Mashed potatoes. I feel like they’re kind of like chocolate chip cookies in the way that everyone has their version of perfection. Some like them smooth, some like them chunky, some like skins, others are horrified by the skins (#teamskin, for the record). Then you’ve got a plethora of add-in options like garlic and cheeses, herbs, and more. When it comes to Thanksgiving I feel like simple is the way to go. Classic, buttery, creamy, perfect potatoes. But I will tell you one thing I hate, hate doing: peeling potatoes. Also bringing an enormous pot of water to boil on my stove top. Also boiling a giant pot of potatoes. So I have a few methods to save time, sanity, and stove-top real estate this Thanksgiving! I’m going to talk about pressure cooking in this blog post, but you can find my easy slow-cooker instructions in the printable recipe! Both methods are very much set-it-and-forget-it.
Ingredients and Equipment Needed
- Russet potatoes – I use russet potatoes, from Idaho (duh!). You could use Yukon gold, just be aware my easy peel method won’t work well there. You will need to peel them beforehand or mash with the skins on.
- Water
- Butter – Use real butter.
- Whipping cream
- Sour cream – Optional. Full fat is best, but any will do.
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- Chives – If desired.
- Stand mixer – I make mashed potatoes in my stand mixer; I find it to be super easy and it yields a smooth creamy texture with a few chunks in tact, just how I like them. It also whips air into the potatoes, giving russets a light, fluffy texture. A hand mixer would work well, too.
- Pressure cooker – An electric pressure cooker can be your knight in shining armor on big meals like Thanksgiving and Christmas when you really don’t have time to be babysitting a big giant pot of boiling water, and it’s SO quick and easy to cook an enormous amount of potatoes! See the recipe card at the end of this post for slow cooker instructions. You can read all about pressure cooking, here. I have an Instant Pot and a stove-top Rikon Kuhn pot and I have always wanted a Fagor because they are so highly rated by America’s test Kitchen. I love my Instant Pot, and I kind of think of it as my trusty Honda, while this gorgeous new Fagor is more like a BMW. It even comes in pretty holiday colors (copper! Silver! Champagne!) I’ve been really impressed with it. It’s not only beautiful to look at, but it cooks like a dream, with a user-friendly control panel.
How to Make Pressure Cooker Mashed Potatoes
- So here we go. I’m not peeling these potatoes. You absolutely can if you’d rather do that to start, but I leave the skins on, because remember I hate peeling potatoes?? I have a trick to peeling them after!
- Cut each potato in half across the equator. If you have a rack, place the rack on the bottom of your pressure cooker so the potatoes won’t sit in the water. Add 1 1/2 cups water.
- To cook the potatoes, process on high pressure for 12 minutes and then quick release the steam. The potatoes will be VERY hot at this point, so you can let them cool for just a minute, but not too long! I use a paper towel and grab the potato and just squeeze the flesh out of the skin. Most of them pop right out very easily! Keep in mind this method really works best with russet potatoes. This wouldn’t work with a thin-skin like red or Yukon gold. If you’re using that variety either peel them first, or mash them with the skins still on.
- Transfer to a stand mixer. While they’re still hot, pour in a full stick of melted butter and some whipping cream. These are holiday potatoes, people! For every day potatoes I tend to use low fat milk and less butter, but on holidays I go all out with the butter and cream. Just go for it. You’re going to eat tons of pie after this so it’s a lost cause. I melt the butter and then pour the cream into the butter so the mixture is warm when it goes into the potatoes.
- I feel like consistency is really personal, and a little different depending on the variety of potatoes you use, so from here you’ll want to add more according to taste. You can either pour in about another 1/2 cup cream, or I often use sour cream as well. You really want to do this part to taste. Lots of sampling should occur. The other important aspect is salt. Salt makes the biggest difference in the overall flavor of your potatoes. Add kosher salt and then mix and taste and repeat until it’s perfect! You can also add a few big cracks of black pepper.
- I like to garnish my potatoes with additional melted butter and fresh chives. They’ll be smooth and creamy, and rich and buttery and perfect for slathering in gravy!
