The objective of this paper was to determine the effect of a potato cultivar and cooking methods on the content of cadmium and lead in potato tubers after cooking. There were investigated 15 samples of very early, early and medium-early potato cultivars that were entered into the Polish Register of Potato Cultivars in the years from 1996 to 2002. It was found that the permissible level of cadmium and lead in the fresh mass of tubers of all the potato cultivars investigated was not exceeded. After the tubers were cooked, the content levels of these two elements were highly varying depending on the potato cultivar; the highest content of lead was determined in the potatoes of the ‘Delikat’ cultivar (0.062 mg/kg), whereas the cadmium level was the highest in the potatoes of the ‘Denar’ and ‘Rosalind’ cultivars (0.039 mg/kg). The lowest amounts of cadmium and lead were found in the cooked potato tubers of the ‘Balbina’ cultivar (0.009 mg/kg and 0.012 mg/kg, respectively). The highest decrease in the content levels of cadmium (by about 30%) and lead (by about 40%) was stated in potato tubers cooked both traditionally and in a pressure cooker.