Easy Instant Pot Baked Potato Recipe
This instant pot baked potato recipe is the easiest way to bake potatoes without heating up the oven! Just add potatoes and water to your instant pot and let it do all the work. You’ll end up with perfectly tender, beautifully cooked potatoes. Top them with cheddar, bacon, and sour cream or just keep it simple with butter, salt, and pepper.
You Will Love This
- While the total cooking time is similar to that of baking potatoes in the oven, using the instant pot does mean that you won’t have to use quite as much energy or heat up your entire kitchen with a hot oven. We enjoy baked potatoes throughout the summer and I love to avoid the extra heat in the house by using the instant pot.
- If you love this instant pot potato recipe, be sure to check out my 30 Minute Instant Pot Chicken Chili, 20 Minute Instant Pot Taco Soup, or Instant Pot French Dips!
Ingredients and Substitutions
This recipe could not be more simple. It’s literally potatoes and water, friends. You can make this!
- Russet Potatoes – We all know that Russets are the best for baked potatoes. I have not tested this recipe with any other potatoes, so I can’t recommend substitutions.
- Cold Water – Cold water is best for instant pot baked potatoes. It ensures that they don’t overcook. Using warm or room temp water can change the cooking time, so stick with cold water.
- Serve with: butter, sour cream, cheddar cheese, crispy bacon, sliced chives
Instructions
Place metal trivet into the bottom of your instant pot. Poke several holes in the potatoes with a fork. Pour in the water and place potatoes on top of the trivet.
Cook on high pressure for 34 minutes. Naturally release for 8 minutes, then manual release the remaining steam. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then slice open and top with all your favorites and enjoy!
Tips
- Don’t forget to poke the potatoes all over with a fork. This will allow the steam to release from the potatoes without exploding. If you don’t, you may open your instant pot and find that your potatoes have exploded.
- This recipe is written for 4 large Russet baking potatoes that weigh about 3 pounds in total. This means each potato weighs around 12 oz. If you’re using medium-sized Russets (around 8 oz. each or 2 pounds total) you can cook them for closer to 22-23 minutes.
- If you’re cooking less than 4 potatoes, you’ll want to add a couple of extra minutes to the cooking time.
- Try to find potatoes that are all the same size to ensure that they cook through evenly in the same amount of time. Otherwise you’ll end up with some potatoes that are overcooked while others aren’t cooked enough.
- I like to carefully coat the outside of the cooked potatoes with olive oil and then season them with a generous amount of Kosher salt. I find that this really adds to the delicious flavor of the potato skin.
FAQ
Just a cup of water is all it takes to make these quick and easy instant pot baked potatoes. That will ensure that the instant pot has enough liquid to come up to pressure and that the potatoes cook through perfectly!
These instant pot baked potatoes take under an hour. It takes about 10 minutes or so for the instant pot to come up to pressure. Then 34 minutes to cook and 8 minutes to naturally release. While this is similar to the amount of time it takes to bake potatoes in the oven, the advantage here is that you don’t have to heat up the whole house with your hot oven!
More Easy Instant Pot Recipes
Instant Pot Baked Potatoes
This instant pot baked potato recipe is the easiest way to bake potatoes without heating up the oven! Just add potatoes and water to your instant pot and let it do all the work. You’ll end up with perfectly tender, beautifully cooked potatoes. Top them with cheddar, bacon, and sour cream or just keep it simple with butter, salt, and pepper.
- Prep Time: 1 minute
- Coming to Pressure + Natural Release: 18 minutes
- Cook Time: 34 minutes
- Total Time: 53 minutes
- Yield: 4 large potatoes 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 4 large Russet potatoes (about 3 pounds total)
- 1 cup cold water
Serve with:
- butter
- sour cream
- cheddar cheese
- crispy bacon
- sliced chives
Instructions
- Place metal trivet into the bottom of your instant pot.
- Pour water into the instant pot.
- Poke several holes in the potatoes with a fork.
- Place potatoes on top of the trivet.
- Seal instant pot and cook on high pressure for 34 minutes. It will take about 10 minutes or so to come to pressure before the cooking time begins.
- Naturally release for 8 minutes, then manual release the remaining steam.
- Use tongs to remove potatoes from the instant pot.
- Allow to cool for a few minutes, then slice open and top with all your favorites and enjoy!
Notes
- Don’t forget to poke the potatoes all over with a fork. This will allow the steam to release from the potatoes without exploding. If you don’t, you may open your instant pot and find that your potatoes have exploded.
- This recipe is written for 4 large Russet baking potatoes that weigh about 3 pounds in total. This means each potato weighs around 12 oz. If you’re using medium-sized Russets (around 8 oz. each or 2 pounds total) you can cook them for closer to 22-23 minutes.
- If you’re cooking less than 4 potatoes, you’ll want to add a couple of extra minutes to the cooking time.
- Try to find potatoes that are all the same size to ensure that they cook through evenly in the same amount of time. Otherwise you’ll end up with some potatoes that are overcooked while others aren’t cooked enough.
- I like to carefully coat the outside of the cooked potatoes with olive oil and then season them with a generous amount of Kosher salt. I find that this really adds to the delicious flavor of the potato skin.
Can this be done with a crock pot/slow cooker?
I am not sure as I’ve only tested this recipe with the instant pot. Try googling slow cooker baked potatoes and see what comes up. I bet there is a delicious recipe out there!
This is such and easy way to make baked potatoes when I don’t want to heat up the oven! They came out perfectly tender. Thank you!