Shopping for potatoes or need them for a recipe? It’s helpful to know how many potatoes in a pound!
Shopping for potatoes, either sweet or white potatoes, or need them for a potato recipe? It’s helpful to know how many potatoes are in a pound!
If you are just buying baking potatoes this is pretty simple – buy one medium sized potato (about 8 oz) for each person. Perhaps buy a few smaller and a few larger to give people a size choice. If the potato is the main course like stuffed baked potatoes then perhaps get them as large as 16 ounces, which is common at potato bars.
We will generally use the Russet potato as our standard for this article as it is America’s clear favorite spud. If you want to look into some other potato varieties, check out our 29 Types of Potatoes Guide.
Potato Trivia. Scroll to the bottom if you want to see the answer.
Potato Trivia!
The original Mr. Potato Head toy was missing one major body part. Can you guess what it was? (The surprising answer is at the bottom of this post!)
How Much Does A Potato Weigh?
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), for Russet potatoes, the average potato weight is:
- 13 ounces for large potatoes
- 7.5 ounces for medium potatoes
- 6 ounces for small potatoes
- 1-3 ounces for baby potatoes
The accepted standard for a baked potato is 8 ounces. Some groceries even sell pre-packaged “baking potatoes” that are exactly sized 8 ounce potatoes. 3, 5, and 10 pound bags tend to have a wider variety of sizes and weights.
Baked potatoes served “loaded” as a main course are generally 16 ounces spuds, but most potatoes will lose about 20% of their weight when baked as the water in them cooks off.
How Many Potatoes Are In A Pound?
There are about 2 potatoes in a pound.This answer of course depends upon the size of your potatoes. The USDA states that a medium potatoes weighs roughly 7.5 ounces.But potatoes come in many sizes:
There are 1 to 1 ½ large potatoes in a pound
There are 2 medium potatoes in a pound
There are 3 small potatoes in a pound
We Checked!
Never one to believe what they read on the internet (😛), we went to the grocery store and literally weighed a bunch of potatoes! We checked several 8-pound bags of Russet “jumbo baking potatoes” and counted 17-18 potatoes, roughly supporting the USDA’s figures.
How Many Potatoes In a 5 Pound Bag?
Bagged potatoes tend to be medium sized. There are generally 6-7 medium potatoes or 8-10 small potatoes in a 3 pound bag.
A 5 pound bag of Russet potatoes contains 10-12 potatoes.
A 10 pound bag of Russet potatoes generally contains 20-24 potatoes. Some brands have bags with consistently sized potatoes while others include potatoes across a wide range of sizes. If you need uniformity for say a baked potato bar or just a uniform display, pay a little more and select your own individual potatoes.
How Many Sweet Potatoes in a Pound?
According to the USDA, sweet potatoes on average weigh roughly:
- Large Sweet Potatoes: 8 ounces each or 2 per pound
- Medium Sweet Potatoes: 5 ounces each or 3 per pound
- Small Sweet Potatoes: 3 ounces each or 5-6 per pound
Of course you can sweet potatoes in all sizes at the grocery, and the number of sweet potatoes in a 3 pound bag varies. We generally counted 9 sweet potatoes in a 3 pound bag matching the USDA suggested standard, but some brands package smaller sweet potatoes in a bag.
How Many Potatoes in a Cup?
Some recipes call for cups of chopped or sliced potatoes. The USDA standard here is 75 grams or just under 3 ounces of chopped potatoes in a cup. If a recipe calls for 2 cups of potatoes, one medium potato will be suitable.
How many red potatoes are in a pound?
The USDA states that the average medium red potato weighs 213 grams or 7.5 ounces. Red potatoes in the store, however, tend to be smaller on average than Russet potatoes. The bags we checked in the grocery contained 3 red potatoes per pound.
How many Yukon Gold potatoes are in a pound?
Yukon Gold potatoes are generally smaller than Russet potatoes and average about 4-5 potatoes per pound or 3-4 ounces each.
How many potatoes is 2 pounds?
According to the USDA, 4 medium potatoes weigh 2 pounds.
How many pounds of potatoes should I plan per person?
This largely depends on how you are serving them. We generally plan on using 8 ounce potatoes when baked potatoes are a side dish. We advise people to have a variety of sizes from 4-12 ounces so that guests can pick the size they want.
How much potato salad per person?
Commercial potato salad containers generally list a serving size of ½ to 1 cup per person. We suggest the 1 cup serving size as leftover potato salad will store for a few days. This generally means you need 8 ounces per person. Consider how many other options you are serving. If you are offering a table full of options go with 4-6 ounces per person.
How much potato salad for 50 people?
12-25 pounds. The serving size is 4-8 ounces per person, but you need to consider what else is being served and who is doing the eating. If your event is composed of teenagers, go high. Conversely if there are going to be a lot of other choices available, scale that back to the lower side.
How many pounds of mashed potatoes per person?
Plan on 1 cup of mashed potatoes per person. This is equivalent to about 1 medium potato or just under 8 ounces. If you are serving teenage boys then perhaps bump that up a bit. If you have too many masked potatoes left over save them for Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie.
Trivia Answer
He had no body! The original intent was for kids to use a potato from their parents’ pantry for the body of Mr. Potato Head.
