A potato ricer is a single-purpose tool that is very hard to improve on, which makes the differences between them small and specific. The OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Potato Ricer wins on two of those specifics: a frame that hooks over the edge of the pot so you are not holding the whole assembly in mid-air, and handles soft enough that a full hopper of hot potato does not become an ordeal.
Why a ricer beats a masher at all
It is worth restating, because it is the reason to own one. A masher crushes and folds, which means it works the potato repeatedly and ruptures starch cells; too much of that and mash goes gluey. A ricer extrudes: the potato goes through the holes exactly once, in one direction, and comes out as fine strands that need only butter and a gentle fold. That single pass is why riced mash is smooth and light rather than sticky.
The full argument, including the case for keeping a masher anyway, is in ricer vs masher.
The frame is the feature
OXO’s listed design point is that the ricer hooks over the edge of most pots and bowls. That sounds trivial and it changes the job. Riced potato has to land somewhere, and without a rest you are holding a heavy stainless tool over a pan with one hand while squeezing hard with the other. Resting the frame on the rim means both hands are on the handles, which is where the leverage is, and the hot potato is not traveling across your kitchen.
The body is stainless with soft non-slip handles. On a tool whose entire operation is a hard squeeze, handle comfort is not a nicety — it is the difference between doing four hoppers of potato and doing two and giving up.
What else it does
OXO lists it for potatoes and for pureeing soft foods, and that second use is the underrated one. Cooked apple for applesauce, cooked cauliflower, cooked squash, chestnuts, hard-boiled egg yolks for a garnish or a dressing, and squeezing the water out of cooked spinach — all of them work, none of them needs a machine, and none of them wakes the house.
What it does not do is separate skins and seeds. That is a food mill, and the two tools are frequently confused. If your goal is smooth tomato sauce or applesauce from whole fruit, you want the mill, not the ricer.
Rice them hot, and do not rinse.Potatoes rice easily while hot and turn stubborn as they cool. Work straight from the drained pot, rice into a warm bowl, and fold the butter in before the milk — the fat coats the starch first, which is a large part of why restaurant mash is silky. Riced potato also cools fast because of the surface area, so have everything ready.
Where the Bellemain wins
The Bellemain Large Potato Ricer (3 discs) is the direct alternative and it beats the OXO on one axis: it ships with three interchangeable discs (fine, medium and coarse) and a larger hopper. If you want a coarser, more rustic mash sometimes and a fine one other times, or you are ricing for a crowd and want fewer refills, that is a real advantage at a lower price.
What you give up is the squeeze. The OXO’s handles are more comfortable and the pot rest is better resolved, which is exactly what you notice on the fourth hopper. Our potato ricer roundup puts the two side by side.
Who should buy it
Anyone who makes mash more than a couple of times a year and wants the simplest possible route to a good result. It is also the better of the two for anyone with hand or wrist issues, for the handle reason above.
Skip it if you want texture options — buy the three-disc Bellemain — or if what you actually need is skins and seeds removed, in which case a food mill is the tool. And if mash is a once-a-year event, a hand masher and a bit of patience is a perfectly honest answer.
