Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes are rich and creamy and so easy to make! Making mashed potatoes has never been quicker or tasted better than these Instant Pot mashed potatoes ready in 20 minutes!
I am completely obsessed with how creamy and delicious these mashed potatoes turned out in my instant pot. I have been wanting to try mashed potatoes in my pressure cooker for a while now. Because, mashed potatoes are obviously one of the most delicious side dishes on the planet, but, I don't always feel like cooking them on a weeknight when we are busy. Now, I can have mashed potatoes ready in about 20 minutes and everyone absolutely loved them!
Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes:
Making mashed potatoes in the instant pot starts out just a simple and easy as if you were making mashed potatoes on the stove like my reader favorite Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes.
You'll start out with three pounds of potatoes. This is about 6 medium potatoes total. Go ahead and peel them. I haven't tried this recipe leaving the skin on the potatoes because we prefer ours without skin.
Next, simply slice the potatoes into large rounds. For me, this came out to about 4-5 round slices per potato. There is no reason to spend time cutting them into cubes. You'll then cover them completely in water which will be about 4-5 cups depending on what size of instant pot you're using. The picture below shows the potato rounds in my 8 quart instant pot.
After the potatoes are covered in the water you will add ½ teaspoon of salt. This is just enough salt to flavor the potatoes while they cook without being overwhelming.
Then, that's it for now! Go ahead and place the lid on your instant pot. Set the valve to sealed and cook on manual for 8 minutes. Keep in mind that it will take about 8-10 minutes for the pot to come to pressure.
Once the timer goes off you can quick release the pressure from your pot. You will need to drain the potatoes and then return them to the instant pot with the power off.
Then, simply add in the remaining salt, pepper, garlic powder, butter, milk, and sour cream. The garlic powder is, of course, optional, but, we really love that extra bit of flavor in our mashed potatoes!
You can mash these up with a standard potato masher if you wish. Or, you can mash then whip them with a hand-held mixer which is what I love to do!
After your potatoes are mashed you are set to go and eat! Make sure to taste and double check the seasoning. I have listed the amounts to our preference, but, you may prefer to add more. Always season to your own taste.
Enjoy!
~Nichole
Be sure to follow along with us on Facebook where we always share the tastiest recipes out there! If you are looking for more great instant pot inspiration, try out my Instant Pot Spaghetti and Instant Pot Honey Sesame Chicken Thighs!
Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 3 Pounds Potatoes 6 medium, Peeled and Sliced
- Water to Cover Potatoes About 4-5 cups
- 2 Teaspoons Salt Divided
- ¼ Cup Butter
- ¼ Cup Sour Cream
- ¼ Cup Milk
- ½ Teaspoon Garlic Powder
- ½ Teaspoon Pepper
Instructions
- Place the peeled and sliced potatoes into the bottom of the instant pot.
- Cover with water and add 1 teaspoon of salt.
- Place the lid on the instant pot and set the valve to seal.
- Cook on manual pressure for 8 minutes.
- When the timer goes off, turn the instant pot off.
- Quick release the pressure from the pot.
- Drain the potatoes and return to the instant pot.
- Add the remaining salt, pepper, garlic powder, butter, milk and sour cream to the potatoes. Mash until smooth.
- Serve topped with parsley if desired.
This is so fast an easy, but I’m southern so I double the butter and garlic powder and use heavy cream instead of milk and add a little cream cheese. Sooooooo good
I’m so happy to finally find a recipe to make mashed potatoes with russet or Yukon gold potatoes in the Instant Pot that works! I had to use my 3 qt pot because my 6 qt was occupied making a roast. Of course, that meant using less potatoes in order to get enough water in the pot to cover them. I used about 2 lbs of russets and 4 cups of water. It took longer in the 3 qt to come to pressure, around 22 mts. Also you have to be VERY patient and careful when releasing the pressure or you will have a mess spewing everywhere. It took about 10 mts to fully release, which I suppose theoretically means you could cook a shorter time. It was worth it to me not to have to babysit a big pot of water. I would like to play around with the seasonings but as is, they are very tasty with gravy served over them and I will definitely be using this recipe again. Thanks for sharing!
To prevent a mess spewing when doing quick release, I place a dish towel or dish cloth over the top & just let that catch all the mess! I also use it to handle the lid so I don't get burned! Hope this helps!
