Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes: A quick and easy mashed potatoes recipe that’s made in under 25 minutes! This recipe is perfect for holiday meals or a busy weeknight dinner as an easy side dish.
When we found out how much you loved the Instant Pot Chicken and Potatoes, we knew mashed potatoes had to be next, in our Instant Pot Recipes archives.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Easy Instant pot mashed potatoes are a classic side dish and potato recipe that everyone enjoys. You can bring these potatoes to holiday parties, potlucks, and barbecues, or serve them at family dinners!
I like to serve these pressure cooker mashed potatoes with sweet and smoky pork chops, this steak recipe, or a crispy chicken burger (just like KFC!). You can also serve these mashed potatoes with vegetables like asparagus cooked in the air fryer and oven roasted roccoli!
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Ingredients
For potatoes:
- 3 pounds Russet potatoes halved
- 2 cups of water
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 stick salted butter
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon celery seed
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup sour cream
For topping:
- Bacon bits
- Chopped chives
- Colby jack cheese
Instructions:
- Clean the potatoes skin and cut them in halves or quarters depending on the size.
- Place the trivet (or mesh steamer basket) in the bottom of the Instant Pot and add the water, potatoes, and salt in the Instant Pot.
- Set to manual preset, on high pressure for 13 minutes.
- While it is cooking, place the butter, garlic powder, celery seed, black pepper in a medium sized saucepan and on medium heat melt the butter and mix until all spices are combined.
- Once the butter is all melted remove from heat and set aside.
- Once the Instant Pot is done, turn the valve for quick release.
- Pull the potatoes out (discard excess water) and place them in a large mixing bowl.
- Pour the butter mixture onto the potatoes.
- Mash potatoes with a potato masher or a hand-mixer.
- Once the mixture is all combined, add the sour cream and milk. Mix until combined.
- Serve as desired and add toppings!
Hint: To know if the potatoes are fully cooked, insert a fork into them while they are in the instant pot. If you can easily insert the fork, they are done!
Which potatoes are best for mashed potatoes?
For best results, you want to use starchy potatoes when making electric pressure cooker mashed potatoes. Russet or yukon gold potatoes are the best kind of potatoes to use because they are fluffier and smoother than red potatoes.
What can I put on top of mashed potatoes?
There are a lot of different ways you can spice mashed potatoes up! Here are a few of my favorite ways to add flavor to instant pot mashed potatoes.
- Cheese – You can top mashed potatoes with cheddar cheese, a little sour cream, cream cheese, etc. Adding more cheese to mashed potatoes is never a bad idea!
- Fresh herbs and spices – Fresh chives, parsley, rosemary, thyme, kosher salt, black pepper, garlic salt, garlic powder, and onion powder are all great extra herbs and spices to top on mashed potatoes.
- Bacon – Feel free to throw on crispy bacon or bacon bits on your instant pot mashed potatoes!
- Steak and Gravy – If you’re looking for a hearty rounded meal, this slow cooker steak recipe, is incredible on top of mashed potatoes.
How do you store mashed potatoes after cooking?
You can store pressure cooker mashed potatoes in the fridge for up to 3-5 days. Make sure that you use an airtight container when refrigerating so your potatoes stay fresh for a longer period of time.
What happens if you don’t peel potatoes for mashed potatoes?
Pressure cooked potatoes have very thin skin that easily mashes and combined with the rest of the potatoes. Leaving the skin on is one of the easiest methods for cooking mashed potatoes. Also, the potato skin has vitamins, fiber, and other nutrients that you don’t want to miss out on!
Substitutions
If you have heavy cream, feel free to substitute it for the milk for even creamier mashed potatoes. (However, keep in mind that heavy cream is thicker, so to thin them out some, you may want a dash of milk if necessary to reach the consistency you’re looking for.)
Even though discarding the water, you can use chicken broth in place of the water for the flavors to incorporate in to the potatoes while cooking and you could even use a small amount of the chicken broth if you’re looking for a way to thin out the potatoes more.
More easy recipes
If you love easy side dishes like this one, then you’ll also love the Instant Pot Amish Potato Salad, these slow cooker potatoes, and these baked potato wedges! Or if you’re looking for another Instant Pot recipe side dish, then this Instant Pot Parmesan Risotto is a great choice!
Recipe
Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
Mashed Potatoes
- 3 lbs Russet potatoes (or yukon golds) halved
- 2 cups water
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- ½ cup salted butter 1 stick
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon celery seed
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup sour cream
Toppings
- bacon bits
- chopped chives
- colby jack cheese
Instructions
- Clean the potatoes skin and cut them in halves or quarters depending on the size.
- Place the trivet (or mesh steamer basket) in the bottom of the Instant Pot and add the water, potatoes, and salt in the Instant Pot.
- Set to manual preset, on high pressure for 13 minutes.
- While it is cooking, place the butter, garlic powder, celery seed, black pepper in a medium sized saucepan and on medium heat melt the butter and mix until all spices are combined.
- Once the butter is all melted remove from heat and set aside.
- Once the Instant Pot is done, turn the valve for quick release.
- Pull the potatoes out (discard water) and place them in a large mixing bowl.
- Mash the potatoes with a potato masher or a hand-mixer.
- Pour in the butter mixture and mix until blended.
- Once the mixture is all combined, add the sour cream and milk. Mix until combined.
- Serve as desired and add toppings!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Stephanie says
What a great way to make mashed potatoes! I gave it a try and they turned out perfect!
Jessica says
Yay!! It’s the best way to make mashed potatoes in my opinion!
Betsy says
The mashed potatoes turn out so creamy! Wow! This is so easy! I love this!!
Jessica says
Oh good!! I’m thrilled to hear that you liked these mashed potatoes! Thank you for sharing and rating them!
Toni says
This is my favorite way to make mashed potatoes!! So good and easy!
Jessica says
That’s so great to hear! So happy that you loved these mashed potatoes too. Thank you for sharing!