Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes With Sour Cream and Chives Recipe (2024)

I just throw about 6-8 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed and whole, on top of the trivet with water in the bottom of the pot. 10 minutes at pressure, natural release while I work on the rest of dinner. We sometimes eat these as "baked" potatoes, sometimes I mash them, and sometimes I dice the leftovers and fry in a little butter for breakfast the next day.

Also, if you are At high elevation, Add a few more minutes for Instant Pot recipes. They never mention this in recipes; they assume everyone lives at sea level pressure.

I use russet potatoes, peeled and sliced the short way into 1 inch thick disks. Less work than dicing and same effect. Pressure cook for 10 minutes, quick release. Stick a skewer thru potatoes to make sure they're done (no resistance) then mash. I use a potato ricer and have found that any fat-laden dairy works including half-and-half. A splash of truffle oil doesn't hurt either. Make sure you use enough salt.FWIW I use a stovetop cooker. InstantPot is for wimps.

Question for those who've made this: does it need the steamer basket? Can I just put the potatoes on the bottom?

Good recipe, but definitely needed longer than 8 minutes. I put it back on for another 8 after discovering they weren't done and that did it.

Me too. Love the stove top!

I used this ethod yesterday as a way to take some pressure off of my stove and it worked great. I did use 12 minutes of cook pressure. The simplest and easiest way I ever made them.

I have Melissa's book (which I love), and I've cooked potatoes this way several times, using several different kinds of potatoes. They always come out great! The one question I have is about the salt. Why is salt added to the water? The salt doesn't permeate the potatoes.

Doubled the recipe with 6lb potatoes, increased pressure cook time to 10 min and they came out great. Agree with others that the extra salt is not necessary but possibly because I cut my potatoes slightly smaller and some fell through the basket so may have had more contact with the salt water. I saved some of the potato cooking water and to thin them out slightly. Will definitely be making again for Thanksgiving!

Made this with Yukon golds and stuck to the recipe, used a potato ricer. They were perfect!

A great and easy recipe. One of the advantages of an instant pot is cutting down on dishes. Can I suggest mashing these in the instant pot after draining the water. Even easier and saves dirtying another item.

Made 5 pounds for Thanksgiving this year - OMG, best ever mashed potatoes!

- Make sure liquids are room temp, or add butter to the mixture at the very end otherwise melted butter will re-solidify- Use less sour cream- Add garlic?

Kinda meh, IMO. Maybe it was the yukon golds, but the potatoes weren't fluffy at all.

Excellent technique for making mashed potatoes on a weeknight. From a taste perspective, I found it quite sour creamy and would reduce by 1/3 - 1/2. I also just remove the steamer basket, empty the pot, then return the potatoes to the still-warm instant pot for mashing and mixing -- saves a bowl.

I halfed the recipe to test it pre thanksigiving and at 8 mins the potatoes were underdone. Didn’t realize until after I put the sour cream in bc I tested a piece that was done. Couldn’t remotely mash. Put some water back in and set to steam mode and am currently hoping for something salvageable. Kicking myself for thinking my knife running through them was enough. Thinking when I make the full load next week that I’ll need to at least double the cooking time.

Works great on the stovetop as well. Great recipe.

8 minutes for 3lbs of potatoes on the steamer basket was not nearly enough time for the potatoes to cook through. Seems you'd either want to add time or forego the basket and submerge the potatoes entirely in water.

Didn’t have sour cream on hand, but full-fat Greek yogurt worked wonderfully!

Followed recipe. Potatoes were incredibly dry.

Great! Easier than stovetop

Tasty but not spectacular

Made this for Christmas Day - it was a true hit. I made it just like the recipe read (including fresh chives)with one exception - we had other food in the oven so I put the sour cream in a metal measuring cup and heated it up - getting cold sour cream to room temp takes a long time 🤠. The Parmesan cheese on top was really good and added to the tartness of the sour cream. The multi-family get together solicited responses like “please make those every time”

I made these for Thanksgiving and the results were delicious. This method freed up stove space, and allowed me to prepare the potatoes just before the meal was served. Quick and easy!