It's quick and easy to cook whole potatoes in the Instant Pot. Russet, Yukon gold, red and baby potatoes all turn out great. Use the tender, steamed potatoes for mashed potatoes, potato salad, snacking, fries in the air fryer and any recipe that calls for pre-cooked potatoes.
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We keep pre-steamed potatoes from the Instant Pot in the refrigerator all week, so we can throw together an easy plant-based meal in no time. They are so easy to use!
🎙 What people say about this recipe
"QUICK and easy way to prepare potatoes! Thanks also for sharing the different dish ideas to use them in!"
- Hope
"First time I ever used the steam mode on my IP. My potatoes turned out perfect. Such a great way to meal prep a bunch of potatoes to use throughout the week. Thanks for the great directions :)"
- Cathy
🧄 Very useful ingredient notes
You only need two ingredients to make these steamed or boiled potatoes in the Instant Pot.
- potatoes
- water
You can make just a couple potatoes at a time. Or, you can steam up to 5 pounds of potatoes in the 6 quart size Instant Pot.
When I'm batch cooking, I make 5 pounds of steamed potatoes, so we have plenty for the whole week to use for breakfast potatoes, roasted potatoes, smashed baby potatoes or potato salad.
What type of potatoes are best steamed?
1. Russet potatoes - they are versatile for lots of recipes and cheap to buy!
2. Gold potatoes - for their buttery flavor
3. Red potatoes - firm and smooth texture when steamed - perfect for potato salad!
4. Baby potatoes - great for snacks, adding to salads or to make smashed potatoes!
🔪 Instructions
Making "baked" potatoes, steamed potatoes or "boiled" potatoes in the Instant Pot is super simple and easy. It's also hands-off, so you can be doing something else while the potatoes are cooking.
- Wash and scrub potatoes well. Remove any sprouts or bad spots.
- Place wire trivet or steamer basket in Instant Pot insert.
- Add 1 cup of water to Instant Pot.
- Place all potatoes on top of trivet/steamer basket, layering if necessary.
- Cover with Instant Pot lid, turn vent to "Sealing". Then, press "Steam" button and decrease time based on how large your potatoes are. For medium gold potatoes (pictured), steam for 10 minutes.
- Let pressure naturally release for 10 minutes. Then, open vent with a utensil (be careful of the hot steam!). Potatoes are ready! If you prepared these for later use, allow potatoes to cool, then refrigerate for up to 5 days.
How long to cook whole potatoes in the Instant Pot?
Tiny bite-sized baby potatoes: Steam for 1 minute
Small potatoes: Steam for 5-7 minutes
Medium potatoes: Steam for 10-12 minutes
Large potatoes: Steam for 15-20 minutes
*allow all to naturally release pressure for 10 minutes, then flip the release value to quick release and open the lid
👨👩👦👦 Serving suggestions
What can you use steamed potatoes for?
Steamed, cooked potatoes can be used for all kinds of recipes. Raw potatoes take a long time to cook, compared to other vegetables. So, if you already have pre-cooked potatoes ready, throwing together a plant-based meal will be faster!
Here's some ways I use steamed potatoes:
- Mashed potatoes - mash with plant-based milk and salt
- Potato salad (allow to cool completely first)
- Snacking (just take a bite! add a bit of salt and it's the ultimate FILLING and healthy fast food)
- Roasted potatoes in air fryer - cut cold pre-cooked potatoes into chunks or wedges, season with garlic, dill, salt and then air fry for 15 minutes at 400 degrees F. Serve with BBQ sauce or ketchup. For a 50/50 plate: serve with a large helping of steamed broccoli.
- French fries - cut cold, pre-cooked potatoes into fries. Toss with seasoning, then air fry for 15 minutes at 400 degrees F.
- Vegetable korma or curry - add cubed potatoes along with other quick-cooking vegetables. This saves 20-30 minutes when cooking curry by using pre-cooked potatoes.
- Breakfast tacos - heat cubed potatoes, along with other filling in a non-stick pan
- Tofu scramble - heat cubed potatoes, along with crumbled tofu, homemade eggy tofu scramble seasoning with black salt and vegetables. Serve with toast or tortillas
- Breakfast skillet - cook onions in non-stick skillet, adding water if they start sticking. Then add diced potatoes and cook until heated through. Stir in cilantro and serve with salsa.
- Burrito bowls - add diced pre-cooked potatoes to a bowl, along with cooked rice and beans. Heat in microwave, then top with lettuce, tomato, avocado, lime juice and salsa.
Did you know my family and I ate nothing but potatoes for 10 straight days? Read why we did it, if we would recommend it and what our results were.
Love this recipe?
Please rate it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and leave a comment below, so I know which recipes you like the best. This helps me know what to make more of!
📖 Recipe
Instant Pot Steamed Potatoes
Equipment
Ingredients
- 5 pounds whole potatoes washed
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Wash and scrub potatoes well. Remove any sprouts or bad spots.5 pounds whole potatoes
- Place wire trivet or steamer basket in Instant Pot insert.
- Add 1 cup of water to Instant Pot.1 cup water
- Place all potatoes on top of trivet/steamer basket, layering if necessary.
- Cover with Instant Pot lid, turn vent to "Sealing". Then, press "Steam" button and decrease time based on how large your potatoes are. For medium gold potatoes (pictured), steam for 10 minutes.
