Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes are buttery, creamy, and a great side dish you can make in less than 30 minutes. These homemade mashed potatoes are a must-make and perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and a special family dinner.
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Easy Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
Mashed potatoes are the ultimate comfort food and one of the most delicious side dishes you can serve up, but you may believe it’s too time-consuming to prepare them on a busy weeknight. However, you may have wanted to try making mashed potatoes in your Instant Pot but weren’t sure how they would turn out.
Well, this Instant Pot mashed potatoes recipe makes the best mashed potatoes in no time at all and will give you the confidence to use your Instant Pot more often.
Plus, think about how much time you spend preparing those holiday feasts. This recipe will significantly cut down your Thanksgiving prep time.
While these potatoes cook unsupervised, you could be assembling the stuffing, making the cranberry sauce, chatting with your Aunt Betty, whatever! Using your Instant Pot also frees up stove space for other important things such as making gravy.
Reasons to Love This Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes Recipe
Mashed potatoes Instant Pot style are creamy and rich and so easy to create! Mashed potatoes have never been made more quickly or tasted better.
This will be your favorite go-to mashed potatoes recipe whenever you need to make this side dish for dinner or during the holidays. Easy mashed potatoes – fast, delicious, and homemade! These potatoes are creamy, fluffy, and so good. Plus, from start to finish all you need is one pot!
Making mashed potatoes in your Instant Pot pressure cooker makes the best mashed potatoes. It’s so much faster and easier than doing it the old way – boiling a ton of water on your stove, babysitting it and guessing when the potatoes are soft enough, burning your hands draining a big hot container, etc.
Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes Recipe Ingredients
Mashed potatoes in Instant Pot are rich, buttery, smooth, and creamy. Made with just five ingredients, they’re such an easy, delicious side dish. Here’s all you need:
- Potatoes – Russet or Yukon Gold
- Butter
- Cream or Milk
- Salt & Pepper
What Is the Best Potato for Mashed Potatoes Instant Pot Style?
Russet potatoes are the standard for mashed potatoes. They’re low in moisture and super starchy, so once mashed, they absorb dairy like a charm. However, you can also go with Yukon gold or even red potatoes.
When making mashed potatoes in Instant Pot, you may need to adjust the timing slightly for different types of potatoes. Russet potatoes need a bit of extra time because they are bigger, and Yukon and red don’t need as much time because of their smaller size.
CopyKat Tip: A 50/50 blend of Yukon gold potatoes and russet potatoes gives you a perfect combination of flavors and textures.
How to Make Mashed Potatoes in an Instant Pot
- Cut the washed and peeled potatoes into large chunks and put them in the Instant Pot with the steamer insert in place. Put on the lid to seal the pot for pressure cooking.
- Set the timer to pressure cook the potatoes for 4 minutes on high pressure. Perform a quick release with the valve when the cooking time is finished.
- Drain the potatoes and return them to the Instant Pot.
- Add the butter and cream (or milk) and season with salt and pepper.
- With a hand mixer, mash the potatoes in the Instant Pot.
- Transfer the mashed potatoes to a serving bowl.
Recipe Notes and Substitutions
- Make sure to taste and double-check the seasoning; you may prefer to add more.
- After the potatoes have finished cooking, drain them well in a colander. Then put them back into the Instant Pot with the pot on “warm.” The hot pot will help any excess water evaporate and give you fluffier spuds.
- Warm the milk and melt the butter before adding them to the potatoes. Combine them and pour them in slowly – your mashed potatoes will absorb them beautifully. This also means your mashed potatoes will stay nice and hot instead of being instantly cooled down by cold milk.
- To make vegan mashed potatoes, use vegan butter and plant-based milk (such as oat milk). Note that vegan butter tends to be salted, so you may need to adjust the salt in the recipe.
Recipe Flavor Variations
One joy of mashed potatoes is that because they have such a simple flavor, there are so many options to perk them up a bit.
- Garlic powder will add that extra bit of flavor.
- If you want some cheesy mashed potatoes, add some parmesan.
- Stir in chives, fresh herbs, shredded cheese, roasted garlic, or even crispy bacon.
- Instead of cream, you could add something else creamy like sour cream, cream cheese, Greek yogurt, or crème Fraiche.
- These potatoes are just made for herbed butter.
Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes: FAQs
Can you leave the skin on the potatoes?
Yes, it’s totally up to you. Peel the potatoes if you prefer a smooth, creamy texture, or leave them on to make things easier. However, if you’re using russets, you might want to peel since the peel’s texture isn’t as appetizing as that of a red or Yukon potato.
Russet potato skin is tasty when fried or baked but tends to add a little unpleasant texture when mashed.
What should you use to mash potatoes?
You can use a potato masher or wooden spoon. If you want really smooth and fluffy potatoes, use an electric hand mixer. With the masher, there’s no risk of overmixing – and it’s perfect if you prefer a few chunks in your mash!
A potato ricer is a great tool for mashing potatoes.
A food mill makes silky smooth, almost airy, lump-free mashed potatoes.
Whatever you do, be sure to skip the immersion blender or food processor. The fast action of both of these tools turns mashed potatoes into a gummy mess.
How do you avoid making potatoes that are too lumpy?
To prevent lumpy potatoes, mash them immediately after they’ve finished cooking. If you let them sit around for too long, they’ll develop a skin, making them harder to mash smoothly and evenly.
How can you keep mashed potatoes warm before serving?
Your Instant Pot should have a “Keep Warm” setting, so you never need to worry about serving cold mashed potatoes. However, to avoid any potatoes burning or sticking on the bottom, you may want to give them a stir and add a splash of milk every now and again.
What to Serve With Mashed Potatoes
Mashed potatoes Instant Pot style make a great side dish for many meals – baked chicken, pork chops, baked salmon, etc. They are also delicious served with mushroom gravy.
Ways to Use Leftover Mashed Potatoes
If you have leftover mashed potatoes, there’s no shortage of ways to use them. Here are a few ideas:
- Use them as a topping on shepherd’s pie.
- Turn them into potato pancakes.
- If you’re into baking, mashed potatoes make light and fluffy dinner rolls.
- Make a mashed potato salad with onion, hard-boiled eggs, and pickles.
How to Store and Reheat Leftover Mashed Potatoes
Mashed potato leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days. Potatoes tend to dry out over time, so stir in more milk when reheating to make them creamy again.
To reheat, microwave on high, stirring occasionally, until hot. Or stir a little milk into the potatoes and place them in a baking dish. Cover with foil and bake at 350°F until hot, stirring once or twice.
Love Potatoes? Try These Recipes!
There are more than six ways from Sunday to prepare potatoes. Here are some great potato recipes for you:
- Cheesy Potatoes in Crock Pot
- Jojo Potatoes
- Lyonnaise Potatoes
- Mashed Potato Casserole
- Parsley Potatoes
- Potato Pancakes
- Purple Mashed Potatoes
- Taco Bell Potatoes
- Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes
Favorite Instant Pot Recipes
Check out more of my easy potato side dish recipes and the best Instant Pot recipes here on CopyKat!
Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 2 pounds potatoes washed, peeled, and cut into large chunks
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons cream or milk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Pour the water into your Instant Pot, and place the steamer insert over the water.
- Cook the potatoes in the steamer for 4 minutes on the manual high setting. Perform a quick release.
- 2Drain the potatoes and return them to the Instant Pot.
- Add the butter and cream, and season with salt and pepper.
- Use a hand mixer to mash the potatoes in the Instant Pot.
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