Instant Pot Potato Salad

Instant Pot Potato Salad takes the goodness of any potato salad recipe and simplifies the cooking process in the Instant Pot! This method for making potato salad eliminates all of the guess work and mess of cooking potatoes and eggs by using the Instant Pot.

I’m a long time fan of my Aunt Di’s Almost German Potato Salad. If you’ve tried it, you love it. If you haven’t, I am about to make your life infinitely better! I mean, I can’t promise world peace, but I can make the world a better place by showing you how the Instant Pot can speed up the process of making potato salad AND take the guess work out of perfectly cooking your hard boiled eggs. Let’s get started!

First things first

If you don’t have an Instant Pot, do yourself a HUGE favor and get one. Now!  I have a load of Instant Pot recipes on ABK that are tried and true and amazingly easy and delicious. I have an Instant Pot ebook, available free to you, by entering your name in the side column that says “Never miss a recipe or newsletter” . The ebook is free during limited releases during the year, and is available from May 1, 2018 until July 1, 2018. It’s easily downloaded and even set up for print if you’d like to have a hard copy or give as a gift! It’s my gift to you for reading A Bountiful Kitchen.  If you happen to read this and the book is not available, it will be available again free of charge later in the year.

What came first, the chicken or the egg? Or what to cook first, the egg or potato?

There isn’t any chicken in this recipe, but  I’ve always smiled when I hear this saying and thought it was a good way to introduce this section of post 🙂 Kidding aside. I like to cook the eggs first, so they have time to cool down before I cook the potatoes. In this recipe, which is basically the same as my Aunt Di’s recipe (using the Instant Pot to streamline the process) a key element to success is pouring the pickle juice over the potatoes while they are hot. For this reason, I like to have the eggs cooked and out of the way while the potatoes are cooking so everything is ready to go when the potatoes are finished cooking.  If you’d like to read in depth about How to Cook Hard Boiled Eggs (and soft and medium cooked) take a look at this post.

One potato, Two potato

This recipe calls for 5 lbs of potatoes, which will feed about 15-20 as a side dish. You can make a smaller batch, but I think this is the perfect amount for serving a  big family,  and still have leftovers as well. Trust me, you’re going to want to have leftovers.  Instant Pot Potato Salad is the best way to convert any potato salad recipe to the less messy and time saving Instant Pot cooking method. Just throw the potatoes in the pot, add some water and a few minutes later perfectly cooked potatoes ready to add to a bowl for mixing. I like to use small red potatoes or white potatoes. I never peel the potatoes. I love the color of the red potatoes in the potato salad and leaving the peel on takes away one step of the process in making Instant Pot Potato Salad. This year, it seems like there has been a shortage of red potatoes, so I’ve used mostly white potatoes in the photos on this post. I also love the small bags of baby or “new” potatoes sold at Costco, which are perfect for this salad! The cooking time will vary if you are cooking very small potatoes (see recipe notes). The key is to make sure the potatoes you purchase are all roughly the same size, or cut to approximately the same size so they cook evenly. To further reduce the cook time, see recipe notes.

Simple method and 5 Ingredients to potato Salad perfection!

Instant Pot Potato Salad will change the way you look at making this time consuming and messy recipe! In the past, I boil my potatoes for nearly an hour, with the eggs in a second pan. This method allows me to cook both the potatoes and eggs in the Instant Pot, eliminating the guess work and mess. No more overcooked eggs, no more worrying about a boiling pot of potatoes on the stove. It doesn’t get much easier than this! If you haven’t ever attempted potato salad, this recipe is for you!

Instant Pot Potato Salad -converting your recipe

If you’d like to use this method to convert your favorite recipe to the Instant Pot Method, it’s an easy fix. Simply cook your eggs and potatoes (separately) in the Instant Pot. As I stated earlier, I always advise cooking the eggs first, and then cooking the potatoes. Most recipes call for cooking and completely cooling the potatoes before adding other ingredients (another reason I love this recipe)! No need to cool the potatoes before adding the other ingredients. After you have cooked both the potatoes and eggs for your recipe, proceed as directed. Again, eliminating the mess of boiling potatoes on the stovetop for a long period of time motivates me to make potato salad more than once in a blue moon! If you’re looking for other potato salad recipes, here are a couple  we love on ABK… Sour Cream and Bacon Potato Salad  Miss Leisa’s Potato Salad

Instant Pot Potato Salad

5 from 2 votes

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Author: Si Foster

Course: side

Prep Time: 45 minutes mins

Total Time: 45 minutes mins

Servings: 15 servings

I Use a 6 or 8 quart Instant Pot for all of my recipes. Most often, I use my 6 quart pot. 

