Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes

I've been reluctant to post recipes that require an Instant Pot, but it seems that so many of us have one parked on the kitchen counter these days, that it might be time.  If you don't have an Instant Pot, you may want to consider acquiring one.  It's one of those things where you end up wondering how you got along without it before.  I've had mine for almost a year, and it's become an old friend that I rely on most days of the week.

(My Instant Pot has its own little corner in the kitchen)

I probably use it most for cooking up dried beans, making soup and chili and hard boiling eggs, but there's so much more it can do, so much more.  Like apparently cooking up mashed potatoes!  With the holidays coming up, I thought it seemed like a good time to take the IP out for a spin and see what it could do with a couple pounds of potatoes.

Quite a bit, it seems.  For crying out loud, that was easy.  Let me walk you through it...

I took a couple pounds of golden creamer potatoes (like Yukon Golds) and cut those into quarters.  The larger ones I cut into eighths and then put them in my handy dandy Instant Pot steamer basket.  You're going to want one of these... so great for steaming all kinds of veggies, not just potatoes.

Then I set the basket into the IP with a cup of water, closed her up, set it to high pressure for 8 minutes and let er rip.  When it was done, I opened the little valve to manually release the pressure and found my potatoes were cooked perfectly and ready to be mashed. 

So I removed the steamer basket and dumped out the water, dumped the potatoes back into the IP and set forth to mashing, adding milk, salt, butter and a little sour cream until they were perfectly creamy and delicious.

Now, if truth be told, I prefer to use russets for my mashed potatoes, but I had these creamers on hand and thought I'd give them a try.  They turned out surprisingly good, so I might mix in some creamer potatoes with my russets this year.  But for sure, my mashed potatoes are getting made in the Instant Pot.  Here's the recipe...

Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes

As a general rule, I cook about 1/2 lb of potatoes for each serving, but then I always cook extra because leftovers!  The Instant Pot steamer basket will hold 4 lbs of potatoes. If you need to cook more than that, I would cook the potatoes in separate installments.  I've given you some approximate measurements for milk, butter, salt and sour cream.  All potatoes have different moisture contents and cook up differently, so just start with 1/2 cup of milk and add more as needed to create a creamy mash. Although it's tempting to skip the step of peeling the potatoes and using a food mill or potato ricer, I get the best results by peeling the potatoes first which means that as soon as they're done cooking, you can start mashing immediately while they're still hot which makes them extra fluffy and creamy.

 Click here for a printable recipe

Serves 4 (makes about 3 1/2 - 4 cups)

2 lbs of potatoes (russets, creamers, or a mix of the two)
*1/2 to 1 cup of whole milk, cream or half and half
1/4 cup butter, softened or melted
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, if desired
1/3 cup sour cream, optional

*If you're planning on adding sour cream, you may not need this much milk.

Peel the potatoes and cut them into roughly about 2-inch chunks. For a largish potato, you would cut it into quarters, a medium potato into thirds. As you cut them, place them in a bowl of water which helps to rinse off some of the starch, which makes your final mash more fluffy.

Pour 1 cup of water into the Instant Pot, drain the potatoes and place them into the steamer basket and place that into the Instant Pot.

Close the lid, set the valve to "seal" and use the Manual button to select 8 minutes at high pressure.

When the 8 minutes are up, gently open the valve to release the pressure.  Remove the inner pot and steamer basket with the potatoes, drain the water from the Instant Pot and return the potatoes to the inner pot.  It's easier to mash the potatoes if you don't put the inner pot back into the main housing just yet.

Mash the potatoes, adding the butter first and stirring well before adding the milk.  You may need to add more or less milk, depending on your potatoes.  

Add the salt and the pepper and then stir in the sour cream, if desired, and do a final tasting for salt.  Spoon the potatoes into a warm serving bowl. 

If not serving the potatoes immediately, return the pot back into the main housing, replace the lid, and set the pot to warm until serving.