How would you like the fluffiest mashed potatoes made directly in your Instant Pot in minutes! Make use of that tub of cream cheese in your fridge by stirring it in your mash for a creamy taste and texture.
Serve these creamy potatoes as a side dish to our Top Round Roast Beef.
The beauty of mashed potatoes is that they could be made in so many different ways. I like mine light, fluffy and impossibly creamy!
Adding loads of butter and milk usually accomplishes that. However, if you want to make them a bit less calorific, cream cheese should be your secret weapon. What is even better you can infuse your spuds with different flavours cream cheese comes in.
Cooking in Instant Pot
You are probably wondering why you need to use Instant Pot to cook your potatoes when boiling them in a pot is easy enough. All true but let me tell you what is also true.
Pressure cookers like Instant Pot are known to be much speedier than stove top cooking. I use it weekly at home to produce meals, that normally take hours in the oven.
One of my favourite dishes to make in the pressure cooker is French Coq au Vin. Same flavours as the classic in half the time and effort.
Another reason to use Instant Pot is extra cooking space. If you are like me and have limited space available, cooking during the holiday season is a real issue. So many burners are engaged at once! Here is when Instant Pot comes to the rescue!
You can plug it in anywhere. If your kitchen counters get too crowded, just move it to your dining room. Problem solved.
Recipe Tips and Notes
- Start with the right potatoes! It all comes down to their starch content. The starchier they are the fluffier your mash will be. Go for Russet potatoes if you are in the US and Maris Piper in the UK. Leave the waxy potatoes for your potato salad.
- As I mentioned, Instant Pot cooks everything faster due to the pressure cooking employed. To speed up the process even more, I quarter each potato, so it takes no longer than 8 minutes.
- Apart from actual cooking, your Instant Pot has to come to pressure before it begins. The more liquid you add, the longer it will take. So I recommend only just covering your potatoes with water.
- Another important tip I like to mention is making sure your potatoes are very dry before you start mashing them. Drain the potatoes and leave them in a colander for a couple of minutes to steam dry, then shake them to expose more surface and repeat the process. This little trick ensures the fluffiest mash of your dreams!
- Milk, full fat cream cheese and a touch of butter are all you need for creamy, full flavour potatoes. While Philadelphia cream cheese is good for making cheesecakes due to stabilisers in the product, it’s not the most flavourful. Look for alternative brands, that are more natural and within your budget.
Serving Suggestions
These potatoes can be served as a side dish to hundreds of recipes! My personal favourites are Beef Bourguignon and Chicken Stroganoff.
If you happen to have leftovers, let me suggest a wonderful dish you can make. My Salmon Cakes with Garlic Chive Yogurt Sauce uses a potato mash as a base instead of breadcrumbs, which creates divine texture!
More Mashed Potato Recipes to Try:
- Herb and Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
- Traditional Colcannon
- Mashed Potato Casserole with Mushrooms and Caramelised Onions
- Champ (Irish Potato Mash)
Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes with Cream Cheese
Equipment
- 1 Pressure Cooker such as Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 2 lbs potatoes Russet or Maris Piper (UK)
- 1 tsp salt
- 150g/5 oz cream cheese full fat
- 125ml/1/2 cup milk whole
- 2 tbsp butter
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Peel the potatoes and quarter them. Add the potatoes to the Instant pot and pour in water just to cover them (approximately 3 cups), then add 1 tsp salt.
- Pressure cook for 8 minutes, then quick release the pressure and drain the potatoes. Let them steam dry for a couple of minutes before mashing.
- Mash with the cream cheese, hot milk and butter until no lumps left. Taste and season with salt. My preferred tool for mashing is a potato masher or a potato ricer for the smoothest mash.
Andrew says
This is a delicious, quick, and simple way to make perfect mashed potatoes! The cream cheese is an inspired addition. I’ve found that rather than covering the potatoes with water in the instant pot, just adding a cup of water to the pot and putting the potatoes above the water on the instant pot trivet cooks them perfectly (9 minutes for russets) and leaves them less waterlogged. Thanks for this and all your other great recipes.
Julia Frey (Vikalinka) says
That’s a great tip. Thank you, Andrew!