Instant Pot Potato Salad is the easy way to make this classic summer side dish! The potatoes and eggs are cooked together in the same pot, without overheating your kitchen.
Not only is Instant Pot Potato Salad easy to make, but this recipe is simply delicious!
A flavorful creamy dressing coats pressure cooker steamed potatoes and eggs perfectly, to make a tasty potato salad that’s perfect for BBQs, picnics, or casual dinners.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
This is a true one pot potato salad recipe! You don’t even need to touch your stove to make this recipe, as all the cooking is done in the instant pot!
And since you don’t need your stove, you can make this potato salad just about anywhere! Try making potato salad in the instant pot while you’re camping or off on another adventure this season.
You’ll see that you can easily adapt this recipe, and use this Instant Pot cooking method to make your favorite potato salad recipe, but faster!
And if you don’t already have a favorite potato salad recipe, I know that my Instant Pot recipe is pretty darn good, and will easily become your new go-to.
You will also love my easy Red Potato Salad, and zesty Deviled Egg Potato Salad recipes. Try them all, and then pick your favorite!
While you’re here reading about summertime salads, be sure to check out my super simple Caprese Pasta Salad with tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella pearls. Everyone also loves my Strawberry Salad with Feta and red onions.
Made this exactly the way the recipe call for. For the first time. It was so easy! Love cooking the eggs and potatoes all together. So much easier then boiling eggs and potatoes separately.
Debbie
Key Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make this one pot potato salad:
- Potatoes: Two pounds of waxy potatoes, washed, peeled, and cut into cubes that are about 2 centimeters or ¾ inch.
- Eggs: I love lots of eggs in my potato salad! Wash six eggs in preparation for adding to the instant pot with the potatoes.
- Celery and Green Onion: for flavor and crunch! You can also use diced white onion for a stronger onion flavor if you prefer.
- Potato Salad Dressing: A tangy, creamy mixture of mayonnaise, mustard, sweet pickle relish, salt, and pepper.
The Best Potatoes for Potato Salad
While everyone has their own opinions about which potatoes make the best potato salad, I believe that you should use a somewhat waxy potato. This type of potato holds its shape better so that your salad has visible cubes of potatoes rather mashed up pieces!
Your potato options will vary based on where you live, so here are some suggestions for the best potatoes to buy at the store when you’re going to make potato salad:
- In the US, look for Yukon Gold potatoes, regular white potatoes, red potatoes, or larger new potatoes.
- In the UK, Maris Piper potatoes work very well for potato salad, but I often like King Edward potatoes a bit more. Salad potatoes are also a great option.
- If you’re in Australia, go for Desiree, Red Pontiac, or Sebago potatoes for your instant pot potato salad.
Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
How To Make Instant Pot Potato Salad
- Cook the Eggs and Potatoes in the Instant Pot. Use a steaming basket or trivet in the Instant Pot and add 1 cup of water. Then arrange the cut potatoes and eggs on the trivet. Secure the lid, seal the valve, and pressure cook on manual, high pressure, for 3 minutes. Carefully do a quick pressure release and remove the lid. Immediately place the eggs in an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Allow the potatoes to cool down at room temperature for at least 10 minutes.
- Make the Dressing: While the potatoes and eggs are cooking, in a large salad bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, mustard, sweet relish, vinegar, salt, and pepper. And you can add an optional 1/2 teaspoon of sugar if desired.
- Taste and Adjust: Taste the dressing and adjust the seasonings if desired. Keep in mind that the flavors should be strong at this point, and will balance out once the other ingredients are added.
- Add the Potatoes to the Dressing: Gently stir the potatoes into the dressing to coat them.
- Peel and Dice The Eggs: Remove the eggs from the ice bath, and dice them, then add them to the bowl with the potatoes.
- Finish the Potato Salad: Now add the celery and green onion, and stir again gently until combined. Chill the salad for at least one hour before serving.
Tip!
The ice bath for the eggs is very important! If you don’t stop the cooking process, the eggs will continue to cook and end up dry and rubbery.
Recipe Tips
- Trust the process! If you’ve made my instant pot hard boiled eggs, you might know that they usually take 5 minutes with a 5-minute natural release. This recipe will cook the eggs fully in just three minutes, and that’s because the potatoes are in there as well and the time for the pot to come to pressure is longer.
- You can still make this instant pot recipe if you don’t have a steamer basket or trivet. Simply place the potatoes and eggs on the bottom of the pot. They may be a bit softer because they were touching the water, but still easy and delicious!
- For the best flavor, I suggest that you use regular full-fat mayonnaise for potato salad, but you can adjust the recipe to use reduced-fat mayo if you would like to.
- Any type of mustard and relish can be used. Yellow mustard gives a zippy flavor, but Dijon mustard adds a different, more mellow one. Dill relish is tasty in place of sweet relish too. Use what you have at home already!
- Feel free to adjust the size of this recipe. As long as the potatoes are all cut to the same size, the cooking time in the instant pot will stay the same. You can make more or less potato salad depending on how many servings you need and how big your IP is.
Storing Tips
Store instant pot potato salad in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Remember, salads like this one are made with mayonnaise, which can spoil if left out of the fridge for too long. Be sure to keep potato salad cool before and during dinner.
Potato salad does not freeze well, so I do not recommend it.
