Instant Pot French Onion Potato Bake–cheesy sliced potatoes with lots of french onion flavor. A perfect side dish!

Instant Pot French Onion Potato Bake
You’re going to love these cheesy scalloped potatoes with a french onion twist! The potatoes are steamed quick as can be (1 minute pressure cook!) and then folded into a creamy sour cream sauce. Of course lots of cheese is sprinkled on top and then browned with an air fryer lid or in your oven. These potatoes go great with meatloaf, grilled pork chops or any other meat dish.
Ingredients you’ll need…
You only need a handful of ingredients to make this delicious potato side dish!
- Russet potatoes–peeled and sliced into quarter inch rounds, you can also use another type of potato like Yukon gold
- Sour cream–because it just goes so well with potatoes
- Flour–so the sour cream doesn’t separate
- Half and half–or milk
- Onion soup mix packet–or you can make your own from scratch
- Mozzarella cheese–or a combination of gruyere, swiss and parmesan
- Fresh cracked pepper
How to make the recipe…
- Place the sliced potatoes in a steamer basket. Don’t stack them straight on top of each other, scatter them instead. This will help them cook evenly.
- Pressure cook the potatoes. Pour 1 ½ cups water into bottom of Instant Pot. Place the steamer basket into the Instant Pot. Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 1 minute. When time is up move valve to venting and remove the lid. Test potatoes for doneness, if they are not done then cook for one additional minute. This will depend on how thick you cut the potatoes.
- Remove the steamer basket from the Instant Pot and set aside. Dump out the water and dry the pot out.
- Make the sauce. Add sour cream, flour, half and half and onion soup mix into Instant Pot and stir well. Turn Instant Pot to saute (less) setting and heat up the mixture. Once it’s heated through turn off the pot.
- Fold in the potatoes into the sauce so they are coated well with the sour cream mixture.
- Get cheesy. Stir in half of the cheese and then sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.
- Brown up the top. Place an air fryer lid on top and air fry at 400 degrees F for about 3-5 minutes, or until top starts to brown. You can also finish this dish off in the oven. Add the steamed potatoes to a 9×9 inch baking dish and coat with the sour cream mixture. Sprinkle with the cheese. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 400 degrees F.
- Serve. Scoop onto plates and serve.

Tips
- Slice potatoes as evenly as possible so they can cook at the same rate
- If you’d like even more of a “french onion” vibe slice up a couple of onions and caramelize them in the bottom of the Instant Pot underneath the steamer basket. You can do this by turning Instant Pot to saute setting. When display says HOT add in 1 tablespoon of butter and let it melt. Add in 2 sliced onions and ½ teaspoon of baking soda and toss until onions start to yellow and onions start to release moisture (about 3-4 minutes). Turn off the Instant Pot. Stir in half cup of water. Then place the steamer basket full of the potatoes on top and pressure cook for 1 minute as stated in the recipe. Stir the sour cream mixture right into the water/onion mixture in the bottom of the pot and then fold in the potatoes.
Can I keep this on warm?
This dish is best served right as it is finished. But you can choose to keep it on the keep warm setting in your Instant Pot. Or if you finish if off in you oven you can cover the dish with foil and keep it warm in the oven until you’re ready to eat.
How to store the leftovers
Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Use an airtight container* to prevent freezer burn.
What Equipment Did You Use?
- 6 quart Instant Pot Duo Crisp*–if you don’t have an air fryer lid you can finish this dish off in the oven
- Steamer basket*–this keeps the potatoes out of the water and protects their texture so they don’t get grainy. If you don’t have a steamer basket try stacking the potatoes on top of a trivet.
More Amazing Instant Pot Potato Recipes…
Instant Pot Twice Baked Potato Casserole
Instant Pot Hasselback Potatoes
Did you know you can filter the recipes on my website to search by meat type, IP or Crockpot, low carb, gluten free, etc. Use the filter to find exactly what you are looking for.

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Instant Pot French Onion Potato Bake
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 minute
- Total Time: 16 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
Cheesy sliced potatoes with lots of french onion flavor. A perfect side dish!
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 pounds Russet potatoes, peeled and sliced into quarter inch rounds
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 Tbsp flour
- 1 cup half and half or milk
- 1 oz packet of onion soup mix
- 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- Fresh cracked pepper
Instructions
- Place the sliced potatoes in a steamer basket. Don’t stack them straight on top of each other, scatter them instead.
- Pour 1 ½ cups water into bottom of Instant Pot. Place the steamer basket into the Instant Pot. Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 1 minute. When time is up move valve to venting and remove the lid. Test potatoes for doneness, if they are not done then cook for one additional minute.
- Remove the steamer basket from the Instant Pot and set aside. Dump out the water and dry the pot out.
- Add sour cream, flour, half and half and onion soup mix into Instant Pot and stir well. Turn Instant Pot to saute (less) setting and heat up the mixture. Once it’s heated through turn off the pot.
- Fold in the potatoes so they are coated well with the sour cream mixture.
- Stir in half of the cheese and then sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.
- Place an air fryer lid on top and air fry at 400 degrees F for about 3-5 minutes, or until top starts to brown.
- Scoop onto plates and serve.
Notes
You can also finish this dish off in the oven. Add the steamed potatoes to a baking dish and coat with the sour cream mixture. Sprinkle with the cheese. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 400 degrees F.
- Category: Side
- Method: Instant Pot
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Do you think this could be fully cooked in instant pot and finished in casserole dish in oven, and then frozen to have later? Know freezing dairy can be sketchy….maybe flour will stablize??? Thanks!
I am not totally sure on how the sour cream would do frozen
I would make a dish of it now. Freeze a small portion and who ever eats at a later date can give you their opinion.