Hi! Thanks! Learning how to best use my mini/8 cup Insta as anything but an awesome rice cooker! Lol! A tip on the pre-mashing step. When you're draining the potatoes put the rest of the ingredients into the empty pot while its still hot. It brings everything to the ~same temperature. Adding cold ingredients to the potatoes causes them to get gluey, sticky etc. Also mash/mix as little as possible.
I love whipped potatoes like you but I've also learned that manually mashing some 1st then quickly whipping give me the most divine fluffy potatoes!!
Those thing from a 58 yo gal who learned how to do mashed potatoes from a mom that used powdered/instant 😆
Those simple tips go a long way in preventing the gluey, sticky heavy potatoes.
I recently moved to Yuma AZ & the extremely hot temps make cooking in or out of the house the traditional ways really hot & A/C down here costs a premium & takes quite a while to cool it back down to semi-reasonable!
Now I'm learning to use it like a cooktop. Already told DH I'm getting another!
I'm lucky the previous owners left 2 perfect old school electric frying pans, think '70s!
Again thank you!
Can you clarify the amount of salt? In the written out description you say 1/2 a teaspoon of salt in the water, but the recipe steps say 1 teaspoon goes into the water.
These are my favorite go to mashed potatoes whenever I need to make mashed potatoes for dinner or the holidays!!! Easy, fast , delicious and homemade !!! Thank you for this great recipe!
Wonderful!
Can you freeze the mashed potatoes after you make them or reheat them if making ahead of time?
I always make extra for future dinners or have frozen some also… both come out perfect…especially if I add extra butter… great when in a hurry or it’s too hot to do anything…
Absolutely delicious! I did make one change and want to offer this as a suggestion, rather than giving my own recipe high reviews. 🙂
I realized at the last minute that we were out of sour cream, so I subbed an equal amount of cream cheese. Everything else was followed to the letter, and it turned out perfectly. We have a new favorite, and it's so much easier than doing it on the stovetop. Thank you!
These were amazing! My family loves them and they want me to make them again! Great recipe; the potatoes
melt in your mouth!
Do you pressure cook on low or high?
High
Seriously so much faster and easier than doing it the old way (boiling a ton of water on a stove, babysitting it, guessing when the potatoes are soft enough, burning my hands off trying to drain this huge pot, etc).
Great flavor, easy make.
Any idea how it works out if you leave the peels on?
I would guess you would need to cut the potatoes into cubes vs rounds if you leave the skin on. If you did rounds then the peels would end up as a long strings of skin.
I always make extra for future dinners or have frozen some also… both come out perfect…especially if I add extra butter… great when in a hurry or it’s too hot to do anything…
Can I double this recipe and still use the same times?
I wish someone had answered you, I'm doubling it now. Going to increase the time a few minutes.
I have read in numerous places that there is no need to change times with an instant pot. I'm actually about to try the very same thing today. I will try to remember to come back and update.
Hey y'all, you definitely can double without changing the time. Just use caution when adding the wet ingredients to make sure your potatoes aren't runny.
One of the best recipes
It worked beautifully! Used yukon golds, 4 lb. kept them larger 1/2-1/3, used chicken stalk n salted, didn’t cover completely (too much I thought. Put on for 13 min. Prayed they wouldn’t be mushy. Had that happen too often. Hoped they wouldn’t be still hard. Translating into having to put back on, then mushy. Lived that too many times. Perfect is what the mashed potatoes resulted.
Thanks
Stock not stalk!! Hah
Perfect!! And super easy. My family does not usually like mashed potatoes but they loved these.
Doing an old fashion ski trip thru Canada on the powder highway….tonight mash potatoes and pot roast in the hotel room. Thanks for a great potato recipe!
We have not cooked so much in Our room since the 90’s but we used a crockpot then and now our instapot mini with 2 pots we are eating like Kings
Long live the instapot!!!
I love to cook but have always hated making mashed potatoes. Your recipe was simple and delicious! The potatoes were perfect. Thank you for making it so easy!
I'm a beginner when it comes to using my instant pot. I simply followed the recipe and the potatoes turned out fantastic! Even my daughter, who often passes on mashed potatoes, wanted seconds! This recipe has given me confidence to use my instant pot more often. Thank you.