Love potato salad? Instant Pot Potato Salad is something you just have to try. Pressure cooking makes preparation quick and easy and the results are fabulous.
Loaded Potato salad in creamy mayo and sour cream dressing with crispy diced bacon is a great barbecue side dish or serve it up with any meal. It tastes like a loaded baked potato, so good and eats more like a meal than traditional potato salad.
Why Make Potato Salad in an Instant Pot?
Cooking potatoes in an Instant Pot is a wonderful way to make sure they maintain rich texture and nutrition. Pressure cooking provides the best texture for potatoes because it cooks them in a moist environment without water logging them.
The Instant Pot of course cooks the potatoes a little faster, but also reduces nutritional loss through cooking. Many say it is the best way to make potato salad and once they have tried it they will never go back to boiling on a stove top.
Fully Loaded Potato Salad!
This loaded baked potato salad brings all the flavors of a fully-loaded baked potato to your potato salad. The rich, cheesy flavors and crispy bacon will make you forget about any other potato dish!
How to Make Instant Pot Loaded Potato Salad
Let's get down to making this delicious pressure cooker potato salad with hard boiled eggs, bacon and cheese.
prep time 12|cooking time 8 mins|coming to pressure, natural release and cooling 50 mins
Potato Salad Ingredients:
- 2 pounds of russet potatoes
- 8 slices of bacon
- 3 eggs
- 1 ½ cup of water
- ½ cup of sour cream
- ½ cup of mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, white vinegar or pickle juice
- ½ tablespoon of garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon of pepper
- 1 teaspoon of paprika
- ⅓ cup of green onions
- 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese (I prefer sharp cheddar cheese myself)
Instructions:
Dice the bacon. Set instant pot to sauté. Fry the bacon pieces until crispy. Remove onto a paper towel to drain and set aside. Pour the grease out of the pot into a grease jar for later use or discard.
Wash and cube the potatoes into bite-sized pieces. Put the potatoes and eggs into the instant pot (eggs on top). Add cold water. The eggs and potatoes will not be fully submerged.
Tip: If you have a steamer basket use that to hold the potatoes and eggs. Steaming gives you a better texture.
Seal the lid and latch the pressure valve to the sealing position. Pressure cook on high pressure for 8 minutes, then naturally release pressure for 10 minutes.
Drain the tender potato pieces. Refrigerate the potatoes to cool for 30 minutes. Peel the cooked eggs and dice them.
In a large mixing bowl, add the mayonnaise, sour cream, apple cider vinegar, spices and bacon. Mix.
Add cheese, chopped hard boiled eggs and green onion.
Add the cooled potatoes and stir well.
Scrumptious Add-ins and Swaps
While this delicious potato salad recipe mimics a fully loaded baked potato, you can make instant pot potato salad so many ways. Try adding or swapping in some of these ingredients when making potato salad in the Instant Pot.
- Dill pickle relish or chopped pickles are popular additions to potato salad. Add a couple tablespoons or switch them for the vinegar in the recipe.
- Mustard adds a tangy flavor and is used in Southern potato salad recipes. I prefer a Dijon or whole grain mustard in potato salad over yellow mustard. Add this in small amounts, a teaspoon or less at a time added to your salad dressing and taste test.
- Greek yogurt can be switched out for the sour cream if you like.
- Fresh dill is one of my favorite potato salad additions. Chop it or other fresh herbs into your creamy dressing to add fresh homemade flair to your potato salad.
While Russet potatoes are the type of potato used in this recipe to most closely resemble the fluffy texture of a fully loaded baked potato, that variety is typically not my first choice. Yellow potatoes, such as Yukon Gold are a great choice, as are red potatoes, which have a thin skin and great texture.
You can pretty much use any variety of potato to make salad with. Waxy potatoes will hold their shape better, but have a less fluffy texture.
The potato skin has lots of nutrients. When making potato salad I usually leave the skins on due to this and for texture, but go with what your own family prefers. If you want to make potato salad without the skins on, peel the potatoes with a vegetable peeler prior to cooking.
Place the cooled potato salad in an airtight container or cover the bowl snugly with plastic wrap. Put it in the refrigerator. If promptly stored and kept refrigerated it should last 3-5 days. [ref]
I hope you enjoy this loaded baked potato salad recipe. Let me know how you like making it in the pressure cooker. If you need a couple more salads for a gathering, try my green pea salad or classic macaroni salad. If you are looking for a more basic version, try my easy potato salad with mayonnaise.
Instant Pot Loaded Potato Salad
Equipment
- Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker
- steamer basket for pressure cooker (optional)
Ingredients
- 2 pounds russet potatoes red or Yukon Gold potatoes are fine to swap
- 8 slices bacon
- 3 large eggs
- 1 ½ cup water
- ½ cup sour cream
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, white vinegar or pickle juice
- ½ tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt or to taste
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper or to taste
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ⅓ cup green onions
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Dice the bacon. Set instant pot to sauté. Fry the bacon pieces until crispy. Scoop out the cooked bacon bits onto a paper towel to drain and set aside. Pour the grease out of the pot into a grease jar for later use or discard.
- Wash the potatoes and cut into cubes. Place the cubed potatoes into the instant pot. Put the eggs on top and add water.
- Seal the lid and pressure valve and cook on high for 8 minutes. Let naturally release pressure for 10 minutes.
- Drain potatoes, and place in the fridge to cool for 30 minutes. Peel and dice the eggs.
- In a mixing bowl, add the mayonnaise, sour cream, vinegar, spices, bacon, cheese, eggs and onion. Mix well.
- Once the potatoes cool combine them with the mayonnaise mixture stir to mix until fully coated.
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