- Let pressure naturally release for 10 minutes. Then, open vent with a utensil (be careful of the hot steam!). Potatoes are ready! If you prepared these for later use, allow potatoes to cool, then refrigerate for up to 5 days.
How long to cook whole potatoes in the Instant Pot?
- Tiny bite-sized baby potatoes: Steam for 1 minute, natural release for 10 minutes
- Small potatoes: Steam for 5-7 minutes, natural release for 10 minutes
- Medium potatoes: Steam for 10-12 minutes, natural release for 10 minutes
- Large potatoes: Steam for 15-20 minutes, natural release for 10 minutes
Notes
Nutrition
After further testing, this recipe was changed on 7/11/2022 to reflect a shorter steaming time for all potato sizes (from tiny, bite-sized potatoes to large russets), to prevent them from being overcooked. In addition, this makes this recipe faster to make! Yay, for quick meal prep. If you have any questions, please comment below.
Marti Cuatt says
This is great. Ive only had my Instant Pot a few months and wouldn't have even considered steaming potatoes on their own.
Abi Cowell says
I'm so glad you found it helpful, Marti! It's a lifesaver for me. Potatoes always take longer to cook than other vegetables, so having them already steamed makes it super easy to throw together meals during the week.
Michael says
Hi Abi,
This is great, thank you! Could you please clarify the Steam settings? For example my Instant Pot Duo has High/Low pressure and then they option to select Less/Normal/More.
Many thanks!
Abi Cowell says
Hi Michael, I believe all the Instant Pot versions have a "steam" option, but it may be a little different on the machine you have. Mine has a button labeled "Steam" on the right hand side. It's 2 buttons above the "keep warm/cancel" button. Once I press that button, I change the time. I hope that helps!
- Abi
Cathy says
First time I ever used the steam mode on my IP. My potatoes turned out perfect. Such a great way to meal prep a bunch of potatoes to use throughout the week. Thanks for the great directions:)
Abi Cowell says
You're welcome! Thanks so much for taking the time to comment and let me know! They are a lifesaver for us. Raw potatoes always take a long time to cook up. Having pre-cooked potatoes on hand makes weeknight meals go so much faster. Enjoy!
Rachel Peterson says
I misread the instructions. And set the instapot of high for 10min, 3lbs of potatoes with one cup of water plus salt with 10 minutes natural release. Best potatoes of my life. Some might think they are over cooked. But for someone who loves twice baked potatoes this is a way to go.
Abi Cowell says
Soft and fluffy heaven, sounds like!! Thanks so much for sharing this hack, Rachel!
Hope says
QUICK and easy way to prepare potatoes! Thanks also for sharing the different dish ideas to use them in!
Abi Cowell says
I'm so glad to hear you like these as much as we do. Thanks for taking the time to comment!
- Abi 🙂
Jody says
Wasn’t sure how long to steam a bunch of potatoes in the Instant Pot, so thanks for the info!
The great thing about steaming a bunch of potatoes ahead of time, and letting them cool is, doing so increases their amount of resistant starch with each cooling/re-heating cycle, which is good for gut bacteria (which is good for your immune system).
Abi Cowell says
You're absolutely right, Jody. Another great reason to meal prep some taters each week for our families. Thanks for commenting!
Billy Stevens says
This is funny l have had my Instant pot for years and l never noticed the steam button 😆! l am going to try this l just pressure cook on high.
Rita says
A nice article. Thank you.
My "medium" potatoes might be "large" or "small" to other cooks. A size range in inches (longest dimension) for small, medium, or large OR a weight range would be most helpful.
Abi Cowell says
Hi Rita, You are absolutely right! Thank you for this excellent suggestion. I have included a visual potato sizing chart, with inches and centimeters along with their times to steam in my cookbook, which is available starting Tuesday. I will also include those measurements in the blog post. Thanks again for the great suggestion!
- Abi
Bev Colwell says
I have had my Duo Plus Instant Pot for about 7 years, but have never used the 'Steam' button! I have to make potato salad for a BBQ, so will use 'Steam' this time. Would I steam the potatoes whole, and, when cooled a bit, then dice for the potato salad, or dice first before steaming? If steaming in bulk to use during the week, would the potatoes not darken/discolour in the fridge?
Abi Cowell says
Hi Bev! I would recommend steaming them whole, unpeeled. They will not darken in the fridge this way. And, they won't get as mushy. If you dice them, you'll have less control over their level of doneness in the Instant Pot. Then, you can cut them up after they are cold. I hope that helps!
Melanie says
you should just pressure cook them - I tried this way and it just leaves raw potatoes.
Abi Cowell says
Melanie, how did you cook them when it didn't turn out? Did you use the "Steam" function on your Instant Pot? Because that button does bring the Instant Pot up to pressure to cook the potatoes. (So, it's similar to using the Manual Pressure setting)
Katie Woo says
worked like a charm!
Katie says
Hi. I tried this recipe using my Instant Pot Pro using the steam button. It did not come to pressure and I ended up with raw potatoes. I checked my manual and the steam button on my model says it does not use pressure to cook. So I an trying again this time using the pressure cook setting. If anyone else has an Instant Pot like mine, steam button does not work, use pressure cook instead. What a great way to cook potatoes!
Claudia says
excelentes consejos para hacer las papas, así me encanta más la Instant Pot.
Abi Cowell says
Muchas gracias por su comentario, Claudia! 🙂