Instant Pot Million Dollar Potato Casserole–the fastest potato casserole ever! No peeling or chopping! And with cream cheese, cheddar and a Ritz cracker topping it tastes like a million bucks.
Note: the SLOW COOKER instructions are listed in the recipe card below
Instant Pot Million Dollar Potato Casserole
Looking for a fast and easy side dish? This is a creamy potato casserole with cream cheese, cheddar, Ricotta (or sour cream, if you prefer) and a Ritz cracker topping. It is so fast because you actually use frozen hashbrowns instead of having to peel and dice potatoes. After they are cooked and stirred together with the other ingredients they are more like mashed potatoes than hash browns. Shhhh, it’s a little secret!
Ingredients/Substitution Ideas
- Frozen hashbrowns–or frozen O’Brien potatoes
- Cream cheese–or a can of cream of chicken or mushroom soup
- Ricotta cheese–or sour cream or cottage cheese
- Dry ranch dressing mix–I like to use Hidden Valley brand and I buy it in the big container from Costco. You can also make your own.
- Cheddar cheese–or Colby, Monterey jack, etc.
- Ritz crackers–or a half cup of panko bread crumbs or crushed cornflakes
- Butter
- Green onion–or chives
How to make potato casserole in the Instant Pot
Because you don’t have to peel and dice potatoes this casserole comes together really quickly! If you’d like you can make this in your slow cooker or oven too. Look at the recipe card below for instructions.
- Quickly pressure cook the frozen hashbrowns in a steamer basket.
- Stir the hashbrowns together with the cheeses and ranch dressing mix. The hashbrowns get creamy almost like mashed potatoes.
- Sprinkle the Ritz crackers on top and drizzle with the melted butter. Brown up the top of the casserole with an air fryer lid.
- Serve and enjoy topped with green onions.
Pro tip: Place the package of cream cheese on top of your Instant Pot lid while the hashbrowns are cooking. It gets warm on the lid and will help soften the cream cheese so that it melts easier.
Equipment
- I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo Crisp with Air Fryer Lid*. You can also make this in an 8 quart pot or your 6 quart Crockpot.
- Silicone steamer basket*
What if I don’t have a steamer basket?
If you don’t have a steamer basket you may want to make the slow cooker or oven version of this casserole instead. Both instructions are listed in the recipe card below.
What if I don’t have an air fryer lid?
If you don’t have an air fryer lid you can finish this dish off under your oven’s broiler. Scrape potato mixture into a baking dish. Top with the Ritz and butter and broil for 3-5 minutes.
Does this casserole stay good on the warm setting?
Like most potato dishes in the Instant Pot this casserole is best served right away. However, it will still taste good if you put it on the KEEP WARM setting for up to 2 hours.
More Potato Recipes You’ll Love…
Loaded Million Dollar Casserole
Instant Pot Potato O’Brien Casserole
Instant Pot French Onion Potato Bake
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 Million Dollar Potato Casserole
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 minute
- Total Time: 16 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Description
The fastest potato casserole ever! No peeling or chopping! And with cream cheese, cheddar and a Ritz cracker topping it tastes like a million bucks.
Ingredients
- 1 (30 ounce package) of frozen hashbrowns
- 1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese
- 1 cup ricotta cheese or sour cream
- 3 Tbsp dry ranch dressing mix
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/2 of a sleeve of Ritz crackers
- 2 Tbsp melted butter
- 1/4 cup diced green onion
Instructions
Instant Pot Instructions:
- Pour 1 ½ cups water into the Instant Pot. Add hashbrowns into a large steamer basket and lower 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. Place the package of cream cheese on top of the Instant Pot lid and it will soften as the pot heats up. When time is up move valve to venting and remove the lid.
- Remove the steamer basket and set aside. Dump out the water and dry the Instant Pot liner.
- Dump the hashbrowns into the Instant Pot. Dump softened cream cheese into Instant Pot. Add in the ricotta (or sour cream), ranch dressing mix and cheese. Stir. The hashbrowns will be more like mashed potatoes at this point.
- Sprinkle the Ritz crackers on top and drizzle with the melted butter. Place air fryer lid (see note) on top and cook for 3 minutes at 400 F. Serve topped with green onions.
Slow Cooker Instructions:
- Add hashbrowns, softened cream cheese, ricotta (or sour cream), ranch dressing mix and cheese into slow cooker. Stir well.
- Cover and cook on HIGH for 2-4 hours. Remove the lid and stir well.
- Sprinkle the Ritz crackers on a baking sheet and drizzle with the melted butter. Put under oven’s broiler for 3-4 minutes, until browned. Sprinkle on top of the potato mixture.
- Serve topped with green onions.
Oven Instructions:
- Add hashbrowns to a large mixing bowl. Microwave the hashbrowns for 2 minutes.
- Add in the softened cream cheese, ricotta (or sour cream), ranch dressing mix and cheese. Stir well to coat the hashbrowns.
- Scrape into a 9×13 inch baking dish.
- Bake at 350° F for 45 minutes.
- Sprinkle the Ritz crackers on top and drizzle with the melted butter. Bake for another 15 minutes.
- Serve topped with green onions.
Notes
If you don’t have an air fryer lid you can finish this dish off under your oven’s broiler. Scrape potato mixture into a baking dish. Top with the Ritz and butter and broil for 3-5 minutes.
- Category: Side
- Method: Instant Pot/Air fryer lid
*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.
Sounds wonderful! Can’t wait to try this one. I might even be a little naughty & toss some crispy bacon in when I mix in the cheeses 😋
★★★★★
yes that is a great idea!