These Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes are the easiest way to make mashed potatoes! Creamy, buttery and packed with rich potato flavor.
Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
The best part of these Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes is that the Instant Pot keeps all the rustic potato flavor instead of letting it boil out like in a traditional mashed potatoes recipe. The pressure cooking seems to intensify the potato flavor.
Start by buying the large russet potatoes at the grocery store. This makes for the shortest peeling time. The bulk bags of russet potatoes almost always have the smallest potatoes and will take much longer to peel.
Once the potatoes are peeled, use the steaming rack included with the Instant Pot to pressure cook the potatoes. This keeps them out of the water in the Instant Pot and encourages even cooking.
Once cooked, the potatoes will still hold their shape and be easily transferred to another bowl for mashing. Technically, you could mash the potatoes in the Instant Pot once you have removed the steamer rack, but the scraping of metal on metal will cause quite a bit of scarring in the Instant Pot liner. If you have a non stick nylon potato masher, you could skip the extra bowl.
Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes Recipe
- 4 pounds large russet potatoes peeled
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 8 tablespoons butter cubed, plus additional for serving
- 2 cups half and half warm
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- fresh parsley or chives for garnish
-
Add water to a 6 quart Instant Pot, followed by steam rack. Stack potatoes on top of steam rack.
-
Close and lock lid in place making sure Pressure Release Valve is set to sealing. Set Instant Pot to Manual Pressure High for 20 minutes.
-
Instant Pot will take about 15 minutes to come to pressure then countdown from 20 minutes. Once 20 minutes is complete, do not release the Pressure Valve. Let Instant Pot Natural Pressure release. This will take about 15 minutes. Once pressure pin has dropped, remove Instant Pot lid.
-
Using kitchen tongs, carefully remove potatoes from Instant Pot and transfer to a large mixing bowl for mashing. Using a potato masher, add salt and butter to potatoes and begin mashing. Once potatoes are mashed, stir in warm half and half. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and adjust seasoning to taste. Sprinkle with fresh parsley or fresh chives before serving.
-
To keep Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes warm, remove steamer rack from Instant Pot, rinse stainless steel Instant Pot liner with hot water to remove leftover potato starch and dry with lint free dish towel. Return liner to Instant Pot and set to Keep Warm. Add one tablespoon of butter and let melt to coat inside of Instant Pot liner. Add mashed potatoes back into Instant Pot, top with additional butter and keep warm, stirring occasionally.
If you have a nylon potato masher, you can skip transferring the potatoes to another bowl for mashing and just mash them right in the Instant Pot.
Adapted from The Kitchen Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes recipe.
For an extra layer of flavor, sprinkle with coarse all-purpose steak seasoning.
You may also like:
5 Easy Dinner Ideas for Busy Weeknights
My five FAVORITE recipes for busy families!
- Quick to make
- Light on your budget
- Easy to clean-up
- and...most important...absolutely DELICIOUS
Nice. I like this simple recipe. Thank you!
Do you leave the potatoes whole like the picture?
Yes!
Very good! I will use this for thanksgiving potatoes!
Well I made a different mashed potato recipe in my new instant pot and they turned out like GLUE. So I have a lot of hope for this one. Looking for something with lots of positive ratings! Thanks for the instructions and looking forward to it.
This is a game changer! These came out perfect and it was so easy!
This was such an easy way to make potatoes! They came our so good. Thanks.
This is a great idea. I never thought to use my instant pot for these before. But I will now for sure. Good tip on buying the bigger potatoes.
My mouth is watering just reading this! I can’t wait to make these asap!
Yum I just love mashed potatoes. My family and I loved this! Thank you!!