Pressure Cooker Instructions
Spray slowcooker with cooking spray and place whole potatoes inside. Cook on high for about 3 hours. Either slip peels off of russets (or scoop out flesh with a spoon), or smash other varieties with the skins still on. Easy peasy!
Storing and Other Tips
- Store cooled leftover mashed potatoes in an airtight container in the refrigerator and consume within 3-4 days for best results.
- If you have lots of leftovers, feel free to freeze them in individual portions for an easy side for busy nights or a quick lunch.
- Make sure your butter and cream aren’t cold. Warm liquids will produce the best finished product!
- Do you know how to make gravy to go with your potatoes? It’s SO easy! You can even make it ahead of time and freeze it for Thanksgiving. Check out my gravy tutorial right here!
Frequently Asked Questions
What if I add too much liquid and my potatoes end up too thin?
If you accidentally add too much liquid you can rescue your warm potatoes by sprinkling in some corn starch, potato starch, tapioca starch, or dehydrated potato flakes. Start with a small amount and gently mix more in, bit by bit, until your potatoes thicken up to your liking.
How do I avoid gluey potatoes?
Potatoes take on a sticky, gluey consistency if overworked. Mashing and whipping releases the starch in the potatoes, which is what causes them to stick together. It’s important to whip them just until your desired consistency is reached!
Pressure Cooker Mashed Potatoes
An easy way to cook mashed potatoes, in just minutes in your pressure cooker. Slow cooker instructions also included in notes.
Servings servings
Equipment
Ingredients
- 5 lbs russet potatoes
- 1 ½ cups water
- ½ cup 1 stick butter
- ½-1 cup whipping cream
- ½ cup sour cream optional
- kosher salt and black pepper
- chives if desired
Instructions
- Cut each potato in half across equator. Place rack (if you have one) in an electric pressure cooker and place potatoes on top. Do not exceed the "max fill" line (in my pot, 5lbs potatoes fit perfectly). Add water.
- Secure lid on pot according to directions and cook on high pressure for 12 minutes. When finished, quick release steam and open pot.
- Heat butter in microwave until melted. Stir in ½ cup cream (this helps warm the cream).
- Potatoes will be hot, but use a paper towel to grab them and squeeze the potato out of the skin and into a bowl. Using an electric mixer, stand mixer, or hand-masher, whip up potatoes and add butter and cream. Add either additional ½ cup cream, or sour cream, a little at a time until desired consistency is reached. Add 1-2 teaspoons kosher salt (to taste!) and several generous cracks of black pepper.
- Place potatoes in bowl and garnish with chives, and a little extra melted butter, if desired.
Notes
- Slow Cooker Instructions: Spray slow cooker with cooking spray and place whole potatoes inside. Cook on high for about 3 hours. Either slip peels off of russets (or scoop out flesh with a spoon), or smash other varieties with the skins still on. Easy peasy!
- Store cooled leftover mashed potatoes in an airtight container in the refrigerator and consume within 3-4 days for best results.
- If you have lots of leftovers, feel free to freeze them in individual portions for an easy side for busy nights or a quick lunch.
- Make sure your butter and cream aren’t cold. Warm liquids will produce the best finished product!
- Do you know how to make gravy to go with your potatoes? It’s SO easy! You can even make it ahead of time and freeze it for Thanksgiving. Check out my gravy tutorial right here!
- Rescue runny potatoes by sprinkling in a little corn starch, potato starch, tapioca starch, or some instant potato flakes.
Nutrition
Calories: 324kcal, Carbohydrates: 42g, Protein: 6g, Fat: 16g, Saturated Fat: 10g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 4g, Trans Fat: 0.4g, Cholesterol: 45mg, Sodium: 93mg, Potassium: 974mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 2g, Vitamin A: 532IU, Vitamin C: 13mg, Calcium: 53mg, Iron: 2mg
Calories: 324kcal
Cost: $5
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Questions & Reviews
Love the recipe with the pressure cooker, no peel concept. But, why fast release of the steam instead of natural release?
