Instant Pot Red Potatoes (Whole)

We love red potatoes in Instant Pot. If you typically only buy russets this is a nice change with a better flavor and firmer texture to them. Slice, cube or stuff them whole with dinner tonight and let us know what you think of this easy Instant Pot recipe.

Maybe you love our Baked Red Potatoes (us too) but it is way to hot to turn on your oven so you want to use your contained kitchen appliance. I get it, we used to live in the desert and in the summertime that was a no way Jose so this worked great!

You can make this as a Ninja Foodi recipe or in a Crockpot Express machine too. We’re going to use the pressure cook high function for these but if you do have the ability to air fry you could use that too. You can either just use that or just at the end with a bit of olive oil spray to crisp the skins, both are great options.

How Long to Cook Whole Red Potatoes in Instant Pot

To cook them this way, all you need is a trivet or steamer basket to keep them off the bottom. Left whole will take the longest, at 35 minutes total including steam release time, but still not too bad. It is important that you allow for a natural release at the end to continue to heat them to the very center. If you quick release at the end it won’t get all the way done.

If you wanted to crisp the skins like our air fryer red potatoes you could certainly do that with a spray of olive oil on the outside at 400 for a few minutes at the end. 😉

Do you need to poke red potatoes before pressure cooking?

Just like in a microwave or oven, an important thing to remember when “baking” pressure cooker baked potatoes is you want to poke holes in them all the way around. Use a fork or sharp knife to do so. You also want to try to cook the same sizes so they are all done at the same time. If some are way small and others are large some will be too soft and others will be firm.

There isn’t much of a difference whether you cook russets, sweet, Yukon Gold, baby potatoes or fingerlings other than the difference in cook times. The smaller they are the faster they will cook.

Other red potato recipes

Typically I will slice small ones in half or I have cubed larger ones if I am going to toss it with seasonings or top with goodies like our Instant Pot cheesy bacon ranch potatoes. This takes about 6 minutes to get them tender.

Something else you might want to make would be Instant Pot potato salad. Once again diced is best for this. You wouldn’t smash the pieces when done for this one rather cool them, toss with mayo, mustard salt and pepper and you’re set.

Butter is a given as far as adding moisture and flavor. Chili is a must if we are serving these as our main meal, and cinnamon and sugar with some butter works for pressure cooker sweet potatoes cooked in this baby.

What are red potatoes best for?

We love these as a tweak to make mashed potatoes. I would suggest peeling half of the red skin off, or all of it if you are totally opposed to any. I like just a bit for it’s health benefits and a bit of added texture too. You don’t need a trivet for this because it is easier if you cut each one into 8-12 pieces.

What to fill them with is up to you but steamed broccoli with a cheese sauce, beans, etc.. If you want to make potato skins when done you just slice, scoop out the center, mix with your fixings, fill them back up and then air fry or broil until crisped.