes it does…see part 1
Not that it matters, but if you look at Tiffany’s reply comment to me; right after my posted comment, you’ll see that it didn’t originally mention mashing the potatoes, and that Tiffany actually thanked me for catching the typo. She also said she would make the corrections; which is the copy you saw.
I have made it with instant before it works fine. and yes mash before adding con.sugar.
I love this stuff! My great grandmother taught me how to make it when I was a kid. When we visited, we would always ask for mashed potato candy. She lived through the depression and did not like to see food go to waste, so we would always use leftover mashed potatoes from dinner. This recipe brought back a lot of very fond memories of my great grandmother!
Love this stuff. My great grandmother taught me how to make it when I was a kid. We always asked for mashed potato candy when we visited. She lived through the depression, and never liked things to go to waste, so we would use leftover mashed potatoes from dinner. This recipe brought back some very fond memories!
I grew up with this candy too and love it!!! Yes, great memories. I am making some today with my granddaughter! Hope she does the same one day too! 🙂