Thanks.
You’re welcome to use natural release, it just extends the cooking time.
This recipe is no fail, and my husband LOVES when I make it this way and take the skins off!
I loved the no-peal option in the instant pot. It worked just as described. I also loved the fix it and forget it ease of doing it this way. Thanks for introducing me to this method!
I see nothing about the slow cooker method…
We just switched over to a new print feature and I noticed that it takes any information we left in our Notes/Special instructions area and doesn’t display them! The slowcooker info was there, sorry about that, here you go:
Slow Cooker Instructions:
Spray slowcooker with cooking spray and place whole potatoes inside. Cook on high for about 3 hours. Either slip peels off of russets (or scoop out flesh with a spoon), or smash other varieties with the skins still on. Easy peasy!
looks so flavorful! I see that you can use aluminum foil to cook these potatoes with metal colander in pressure cooker to minimum the cooking time!
This was a great way to cook mashed potatoes without peeling them. Thanks again. Worked out great.
What size of pressure cooker is this recipe for? Will it fit in my 6qt instant pot?
Yes, 6qt should be fine. Just don’t go past the max fill line on whatever model you are using
P.S. Thanks for the holiday pressure cooking recipe links! <–There's probably a better way to word that, but I'm too excited to care! YAY!
I made these last night in my Instant Pot because I couldn’t wait to try it! They turned out perfectly. So easy, so tasty! One quick note–the recipe doesn’t say to add the water. I’d read through the top part and so it wasn’t an issue for me, but someone coming to print it off may miss that step. 😉 Thanks for the recipe! My new go-to for mashed potatoes.
Oh, good catch. Thanks!
So if you’re using a slow cooker, don’t cut the potatoes but cook them whole?
Yep! If you’re using russets.
Hoping to get an pressure cooker one day, but until then, if I use the slow cooker method do I need to add any water with the whole potatoes while they are cooking?
Nope, I don’t add any water at all.
I have a Technique electric pressure cooker I was gifted for Christmas last year. My husband gave me a cookbook to go with it too. I always wondered if I could do potatoes in it. I made sweet potatoes in it tonight using your recipe. And made mashed sweet potatoes.
Exactly what I needed! Do you think I can make them now and freeze them. (My son is having all 4 wisdom teeth removed 2 days before! Good thing he loves mashed potatoes!)
If so, Would they still be fluffly? Should I then save adding the butter and more cream until they are heated up?
Thanks ~ Betty
Yep, I’ve frozen mashed potatoes and they work pretty well!
Do you recommend the 6 or 8 quart size of pressure cooker? It’s just me and my husband that I usually cook for.
The 6 is probably just fine!
We’ve been doing mashed potatoes in our stove-top pressure cooker for at least 10 years but we (by which I mean my husband and son) always peel them. I’m totally trying it this way!
My husband signed up to take mashed potatoes to a party at work yesterday. Too tired to fix them the night before, I put the potatoes in the oven and set it to bake them by the time we got up. The garlic I roasted with them made it a savory start to the day. And then we peeled and mashed twenty pounds of potatoes before 7:00 in the morning. It worked pretty well, except that some of the big russets weren’t quite done yet, and had to be finished off in the microwave. Too bad we don’t have a giant pressure cooker!
Do you have any tips for what to do if you don’t have a rack for your pot?
I actually don’t have a rack (I mean, I HAVE one, somewhere, who knows where, haha) so no biggie. The ones at the bottom are usually just a little harder to pop out of the peel nicely but it totally works.
I’m wanting to get an electric pressure cooker for Christmas. Between the two you mentioned (InstantPot and Fagor) which would you recommend? I haven’t used a pressure cooker before, so I want to make sure I get one that is easy to use and works well.
Ya know, they both work fine; I’ve never had any problems with either. If price isn’t a huge factor, I’d get the Fagor.
Thanks!
Sara, what is it about the Fagor that you prefer over the Instapot?
It’s just overall a little nicer construcion and smoother operation, but both work great!