Easy Instant Pot Potato Salad

Easy Instant Pot Potato Salad recipe is a delicious, simple side dish. It’s quick, flavorful, and totally customizable with all your favorite add-ins. Perfect for BBQs, potlucks, or make-ahead meals! Pressure cooker potato salad is easier than on the stove top!

Potato Salad in the Instant Pot

There are so many foods you can cook in the Instant Pot, and potato salad is one of my favorites!

If you love a classic potato salad but hate the hassle of boiling potatoes and eggs separately, this Easy Instant Pot Potato Salad recipe is about to become your new go-to side dish!

Why You’ll Love This Instapot Potato Salad

• No stove required: Everything cooks in one pot—no draining, no boiling over.
• Fast and easy: Ready in under 30 minutes, with just a few minutes of pressure cooking time.
• Creamy and tangy dressing: Made with mayo, mustard, dill pickle juice, and sweet onion for that classic potato salad flavor.
• Customizable: Add bacon, cheese, green onions, or sour cream to take it to the next level.
• Great for meal prep: Tastes even better the next day!

With just a few minutes of prep and the magic of pressure cooking, you can have perfectly tender potatoes and hard-boiled eggs—cooked together in one pot. No more steaming up your kitchen or babysitting pots on the stove.

The use of one of my favorite Instant Pot Accessories, a Stainless Steamer Basket, makes it possible.

Ingredients in Instant Pot Potato Salad

This recipe keeps things simple and nostalgic, with a creamy, tangy dressing that’s full of flavor from dill pickle juice, mustard, mayo, and sweet onions.

If you're feeling a little extra, there are optional add-ins like crispy bacon, cheddar cheese, and sour cream to take it up a few notches.

How to Make Potato Salad in the Instant Pot

1. Warm up your Instant Pot using the sauté function while you prep ingredients. This speeds up pressure build time.
2. Add water to the pot and insert a mesh basket or steam rack.
3. