Instant pot steamed potatoes are absolutely one of the best potato recipes! If you love seasoned potatoes, are a fan of the instant pot, or need a go-to healthy recipe for a weeknight meal or any occasion, you have to try the instant pot steamed potatoes! It's a WHOLE LOTTA YUM!
Steaming Potatoes in Instant Pot
We have no problem skipping bready carbs in our house, but don't ever try to take away our potatoes! We've been on a huge kick lately of making a big batch of Instant Pot steamed potatoes and then keeping them in the fridge for the week to smash and pan-fry them or cubing the cold potatoes to turn into breakfast or dinner hash.
Technically you can steam any sort of potato in a pressure cooker, but today we're focusing on our favorite small to medium-sized potatoes like red potatoes or Yukon gold.
If you need dinner inspo, serve the Instant Pot steamed potatoes with air fryer ribeye steak and Instant Pot steamed broccoli.
Using a pressure cooker to cook, boil, or steam potatoes is seriously the best method! It's perfect for cooking cubed potatoes to make mashed potatoes or diced sweet potatoes for a sweet potato casserole.
Ingredient Notes
A recipe like Instant Pot steamed potatoes can't get much easier than just needing the potatoes, of course, and the water you add to the pressure cooker.
- small to medium potatoes - red potatoes or Yukon gold work best
- water
** Please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post for the exact quantities **
Variations
Make loaded potatoes- While steamed potatoes are naturally buttery in flavor and don't need much to enhance them, feel free to load them up with your favorite baked potato toppings! Butter, salt, pepper, bacon bits, cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese, chives, or
Swap the liquid - Instead of cooking the potatoes in water, you can swap it out for chicken broth or vegetable broth to add a little more flavor.
Equipment
- 6-8 qt Instant Pot
- Steamer basket or trivet
Step by Step Instructions
Prepping Instructions
1. Wash the potatoes, scrub them clean if needed, and remove any potato eyes with a sharp knife or vegetable peeler.
2. Add 1 cup of cold water to the pressure cooker. Insert a steamer basket or trivet to keep the potatoes above the water level while cooking.
3. Add the potatoes to the steamer basket, any small to medium size variety of potatoes will work like Yukon Gold or red garnett. Between 1 lb up to 5 lb can be steamed at a time in a 6 qt pressure cooker.
Pressure Cook
4. Secure the lid. Pressure cook small potatoes for 7 minutes (medium size potatoes on high for 10 minutes) and then do a natural release for 10 minutes before releasing the remaining pressure. Carefully remove the lid.
5. Serve hot with butter, chives, salt, and pepper. Enjoy!
Recipe Tips
- Medium size potatoes weigh 2-3 oz each. Add a little less or more time if your potatoes have a different weight.
- A 6 qt Instant Pot holds up to 5 lb of potatoes at a time.
- You want to cook the potatoes until they're fork-tender. If by some chance your potatoes aren't cooked all the way through after pressure cooking, just add 1-2 more minutes to the time and pressure cook them a little bit longer. They'll come back to pressure very quickly.
- The potatoes will continue cooking after removing them from the pressure cooker. If you're serving them immediately whole as a side dish they're ready to go, if you're using them in another cooked recipe like smashed potatoes we'll often add them to cold water to stop them from cooking.
- If you don't have a steamer basket, you can make Instant Pot steamed potatoes with the trivet that came with your Instant Pot.
Common Questions
Steamed potatoes are terrific as a side dish to chicken, pork, or beef. You can leave them whole or mash them into mashed potatoes. To make a complete meal, serve the steam potatoes Instant Pot recipe with steamed broccoli or a simple salad.
How long potatoes take to soften in an Instant Pot depends on if you're making cubed potatoes, or whole potatoes, plus potato size can also impact how long they take to cook. 1 ½" cubed potatoes take 4-5 minutes to cook in an Instant Pot depending on if you want to serve them as a side dish or want them soft enough to mash for mashed potatoes. Small to medium-size red or Yukon gold potatoes take 8-10 minutes to cook, then let them sit for 10 minutes before releasing the remaining pressure.
Essentially any kind of potato can be steamed but smaller waxy varieties like Yukon gold, Dutch potatoes, red potatoes, or fingerlings work best.
More Instant Pot Potato Recipes
- Instant Pot diced potatoes
- Instant Pot cubed sweet potatoes
- Instant Pot sweet potato casserole
- Instant Pot mashed potatoes
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Instant Pot Steamed Potatoes
Making Instant Pot steamed potatoes will be your new favorite method to boil potatoes whether you're looking to serve them whole as a side dish or use them in a recipe. This method works great with small or medium-size Yukon gold potatoes or red potatoes.
Ingredients
- 2 ½ lb-5 lb small to medium baby potatoes (Yukon gold or red)
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Wash the potatoes, scrub them clean if needed, and remove any potato eyes with a sharp knife or vegetable peeler.
- Add 1 cup of cold water to the pressure cooker. Insert a steamer basket or trivet to keep the potatoes above the water level while cooking.
- Add the potatoes to the steamer basket, any small to medium size variety of potatoes will work like Yukon Gold or red garnett. Between 1 lb up to 5 lb can be steamed at a time in a 6 qt pressure cooker.
- Secure the lid. Pressure cook small potatoes for 7 minutes (medium size potatoes on high for 10 minutes) and then do a natural release for 10 minutes before releasing the remaining pressure. Carefully remove the lid.
- Serve hot with butter, chives, salt, and pepper. Enjoy!
Notes
Medium size potatoes weigh 2-3 oz each. Add a little less or more time if your potatoes have a different weight.
A 6 qt Instant Pot holds up to 5 lb of potatoes at a time.
You want to cook the potatoes until they're fork-tender. If by some chance your potatoes aren't cooked all the way through after pressure cooking, just add 1-2 more minutes to the time and pressure cook them a little bit longer. They'll come back to pressure very quickly.
The potatoes will continue cooking after removing them from the pressure cooker. If you're serving them immediately whole as a side dish they're ready to go, if you're using them in another cooked recipe like smashed potatoes we'll often add them to cold water to stop them from cooking.
If you don't have a steamer basket, you can make Instant Pot steamed potatoes with the trivet that came with your Instant Pot.
JoAnn Dolan says
I just did you Instant Pot Potatoes and I wanted to say “ Thank You!”. I have never tried doing potatoes in my instant pot before. I was amazed how easy it was and how quick it was to peal them. This is my new favorite thing to make in my pot! Thanks again!
WholeLottaYum says
Thank you so much, JoAnn! I'm so glad it turned out, it truly is a game changer with potatoes! I'll never go back to boiled potatoes again. Jen