Name: Instant Pot Inspiring Mashed Potatoes
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 6 medium potatoes (Yukon or Russets); 1/2 cup butter; 1/2 cup milk; 1/2 cup sour cream; 3 cloves garlic; 1 tsp salt; 1 pinch pepper

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Old-fashioned mashed potatoes is an all-time favorite dish now cooked in the modern Instant Pot. Mashed potatoes is the perfect side dish that greatly complements salads as well as meat or fish dishes.

Follow this easy homemade recipe for a flavorful, creamy and velvety texture ready in just 40 minutes. It has never been easier to cook this appetizing recipe than with the help of Instant Pot.

What are the Best Potatoes?

Best potatoes for the mashed potato recipe are the Russet or Yukon potatoes. How do you distinguish them from the rest of the potato types? Simple, you know it is the right potatoes for mashing if they’re yellow or close to white color. This kind of potatoes contains high starch content. Starch makes the consistency fluffy, with a velvety texture. And this is exactly what you want on your plate when making mashed potatoes. Unlike yellow potatoes, red potatoes will not give this fine texture and fluffiness. Red potatoes are best for making potato salad when you need the potato pieces to stay well shaped even after boiled.

I also recommend that you do not use several types of potatoes for the same preparation. Different types of potatoes will cook unevenly during same boiling time.

Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes Ingredients

For these delicious homemade mashed potatoes you will need a few basic ingredients. The best part is the simple ingredients making an all-time-favorite dish. So, here we go:

Potatoes. You will need yellow/golden potatoes for the rich starch consistency. Just like i said above, namely the Yukon or Russets will give the mashing a velvety texture and fluffiness. Remember to peel them off and cut in equal parts when putting them to a boil. Also, avoid mixing yellow potatoes with red potatoes for this recipe.

Butter. No other ingredient will give smoothness and richness in taste to the potatoes like butter. It is a must ingredient I never skip for this dish. Butter and potatoes are best buddies for any recipe. You can use both salted and unsalted butter. Whatever your choice is, it will make a great job of the dish.

Milk. My everyday choice is cow’s milk, however, you can use goat milk. Richer taste is of course given by whole milk. However, if you need skinner one, go for it. I do not recommend using vegetarian milk such as coconut or soy. This kind of milk will change the taste. Everyone expects that traditional grandmother’s mashed potatoes taste, but you don’t get that with vegetarian milk. I’m sorry.

Here’s one tip. Heat up the milk a little as it will get absorbed easier by the potatoes. Remember one thing: products tend to blend better when they\re all of the same temperatures.

Sour Cream or Cream Cheese. If you want your dish to have a light taste of tanginess, you should use sour cream. No yogurt to this recipe! Yogurt is too acidic, while we want creaminess. Or, you can add cream cheese and that is a great choice. Just make sure both the sour cream or cream cheese are at room temperature. The same rule goes here, the closest in temperature ingredients are, the tastier the result.

Garlic. I love it in my mashed potatoes. Usually, I use about 3 garlic cloves when feeding 4-6 people. The subtle undertone of garlic will make everyone ask for a second portion. This aromatic bulb is a miracle when used as a seasoning. I always use it, you should too.

Salt and pepper, use it at your own preference

Dill and/or green onion to sprinkle on top of your mashed potato plate.

How to Cut Potatoes Before Boiling?

My piece of advice is to always peel potatoes and have them all cut of the same size so that they’re boiled simultaneously. Avoid putting to a boil whole potatoes because large potatoes always cook unevenly. Unevenly cooked potatoes cannot transform into a velvety texture mashing. Therefore, always cut your potatoes into evenly sized pieces for quick and even preparation. I always cut medium-sized potatoes into 4 even pieces. If the potatoes are larger, I cut them into 6-8 equal pieces.

How to Cook Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes

First, peel off the potatoes and place them in a bowl with cold water.

Cut each potato in 4-6 pieces evenly. Transfer the potatoes into the instantPot. Pour water to cover them by 2 fingers. Add 1 teaspoon of sea salt. Set the “boil” program.

When the potatoes are already boiled, drain the excess water. Mash potatoes with a masher to the desired texture. Add the butter and stir until it all melts into the potato consistency.

Add warm milk and room temperature sour cream or cream cheese. Stir gently.

Peel garlic and smash it with a mincer or grate it finely directly into the Instant pot over the mashed potatoes. Close the lid of the instant pot and leave it for a few minutes. The mashed potatoes cooked in Instant Pot is the star dish on any occasion.

How to Serve Mashed Potatoes?

This delicious mashed potatoes recipe can be served alone, with vegetables or meat. Yes, it can be served with almost everything. How perfect is that? You can have a portion of mashed potatoes along with baked fish or a simple salad such as cucumber and avocado salad. Sprinkle some green onion on top of it and have a great meal!

Tips:

Select yellow-color potatoes king, Yukon or Russets.
Cut potatoes into even pieces, not too big nor too small.
Put potatoes to boil in cold water. If you put the potatoes in hot water, the edges will cook too much and the core will remain raw. They must be cooked at the same temperature at the same time. What is the correct method? Put the potatoes in the Instant Pot pan and cover with cold water, then set the “boil” program.
Always put salt in boiling water. When cooking, potatoes will absorb both water and salt.
Pour heated milk to the potatoes.
Use room temperature butter, sour cream or cream cheese.