What To Serve With Instant Pot Potato Salad
Serve this easy potato salad with any of your favorite meals! It’s particularly tasty with summertime favorites like Grilled BBQ Chicken, Smoked Tri-Tip, and Grilled Shrimp Kabobs.
Instant Pot Potato Salad Recipe FAQs
This is totally up to you. I prefer to peel the potatoes when making potato salad, but if you like the texture of the skin, feel free to leave it on!
You definitely can, and I recommend that you do! Make the salad 2-3 days before you plan to serve it. The time in the fridge allows the flavors to develop and blend wonderfully.
Of course! Instant Pot is the most common way to refer to an electric countertop pressure cooker, but there are other brands. Try this recipe in a Ninja Foodi, Power Pressure Cooker, or whichever pot you own.
You may already have your favorite potato salad dressing recipe, and that is ok! You can use this instant pot cooking method to get the potatoes and eggs ready quickly and add them to whatever type of dressing you like.
More Time Saving Instant Pot Recipes
Instant Pot Ribs
Instant Pot Bruschetta Chicken Pasta
Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs
Instant Pot Crack Chicken
You’ll save so much time using the Instant Pot to make Potato Salad! Be sure to try this recipe soon – it’s perfect for hot summer months when you don’t want to have water boiling on the stove.
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Instant Pot Potato Salad
Equipment
- Large Salad Bowl
Ingredients
- 2 lb (900 grams) potatoes waxy type such as Yukon gold
- 6 eggs washed
- 1 cup (240 ml) water
- 1 ¼ cups (310 grams) mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon (14.4 grams) yellow mustard
- ¼ cup sweet relish
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 5 green onions sliced
- 2 celery stalks diced
Instructions
- Start by washing and peeling the potatoes, then dice into medium sized cubes. Place a steaming basket or a trivet in the Instant Pot, and add 1 cup of water to the bottom of the pot.
- Arrange the potatoes on the trivet or steaming basket (it’s ok if some fall in the water), and place the eggs on top. Secure the Instant Pot lid and adjust the valve to the sealing position.
- Press on 'Pressure Cook/Manual' function, set at high pressure for 3 minutes. Allow the Instant Pot to come to pressure and cook, when it’s done, do a quick pressure release and remove the lid.
- As the Instant Pot cooks the potatoes and eggs, make the dressing. In a large salad bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, mustard, sweet relish, vinegar, salt, and pepper. And you can add an optional 1/2 teaspoon of sugar if desired. Taste the dressing and adjust seasoning if desired, but keep in mind that it will be strong before the rest of the ingredients are added and flavors will be balanced then.
- Transfer the eggs to an ice bath immediately preventing the eggs from becoming overcooked. And let them sit in the cold water for at least 5 minutes.
- Remove the potatoes and allow to cool for a minimum of 10 minutes or longer if possible.
- Add the potatoes to the dressing, and gently stir with the dressing until the potatoes are coated. Then add the diced eggs, celery, and green onion and give everything a gentle stir until well combined.
- Chill the salad in the fridge for at least one hour before serving. The longer it sits in the fridge, the better the flavor is. Garnish with a sprinkle of smoked paprika before serving.
Notes:
- Choose potatoes that are waxy rather than starchy. In the US, this is Yukon Gold or white potatoes. In the UK, choose Maris Piper or King Edward. In Australia, try Desiree, Red Pontiac, or Sebago.
- The ice bath for the eggs is very important! If you don’t stop the cooking process, the eggs will continue to cook and end up dry and rubbery.
- You can still make this instant pot recipe if you don’t have a steamer basket or trivet. Simply place the potatoes and eggs on the bottom of the pot. They may be a bit softer because they were touching the water, but still easy and delicious!
- For the best flavor, I suggest that you use regular full-fat mayonnaise for potato salad, but you can adjust the recipe to use reduced fat mayo if you would like to.
- Any type of mustard and relish can be used. Yellow mustard gives a zippy flavor, but Dijon mustard adds a different, more mellow one. Dill relish is tasty in place of sweet relish too. Use what you have at home already!
- Feel free to adjust the size of this recipe. As long as the potatoes are all cut to the same size, the cook time in the instant pot will stay the same. You can make more or less potato salad depending on how many servings you need and how big your IP is.
- To Store: Keep this potato salad refrigerated in a sealed container for up to 3 days. I do not recommend freezing this recipe.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
Kara says
I only used this to cook the eggs and potatoes. it can out prefect. thanks for the cooking instructions!
Little Sunny Kitchen says
I’m glad that the recipe helped you make the perfect potato salad!
Debbie says
Made this exactly the way the recipe call for. For the first time. It was so easy! Love cooking the eggs and potatoes all together. So much easier then boiling eggs and potatoes separately.
Little Sunny Kitchen says
Thanks for trying my recipe, Debbie. So glad it worked so well for you!
Jerry Bennett says
I add celery seeds to the mix and also sprinkle celery salt over the top after mixing potatoes and mayonnaise.
Jerry Bennett says
I added celery seeds to the sauce and then sprinkled the top with celery salt to taste after it was mixed together.
I didn’t use pickle relish.
I place the cooked potatoes on a cookie sheet to dry and cool for a short time in the refrigerator.
Makes it similar to my mother’s old recipe. She didn’t have an instant pot!