Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes

Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes–creamy, buttery buttermilk mashed potatoes with garlic. These mashed potatoes are so easy to make and FAST to cook!

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Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes with Garlic and Buttermilk

For mashed potatoes that are creamy and flavorful (thanks to the bay leaf and a couple of smashed garlic cloves) these are going to be your winner every single time. I’ve been making these mashed potatoes for years in the slow cooker and now if I need mashed potatoes in a hurry I’ll make them in my Instant Pot.

A few mashed potato tips

Potatoes like to soak up salt! Make sure to salt and pepper to taste at the end. How much salt I add is dependent upon if I’ve serving gravy with the potatoes or not. If I’m serving gravy then I don’t use as much salt.

I choose to use a hand masher* to mash my potatoes. I don’t like the gluey texture that sometimes results from using a hand mixer. If you are a hand mixer type of person just make sure to only mix for a few seconds.

How many potatoes do you need for each person to make mashed potatoes?

If I’ve making a normal dinner for my family of 4 I usually use about 6-8 small to medium size potatoes. Most of the time we have 1 or 2 servings of leftovers. If I was making a Thanksgiving dinner and wanted to have lots of mashed potatoes I’d probably plan for at least 2 potatoes per person. Now remember these are small to medium potatoes and not those huge baker potatoes. Each potato I used weighs about 5.5 ounces. So plan about 10-11 ounces of uncooked potatoes per person. Therefore a 5 pound bag of potatoes will feed about 7-8 people.

Can I make mashed potatoes ahead of time?

The starch in potatoes swell up when they are cooked. Then when the potatoes are mashed the fluffy starch granules get broken up and we have a nice, creamy mashed potato. However once the creamy potatoes cool down the starches firm up and the potatoes get clumpy which is the opposite of what we want!

So the best choice is to not mash the potatoes until you are ready to serve them.

You can cook the cubed potatoes in the Instant Pot and then just keep the lid on and the pot on warm until you’re ready to mash the potatoes and serve. This is the best way that I’ve found to make the potatoes somewhat ahead of time but still have good results.

I would not suggest making the mashed potatoes ahead of time and reheating.

More recipes you’ll love…

Instant Pot Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes

Slow Cooker Holiday Mashed Potatoes with Bacon and Ricotta

Instant Pot Turkey Breast

Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes Recipe from Add a Pinch

What Instant Pot/Slow Cooker Did You Use?

For this Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes recipe I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. I love this Instant Pot because it has the yogurt making function which I use almost weekly.  It has two pressure settings (high and low), and there are also little slots in the handles so that you can rest the lid there instead of putting it down on your counter-top.

Other Equipment I Used:

Steamer Basket*:

Potato Masher*:

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Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes

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★★★★★

4.8 from 4 reviews

• Author: Karen Petersen
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 10 minutes
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: 4-6 servings 1x

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Description

Creamy, buttery buttermilk mashed potatoes with garlic. These mashed potatoes are so easy to make and FAST to cook!

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Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 2 cups water
• 2 1/2 pounds potatoes (ideally you’d use half Russets and half Yukon gold, it is about 8 small to medium potatoes)
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 peeled garlic cloves
• 3 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (or you can use 1/4 cup milk and 1/4 cup sour cream)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

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Instructions

1. Pour the water into your Instant Pot. If you have a steamer basket place it in your Instant Pot. Peel and wash the potatoes (most of the time I skip the peeling and keep the skins on, it’s totally up to you) and then cut them into quarters. Place them in your steamer basket (if you have one) or directly into the Instant Pot.
2. Add in 1 tsp salt, bay leaf and garlic cloves.
3. Cover the pot and turn the valve to “sealing.” Press manual button and set the timer to 10 minutes (see note below). Once the timer beeps let the pot sit for 5 more minutes. Release the rest of the pressure by turning valve to “venting.”
4. Open the pot and carefully remove the bay leaf. Drain the liquid (I use a colander for this part). Add in the butter and use a potato masher to mash the potatoes and garlic cloves. Stir in the buttermilk. Salt and pepper to taste (I love using kosher salt and freshly ground pepper).
5. Serve the mashed potatoes and enjoy!

Notes

I used my 6 quart Instant Pot for this recipe.

Get the slow cooker version of this recipe by clicking here.

How long to cook potatoes in the Instant Pot for mashed potatoes: Small diced potatoes (like the cubes for potato salad) — 4 minutes with a quick release; Quartered potatoes — 10 minutes with a quick release; Whole potatoes — 25 minutes with a quick or natural release

• Category: Potatoes
• Method: Instant Pot
• Cuisine: American

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1/5 of recipe
• Calories: 231
• Sugar: 4 g
• Sodium: 582 mg
• Fat: 7 g
• Saturated Fat: 4 g
• Carbohydrates: 37 g
• Fiber: 5 g
• Protein: 5 g
• Cholesterol: 19 mg

Keywords: instant pot

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