Creamy Instant Pot Mashed Potato Recipe (no drain)
Easy Instant Pot mashed potatoes, cooked completely in one pot. Use your Instant Pot to cook the potatoes with a little bit of water (no draining needed!) then blend in butter, milk and salt for creamy, fluffy, buttery mashed potatoes.
Total Instant Pot Cooking Time: 10 to 20 minutes to reach pressure + 8 minute cook time + quick release
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 minutes
- Total Time: 23 minutes
- Yield: 4 to 10 servings 1x
- Category: Side Dishes
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 2 to 5 pounds golden, red or Russet potatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks. Golden and red potatoes can be cooked with or without skin. Russets should be peeled.
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- 4 to 6 tablespoons salted butter (to taste)
- 3/4 to 1 1/2 cups whole milk or half & half (to taste)
- Optional: fresh herbs, like parsley or chives
Instructions
- Pour 1 cup of water into the Instant Pot.
- Add the chunks of potato. Sprinkle salt over the top of the potatoes.
- Cook for 8 minutes on high pressure.
- You can release the pressure instantly with a quick release, or let the pressure release naturally. Either is fine. The potatoes should be very soft and easy to pierce with a fork.
- Add 4 tablespoons butter and 3/4 cup milk.
- Use a hand-held mixer or potato masher to whip or mash the potatoes.
- As you mash, add more butter, milk and salt as needed to make the potatoes flavorful and creamy. Keep mashing and keep adding butter, salt and milk until the potatoes have a flavor and texture you like.
- You can add fresh herbs to the potatoes (like parsley or chives) for flavor and color.
Notes
My favorite potato for this recipe is Golden potatoes. They naturally have a creamy texture and rich, buttery flavor. They are less likely to taste watery or have a gummy texture (because they have less starch).
It's okay if the raw potato chunks are slightly bigger than 1-inch. Just try to keep all the pieces about the same size.
Plan for ½ a pound of raw potatoes per person. So if you're feeding 4 people, use 2 pounds of potatoes. If you're feeding 10 people, use 5 pounds of potatoes.
No matter the amount of potatoes (2 to 5 pounds), use 1 cup of water.
If the cooking time ends and the potatoes aren't soft enough to be very easily pierced with a fork, then just re-seal the lid and cook the potatoes for 1 to 2 more minutes.
The Instant Pot has a "keep warm" setting but if mashed potatoes stay in the pot too long they will start to stick and burn to the bottom. If you're keeping the mashed potatoes warm, make sure to stir them frequently and add milk if they start to dry out.
This recipe was tested in a 6-quart Instant Pot.
