Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Can you overcook potatoes in the Instant Pot? ›

The Best Kind of Potatoes for Pressure Cooking

Cut them into 1 1/2-inch chunks, and they're ready in under 15 minutes (about ten minutes for the pot to come up to pressure, then three minutes for the potatoes to steam.) Take 'em out right when the timer goes off so they don't overcook, then use them however you like!

Then, prepare the potatoes: Bring 1¼ cups water to boil in a small saucepan. Once bubbling away, remove from heat, add 1 cup instant mashed potatoes (2 oz.), and gently fluff with a fork.

While cooking milk, cream, or cheese in an Instant Pot isn't dangerous, it's certainly ill-advised. Even on the stovetop, milk can burn or curdle at a moment's notice, and the hot, pressurized inside of an Instant Pot makes it all the more likely.

In a pressure cooker, the pressure inside increases and hence the boiling point of water decreases thereby food cooks faster.

Process the Potatoes

The potatoes need to be processed in a weighted pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure for 35 minutes for pint jars and 40 minutes of quart jars if you live at an altitude of 1,000 feet above sea level or less (Image 3).

Whenever you boil potatoes for mashing, a foam gathers at the top. There's no need to skim off this foam if you use part of the potato water for mashing the potatoes. The foam is starch that cooks out of the potatoes. Amounts vary with potato type and tend to be greater in older potatoes.

For good measure: Be careful not to overcook potatoes you plan to mash, because the starch cells will break down and create a sticky mash. Cook them just until a thin-bladed knife meets a bit of resistance. It is also important to drain the potatoes well after cooking to prevent gumminess.

Add a Thickening Agent

This is the most common way to thicken mashed potatoes. You can use what you have on hand: Flour, cornstarch, or powdered milk are all solid options that are probably already in your pantry.

Most instant potato varieties call for you to combine the potatoes with water, but if you want your potatoes to taste a bit more indulgent, use milk instead. Whole milk will yield delightfully rich potatoes, but 2 percent milk works well too.

You can slightly improve the taste by adding seasoning like a pinch of salt or nutmeg, chopped herbs like chives, a knob of butter, a spoonful or two of crème fraîche or sour cream, use half milk instead of all-water, or maybe some grated cheese depending on the dish, but the texture still won't compare to homemade ...

Are instant mashed potatoes healthy? ›

Nutritionally speaking, instant mashed potatoes offer roughly the same vitamins and minerals as the real mashed potatoes with the exception of Vitamin C. To please palates, they tend to be higher in sodium, significantly higher than the amount of salt home cooks would add when making them at home from scratch.

You can safely pan fry with small amounts of oil in the Instant Pot. You can also stir fry. But do not attempt deep frying. You cannot use an Instant Pot in the pressure cooking setting with large amounts of oil.

It is important to never run a pressure cooker without water. It cannot cook your food properly without water, and the pressure will build to such an extent that the lid, pressure valve, plugs, and hot food could be thrown all over the kitchen.

In general small or cubed potatoes will take about 10 to 15 minutes to boil, while larger, whole potatoes will take between 20 to 25 minutes. To check potatoes for doneness, insert a knife into one. If it slides in without much effort, you're good to go!

With the Instant Pot, you can cook a hearty meal for a whole family in less than 30 minutes. Dishes like rice and chicken, beef stew, chili and even a whole-roasted chicken cook in 30 to 60 minutes, start to finish.

You can also boil water by using the pressure setting on your Instant Pot. Add 2-3 cups of water to the Instant Pot, close the lid, and set the cooking time to 5 minutes on high pressure.

Achieving a boil that rolls in your Instant Pot is easy with a few simple tricks! Start by adding your desired amount of water to the inner pot and secure the lid in the sealing position. Select the "Pressure Cook" or "Manual" setting and set the cooking time to zero minutes for an instant boil.