TheWildWaynes
a family of four cooking & creating our way through tiny living
Fully Loaded Mashed Potatoes in the Instant Pot
What is Fully Loaded Mashed Potatoes?
Fully loaded mashed potatoes are like mashed potatoes but with all of your favorite toppings cooked in. I know right? Why make regular mashed potatoes?
When is a Great Time to Make Fully Loaded Mashed Potatoes?
There is a pot luck at work or at a group event and you need something to feed a bunch of people. You have a family event and need something to take care of everybody’s empty stomachs. Dinner is missing a side and you want to blow your family’s minds. You’re binge watching streaming TV and you need something absolutely amazing to dip crackers, chips, or vegetables into.
What Kind of Potatoes to use for Loaded Mashed Potatoes
All potatoes will work for this recipe. But, Yukon gold or yellow potatoes have the smooth buttery flavor that goes the best in any mashed potato recipe. They also have the smoothest texture when boiled or steamed.
Using the Instant Pot to Steam the Potatoes for your Fully Loaded Mashed Potatoes
The instant pot makes it incredibly easy to cook potatoes. Without the instant pot, potatoes are most often submerged in water and boiled. In the instant pot, you have the opportunity to make it easy by using a steamer basket to steam the potatoes with chicken broth for extra flavor.
Put the chopped potatoes in a steamer basket and you can easily remove all of the potatoes from the instant pot. Then you can empty the broth left in the instant pot into a bowl to be used to thin the finished loaded mashed potatoes.
Fully Loaded Mashed Potato Flavors
The best flavors to add to your fully loaded mashed potatoes are your favorite things to put on top of any potato. The possibilities are almost endless.
Maple Breakfast Sausage
Maple flavored breakfast sausage is one of my favorite ingredients to add. You can use any sausage you want to take the flavor in any direction. You could use smoked chipotle sausage and blow your mind in a whole ‘nother direction. Don’t forget to use a sharp knife and a good quality cutting board to cut safely.
Bacon
Bacon will often times comes on a baked potato at restaurants. It adds a salty and savory flavor to your potatoes you will appreciate. There is also a great texture that goes along with chopped bacon.
Use a piece of aluminum foil pushed into your kitchen sink drain to catch the bacon grease. Carefully fold the corners up to seal the liquid fat in an aluminum foil torpedo and throw it away.
Onion
Onions have a very original flavor that go great with potatoes. Each type of onion has it’s own special flavor and are used for different things. White and green onions are great for potato toppings because they are delicious raw or cooked.
Sour Cream
Sour cream is a common baked potato topping. Using sour cream will bring a bit of zing to your loaded mashed potatoes. If you love the zing of sour cream, feel free to add a whole cup rather than a half cup.
Cream
Cream is a delicious fatty liquid that will bring a rich flavor to the loaded mashed potatoes. An ingredient I like to use in many recipes.
Butter
There is not a potato in this world that wouldn’t benefit from the addition of butter. Think how butter will wake up a bowl of popcorn. It works the same for potatoes.
Cheddar Cheese
Add cheddar cheese to any potato to make it pop! Do you like cheesy fries or potato wedges? Cheddar cheese is a must add ingredient to potato recipes.
Salt and Pepper
I don’t think any potatoes should be without salt and pepper. All of the ingredients in any loaded mashed potatoes benefit from the addition of salt and pepper.
Garlic can go in Loaded Mashed Potatoes too
Garlic’s flavor can be intense. But, adding the mellow flavor of potatoes, garlic can push your loaded mashed potatoes to the next level.
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Steamer Basket for the Instant Pot
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Wooden Spatula I use for Scraping and Stirring
End Grain Wood Cutting Board on Etsy
Boo’s Mystery Oil for the Wood Cutting Board
Boo’s Board Cream for Wood Cutting Boards
Hard Boiled Egg Holder for the Instant Pot
Egg Bite Mold for the Instant Pot
Basket Replacement for Cosori 5.7 quart Air Fryer
TheWildWaynes’ Video Collection
Fully Loaded Mashed Potatoes
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
- Steamer Basket (Recommended)
Ingredients
- 4 – 5 lbs Yukon Gold Potatoes (~2 servings per pound of potatoes) I think they taste the best with the best texture
- 1/2 lb Bacon
- 1/2 lb Maple Breakfast Sausage try other types of sausage to change it up
- 2 cups Medium Cheddar Cheese Shredded
- 6 cloves Garlic diced
- 1/4 White or Brown Onion chopped
- 5 Green Onions sliced
- 1/2 cup Sour Cream
- 1/2 cup Cream or Half & Half
- 8 Tbsp Unsalted butter sliced
- 1 & 1/2 cups Water or chicken broth
- 2 tsp Chicken Bouillon skip if using chicken broth
- 2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper fresh ground if you have it
Instructions
Steam the Potatoes
- Peel and chop 4 pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes into 1/4's
- Add 2 tsp chicken bouillon and 1 and 1/2 cups of water
- Slide the instant pot steamer basket into the instant pot
- *If you do not have a steamer basket, use the trivet to keep the potatoes out of the broth
- Add the peeled and quartered potatoes to the instant pot steamer basket
- Put the instant pot lid on, seal the pressure release valve, press the pressure cook button and adjust the cook time to 15 minutes
- The instant pot will take about 10 – 15 minutes to come to pressure before the cooking time begins
- Dice 6 cloves of garlic and chop 1/4 of a white or brown onion
- After the 15 minutes of cooking time is finished (the instant pot will beep at you) release the pressure
- After the pin drops, remove the lid, grab the steamer basket handle and move to your kitchen sink
- * If you're not using a steamer basket, carefully move the potatoes to a large bowl with tongs and a fork
- Drain the chicken broth from the instant pot into a 2 cup measuring cup or a bowl, save to thin the mashed potatoes to your liking at the end
Cook Sausage and Bacon
- Get 1/2 pound maple breakfast sausage and 1/2 pound bacon open and ready
- *Maple breakfast sausage adds an incredible unmatchable flavor to your potatoes
- Cancel pressure cook and press sauté on the instant pot
- Drop the sausage and bacon into the instant pot
- Cook for 5-7 minutes, flip the bacon and sausage using long kitchen tongs and sauté for another 5-7 minutes or until done to your liking
- Use long kitchen tongs to move the sausage and bacon to folded paper towels to drain and cool
- Drain the fat from the instant pot into an empty can or piece of aluminum foil pressed into your kitchen sink, fold the aluminum foil around the fat and throw it away
The Flavor
- Slice 8 Tbsp of butter and drop into the instant pot
- Use a flat wooden spatula to knock the butter slices over so they are laying on their sides to melt faster
- Add 2 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp of ground black pepper to the butter
- Add 1/2 cup cream, 1/2 cup sour cream, diced garlic, and chopped onion to the instant pot
- Small chop the maple breakfast sausage and bacon
- Add the sausage and bacon to the instant pot and stir ingredients until they are well mixed
Finale
- Drop the steamed potatoes into the instant pot with the other ingredients
- Use a potato masher to smash the potatoes into other ingredients
- Put the instant pot lid on and seal the pressure release valve
- Press Slow Cook making sure the instant pot displays "more" adjust the time to an hour or how ever long until you plan on dinner being ready or the pot luck starts
- *If your instant pot displays "Less", press the Slow Cook button again to turn on "More"
- Chop 5 green onions and shred 2 cups of medium cheddar cheese
- Remove the lid from the instant pot and stir the shredded cheese and sliced green onions into the potatoes
- Plate your fully loaded mashed potatoes and enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
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I have got to try this one! Looks so good!
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