Episode 056 Mashed Potatoes- Instant Pot

Intro: Welcome to another episode of Let’s Make Dinner, your audio library of amazing dinner recipes you can get on the table. I’m your host, Susie Weinrich.

Susie Weinrich: You guys, I am so excited to be recording this episode. So last night, which I’m going to date this episode, it was November 8th. I did a PinTV live making these Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes, and it went so well. So within the show notes of this episode, I will also put a link to that PinTV episode so you can actually watch these Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes being made as well as listen to the full recipe here on this podcast episode.

Obviously we’re in November when I’m recording this, so Thanksgiving is right around the corner and mashed potatoes can sometimes be the star of the table. For me, it’s the mashed potatoes, the stuffing, the corn casserole, and the cranberries. Those are the things that I want to eat at Thanksgiving. Turkey, it’s fine, right? Turkey’s just okay in my mind. I love ham. I actually might make a ham this year, but enough about Thanksgiving. This is not supposed to be a Thanksgiving episode. It’s just on my mind because here we are. But you can make these Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes year round. They go great with burgers. They go great with pot roast. They go great with Swedish meatballs. Anything that calls for a mashed potato side dish, these are knockout. They are not your traditional butter and milk mashed potatoes. This recipe has cream cheese, sour cream, butter, kosher salt, a little raw garlic, and it is just knockout. They do not need any gravy. But if you want to make gravy, I have a great no dripping gravy recipe that I will link in the show notes for you. 

Tips and Tricks: So let’s go over a couple tips when you’re making these Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes. Number one, the recipe calls for Russet potatoes. You could try to make it with Yukon gold potatoes, but that is such a different potato compared to a Russet. The recipe was really written for Russet potatoes because what you end up with is, the Russets are a very nice starchy, sturdy potato. They hold up to the instant pot. Then the amount of liquid and cream and butter and sour cream. Everything that you’re adding makes them this just velvety texture where they’re still thick enough so they hold up to all of those mix-ins. So I would highly recommend this recipe, you stick with the Russets. However, I do have a recipe for Yukon Gold mashed potatoes. They’re not made in the Instant Pot, but they’re made on the stove top and I will link that recipe for you as well if you want to check that one out too. 

At the very end of this recipe, you add raw garlic. The recipe is made with three pounds of potatoes and you’re adding one raw garlic clove. Don’t be scared that the raw garlic is going to take over the entire dish. It does not. It’s just the right amount to flavor the mashed potatoes with the most delicious garlic flavor. It is perfect. 

Two other add-ins that we are adding. Well, actually three other things we’re adding. We’re only adding a half a cup of water, so these mashed potatoes are no drain mashed potatoes, which is amazing. You don’t have to use a colander. Everything’s done in one pot. Another add-in is your sour cream. Use full fat sour cream. It’s just going to make things creamier and more delicious. You could maybe get away, maybe, I don’t know. You could maybe get away with using a Greek yogurt, but sour cream is really where it’s at. 

The other add-in is your cream cheese. You want the cream cheese to be slightly softened, so leave it at room temperature for a while while the Instant Pot is coming to pressure and cooking the potatoes. If you leave it out at room temperature, it’s going to soften just enough so that that cream cheese mixes in with the mashed potatoes really well, and you don’t end up with clumps of cream cheese, which wouldn’t be terrible, right? But it’s better if it’s nice and mixed in, nice and smooth. Those are all my tips for your Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes. Let’s get on to making this recipe. 

Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes Recipe: I think I have this recipe actually memorized, so I’m not even going to open up a recipe card to move through this with you. What you’re going to do is start with three pounds of recipe potatoes. You’re going to get those peeled up washed. Here’s another little tip for you actually. I’m going to sprinkle a few tips throughout this recipe. If you’re making these for the holidays and you need to get your potatoes done ahead of time, you can absolutely peel your Russet potatoes a couple hours ahead of time and just put them in a cool water bath and they’ll stay fine and ready for you to use in a couple hours. That water will keep your potatoes from browning, so that’s a great tip anytime you have to make mashed potatoes and you have to peel a lot of potatoes. 

So you’re going to start with those three pounds of Russets, peel them up, and then you’re going to cut them into two to three inch pieces. What that’s doing is making sure that all of your potatoes have an even cooking time in the instant pot. Pop all of those into your instant pot, and then you’re going to pour in half a cup of water, and then you’re going to sprinkle in two teaspoons of kosher salt. It’s going to sound like a lot of salt, but potatoes require quite a bit of salt and butter and flavor to be delicious. So that’s where we’re starting with this one. You’re going to pop the lid of the instant pot on, turn that pressure valve to seal and set it to cook manual setting. So manual pressure, normal heat, high pressure for 11 minutes. Let it do its thing, and then finish with a natural release.

Once all that pressure is released, you’re going to open up the Instant pot. Your potatoes are going to be cooked perfectly. Like I said before, there’s no need to drain. You only put a half a cup of water in there and you can leave it in. You’re going to mix it in with the potatoes. Now you’re going to add your mix-ins. You’re going to add four tablespoons of butter, half a cup of sour and four ounces of cream cheese. Now it’s time to mix them up. So you can use a handheld potato masher, but what I like to do is use my handheld mixer just with the two beaters and whip the potatoes up. It whips them perfectly smooth and creamy. After that’s all mixed up, what you’re going to do next is chop up one raw garlic clove. Give it a really good mince so it mixes throughout the potatoes. Add two tablespoons of milk or half and half. Give it one last mix and your potatoes are ready. 

Guys, it’s the easiest recipe ever, and I’m telling you, you don’t need gravy. You don’t need extra butter, you don’t need anything. They are super, super delicious, just as is. 

So, of course you can find the full recipe on my website momsdinner.net, and I will put a link right in the show notes that can take you directly to that recipe. You can print it out, you can pin it, save it, make it, whatever you need to do.

So that does it for today’s episode of Let’s Make Dinner. If you’re enjoying these episodes and these recipes, I would love to have you follow and subscribe to your preferred podcast player as well as tell a friend or a family member or a loved one about this podcast and about the Mom’s Dinner recipes. I would love you for it.

Outro: Until next time, I hope this episode of Let’s Make Dinner makes your dinner time a little easier. See ya. 

Okay, you guys, one tip that I totally forgot to add in the episode, so we’re just going to add it here at the end. We’re just going to keep it casual. When you are serving mashed potatoes, you want to plan to make half a pound of potatoes per person. So in this recipe, we’re using three pounds of potatoes. You’re going to get six servings. All right, use that tip. See you guys later.