Quick Answer: Yes. In the best-known satiety study, boiled potatoes were the most filling of 38 foods tested, and in an 8-week feeding trial people on a potato-based diet lost weight as well as people on a bean-based one. The potato isn't the problem. What gets added to it, frying, butter and sour cream, is.
The most filling food anyone has tested
In 1995, researchers at the University of Sydney gave volunteers 240-calorie portions of 38 foods and measured how full they felt and how much they ate afterward. Boiled potatoes scored 323% on the resulting satiety index, against white bread at 100%, according to the study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. That put them ahead of porridge, beef and eggs, and roughly seven times ahead of a croissant.
It was one study, a small group of volunteers and a single sitting per food, three decades ago. Treat it as a strong signal rather than proof: potatoes sit at the top of the list that's been measured, and no later work has knocked them off it.
Part of the reason is simple arithmetic. A boiled potato is about 80% water and carries under 1 calorie per gram, so a satisfying portion costs very little. Cheese runs about four times that per gram, and nuts about six.
What happened when people ate potatoes for eight weeks
Lab ratings of fullness only go so far. The better evidence is a randomized feeding trial at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, published in the Journal of Medicinal Food. Thirty-six adults with insulin resistance ate low-energy-density meals built around either potatoes or beans for eight weeks. The potato group lost 5.6% of body weight and the bean group 4.1%, and the difference wasn't statistically significant.
The honest reading is that potatoes did as well as beans, the food usually held up as the model for blood sugar. Not better. And the study kitchen prepared every meal, so it shows what the food does when portions are controlled, not what happens when you cook for yourself.
That's also where most potato diets go wrong in practice.
Boiled and fried are two different foods
A plain baked potato and a large order of fries start from the same vegetable and end up nowhere near each other on calories. Frying adds oil, and oil is the most calorie-dense thing in most kitchens: a tablespoon of olive oil is about 120 calories (search "olive oil" in USDA FoodData Central). Butter and sour cream on a baked potato do the same thing more slowly.
Boiling, baking and microwaving add nothing. Roasting and air-frying add whatever oil you use, which is why it's worth measuring: a teaspoon per serving is enough to crisp the edges, and a pour from the bottle is usually several times that. Leave the skin on. It's where much of the fiber is, and peeling is extra work for a worse result.
Chilling them helps, a little
Cooking makes potato starch soft and fast to digest. Cooling it lets some of the starch re-form into resistant starch, which isn't absorbed in the small intestine. In testing at Lund University, refrigerating boiled potatoes for 24 hours raised resistant starch from about 3.3% to 5.2% of total starch.
The effect on blood sugar is smaller than the internet makes it sound. In a crossover trial of 30 women with higher-than-normal fasting glucose, published in Nutrients, chilled potatoes lowered glucose 4.8% at 15 minutes and 9.2% at 30 minutes, and cut the two-hour insulin response by about 18%. Total glucose over the full two hours, the study's main measure, didn't differ significantly from hot potatoes.
So it's a small bonus, not a strategy. If you cook potatoes ahead and eat them over a few days, which is good practice anyway (see our meal prep guide), you get it for free.
Recipe: crispy smashed potatoes on one tablespoon of oil
Smashing boiled potatoes before roasting gives them more surface area, so a measured tablespoon of oil crisps four servings.
Ingredients (serves 4):
- 1.5 lbs baby potatoes (about 20 small), any variety
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme, or chives) for topping
Instructions:
- Boil potatoes in salted water for 15-20 minutes until fork-tender.
- Drain and let cool slightly, about 5 minutes, just enough to handle.
- Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Arrange potatoes on the sheet, leaving space between each.
- Use the bottom of a glass or fork to gently smash each potato to about 1/2 inch thick.
- Brush with olive oil and season with garlic powder, paprika, salt, and pepper.
- Bake 20-25 minutes until edges are golden and crispy.
- Top with fresh herbs and serve immediately.
Each serving is about 165 calories, with 28g of carbohydrate, 4g of fat, 3g of protein and 3g of fiber. Most of the fat is the tablespoon of oil, split four ways. Leftovers reheat well in an air fryer, and the night in the fridge adds a little resistant starch.
How we put potatoes on a plate
A potato on its own won't hold you for long. The fullness lasts when it sits next to protein, which is how our own kitchen uses them. These are the potato meals on our current menu, from our nutrition page:
| Meal | Calories | Protein | Sodium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Chicken Breast & Sweet Potatoes | 300 | 40g | 580mg |
| Basic Diced Chicken & Red Potatoes | 300 | 25g | 360mg |
| Basic Beef & Sweet Potatoes | 310 | 24g | 750mg |
| XL BBQ Chicken Red Potatoes | 420 | 48g | 550mg |
Every one of them is a potato and at least 24g of protein for 420 calories or less. You can build the same plate at home with a medium potato and a palm-sized portion of chicken. Or have it done: these meals are in our Build-a-Meal Plan, and our Weight Loss Meal Plan keeps every meal under 500 calories with at least 20g of protein.
For the foods that do this job alongside potatoes, see our guides to beans and the 100 best foods for weight loss.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many calories are in a potato?
About 130 for a medium potato of roughly 150 grams, boiled or baked with the skin on and nothing added. It has almost no fat and about 3 grams of protein.
Are sweet potatoes better for weight loss?
Not by enough to matter much. The gap between a sweet potato and a white one is far smaller than the gap between a boiled potato and a fried one, so pick whichever you'll actually eat next to some protein.
How much potato should I eat at a meal?
One medium potato, about 150 grams cooked, works well as the starch on a plate. Pair it with 20 to 35 grams of protein and a non-starchy vegetable.
For the full sweet potato comparison, see are sweet potatoes good for weight loss.