Ingredients 

• Small white or red potatoes, about 4-5 lbs washed, unpeeled
• 8-12 eggs
• Dill pickles, about 3 large or 6 small chunked
• Dill pickle juice about 3/4 to 1 cup
• Best Foods  or Hellman’s Mayo – No LIGHT, please about 1 1/2 cups total
• Sea or Kosher salt
• White pepper, optional

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

For eggs:

• Place the eggs in the Instant Pot with the wire rack in the bottom of the pot.
• Pour 1 cup of water into the Instant pot. Make sure the sealing ring is in place inside of the Instant Pot lid.
• Secure the lid on the pot and lock into position. Check the sealing valve on top and make sure it is set to the “Sealing” position. 
• Turn to “Manual” or “High Pressure”  setting and cook the eggs for 5 minutes.
• When the timer goes off, release the pressure in the pot carefully using the steam release valve on top of the pot. 
• Remove the eggs using the wire rack and place immediately in a bowl of cold ice water, or place the eggs in a bowl and run cold water over the eggs until cooled a bit.

Peel and set aside. For potatoes:

• Wash the potatoes while the eggs are cooking, no need to peel or cut. If cooking eggs in the Instant Pot before cooking the potatoes, wash the Instant Pot insert with soap to insure there is not a cross contamination from the egg shells. 
• Place the washed potatoes in the clean Instant Pot with 1 cup water. Make sure the sealing ring is in place inside of the Instant Pot lid and secure the lid on the pot and lock into position. Check the sealing valve on top and make sure it is set to the “Sealing” position. Set the timer on the Instant Pot to 10 minutes on “Manual” or “High Pressure” setting with 10 minutes natural release time. If using very small potatoes 1-1/2 inches round, such as the potatoes sold in small mesh bags, I cook for 5 minutes with 5 minutes of natural pressure release time. See recipe notes for additional instructions.
• When potatoes are done, release the pressure carefully, and place potatoes in a large bowl. Discard any water in Instant Pot insert.  Use a knife and slice or slash the potatoes in half or fourths depending on size. 
• Pour pickle juice (cold or room temperature) over the hot potatoes. It is important the potatoes are cut and still hot while the juice is poured over. The juice will soak into the potatoes and create a type of dressing when the mayo is added and also add moisture to the potatoes. I start with about 1/2 cup of juice and add about 3/4 cup total as I fold into the hot potatoes.
• Generously salt the potatoes at this time. 
• Add mayo to the bowl, about 1 1/2 cups, along with eggs cut into chunks, and sliced or chunk dill pickles. The eggs, mayo and pickles may be added to the bowl at one time. 
• Fold all ingredients together and taste to see if more salt is needed.
• Add additional mayo if needed. See recipe notes for making ahead.   
• This salad is best served warm or at room temperature, but is also good chilled. 

Notes

• You may have to experiment with potatoes and cook time. The end result should be potatoes that are completely soft, but not mushy, with some of the skins being split. The amount of time potatoes take to cook will depend on many factors- size, variety of potatoes (red, white, russet , etc). 
• To reduce cook time of potatoes, cut the potatoes BEFORE cooking in the Instant Pot. Wash and cut the potatoes into even pieces, about 1 1/2 inch squares. Reduce the cooking time to 5 minutes  on high pressure, and immediately release pressure after timer goes off. Drain any excess water before proceeding with recipe. 
• If for some reason your potatoes are not cooked enough, Set the timer for an additional 3-5 minutes according to doneness and add 1/2 cup of water and start the Instant Pot on manual cook setting again. 
• If the potato salad is sitting overnight and served the next day, allow for some additional mayo to be added if needed. The potatoes will soak up mayo after sitting for a while. I wait to place on a serving platter or dish until just before serving in case extra mayo needs to be added. Always store the potato salad in the refrigerator.