The Best Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes

The final dish
As seen on
pinch of yum
Total Time
30 minutes
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Rating
4.7 out of 5 stars
(75)

Ingredients

8 servings
  • 5 pounds of potatoes, peeled and halved (see notes)
  • 4 teaspoons salt, divided
  • 2 sticks butter (1 cup)
  • 2–4 cloves garlic
  • A few sprigs of herbs (sage, thyme, etc.)
  • 1 cup cream cheese or sour cream
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
  • 1/2 cup broth or milk (optional, for texture)
AmericanBeginnerVegetarianDairy
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Preparation

Chef’s notes

If you want the potatoes to be a little thinner, add 1/4-1/2 cup milk or broth.
A few comments have noted that 12 minutes was not enough time to cook their potatoes. This is most likely because of the size variation of potatoes. I like to try to get evenly sized potato pieces without spending a lot of time cutting them up all (you’re just going to mash them anyway!) so I usually cut the big ones in half and leave the rest alone. But if you’re working with very large potatoes, you may want to cut them into quarters, or cook them for closer to 15 minutes.
To prevent lumpy potatoes, mash them right after they’re done cooking. Don’t let them sit around for too long. They’ll develop a skin and it will be harder to get them to mash smoothly and evenly.
This is the Instant Pot that we use. (affiliate link)
A previous version of this recipe was written for half of this amount.
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