How to Boil or Steam Potatoes in the Instant Pot? This is part of the Instant Pot Cooking Basics series. Potatoes are perfect for steaming in a pressure cooker, and it takes less than 30 minutes to get perfectly cooked potatoes. I use boiled potatoes in many dishes, such as potato peas curry and spiced mashed potatoes.
I had always boiled potatoes in my stovetop pressure cooker. However, it did need some monitoring. With the instant pot, just set the time and do a natural pressure release, while I can do other chores.
Having pre-boiled potatoes at hand is great for meal planning. I can then use them as needed to make quick meals. Some interesting Indian dishes you can make with boiled potatoes:
- Mumbai Vada Pav, which is a popular Indian-style burger.
- Savory Potato Puffs – This is similar to the paneer puffs I have shared. Just use boiled potatoes in place of paneer.
Table of Contents
Watch How to Make Boil Potatoes in Instant Pot
How to Steam Potatoes in the Instant Pot?
It is as easy as it gets. Just place the potatoes on a trivet. Add some water to the pot. Hit the Steam button. Adjust the time based on the size of the potatoes. It usually takes between 8 to 15 minutes, depending on the size of the potatoes. For potatoes about 7 oz in weight, I steamed for 10 minutes. If potatoes are about 9 oz, then steam for 12 minutes. You get the idea!
Can I steam potatoes without a trivet?
If you want to boil potatoes while cooking something else in the main pot, then I suggest to use the mode needed for what you are cooking in the main pot. The Steam function works best when food is being steamed on a trivet. It increases the temperature inside the pot very fast, as it does not expect to have any food directly in contact with the bottom of the pot.
How to steam small baby potatoes in the instant pot?
For baby potatoes, I prefer to use a steamer basket. Add water to the instant pot steel insert. Place the steamer basket with baby potatoes in the instant pot insert. Pressure cook at high pressure for 5 minutes, then let the pressure release naturally.
Check my detailed post about Steamed Baby Potatoes in the Instant Pot and if you want to directly make seasoned potatoes, check out these Spicy Bombay Potatoes..yum!
How to steam diced potatoes in the instant pot?
For diced russet potatoes about 1 inch in size, pressure cook for 3 minutes when using a steamer basket. If you are cooking them in the main pot, just 1 minute on pressure cook mode will be enough.
Try these easy steamed potatoes and don’t forget to share how you used them!
Check out other instant pot cooking basics:
How to Boil Potatoes in Instant Pot?
Instructions
- Clean potatoes with water. Add 1 cup water in the instant pot steel insert. Place trivet and place potatoes on top of the trivet. Close lid with vent in sealing position.
- Pressure cook on Steam mode at high pressure for 10 mins. (see notes for cooking time variation)
- When the instant pot beeps, let the pressure release naturally. If in a hurry, you can release pressure 10 minutes after the beep.
- Remove the potatoes from the instant pot to stop additional cooking.
Video
Notes
- Adjust time between 8-15 mins depending on size of potatoes. For example, if the potatoes are about 9 oz each, then steam for 12 mins.
- The cooking time remains the same even if you increase or decrease the quantity of potatoes, however the size of the potatoes affects the cooking time as mentioned in previous note.
Thank you! Best “boiled” potatoes ever, so easy to cook & peel.
Great recipe! i just made and it is the best! thank you so much!
Hi Blanca – Glad to hear you enjoyed it!
Boiled my potatoes for breakfast this morning thanks to your recipe! Loved it. Thank you!
Hi Margie – Glad to hear you are enjoying the potatoes.
Trying this now…. Hopefully it saves time with peeling. I’ve heard it’s easier to peel them after they’ve been cooked.
Hi Mari – Absolutely, potatoes are easier to peel once they are boiled. You don’t need a knife or peeler to peel them. You should be able to peel with your fingers. Hope they turned out well.
Oh they did! Except I decided to leave the peel on and they were amazing. Thank you
Great recipe!!! Potatoes turned out perfectly!!! Saved me so much time, and no mess! Sooooooo perfect!
Hi Allison – So good to hear that! Thank you for sharing back! 🙂
I give this “recipe” a one star because it didn’t really tell me what to do. I’ve had my instant pot for about 5 minutes & I don’t know what I’m doing. I’ve used it a couple of times…but I need more actual instructions than what is given here. My suggestion would be to try reading your post from the eyes of a novice before you post it. You don’t have to dumb it down to the point of being annoying to the average “man-on-the-street” instant pot user…but you need to give some actual, real time instructions. I’m off to search other sites for some clearer directions. Bye-bye. Btw, your food looks/sounds delicious! I’ll try it when I’m better qualified to use my instant pot!
Hi Morgana – If you are new to using an instant pot, I recommend to start with the quick start guide and to do the water test. There is a bit of a learning curve with using an electric pressure cooked if you have never used one before. Here are all the details to get you started – https://pipingpotcurry.com/instant-pot-beginner-manual-quick-setup-guide/
Boiled my potatoes for breakfast this morning thanks to your recipe! Loved it. Thank you!
Hi!
Is the trivet and the steal insert the same thing? Or am I looking for two metal items for my pot?
It’s like a little round rack that goes in to raise the potatoes off the bottom
Hi Gina – The steel insert is the large steel pot that goes into the instant pot. The trivet is so keep the food from touching the base of the instant pot steel insert. Hope that clarifies.
Works perfectly
Thankyou
I tried this with russet potatoes I put one cup of water , set 3 potatoes on the rack cooked high pressure for 15 min and then let it naturally release for 20 and they were not cooked at all. Hard inside. Am I doing something wrong?
Hi Maggie – I wonder if the pot came to pressure. As otherwise 15 minutes of pressure cooking is enough for potatoes. If the potatoes were too large in size, you can try increasing the pressure cook time too.
I had the same experience. My potatoes were 7oz and after 10 minutes stream on high pressure and a full (18 minutes) natural release, they were still rock hard.
Then I did 5 more minutes. And another 5. And another 7 minutes. Then another full natural release. I’m still waiting to see if I can eat now…
Hi – I do really think that if the potatoes are taking so long to cook, there are 2 possible issues – 1. The pot did not come to pressure. I want to confirm that you did add 1 cup water to the main instant pot steel insert? 2) The instant pot is set on low pressure. The recipe uses the default high pressure setting. If you find the issue, I would love to hear back.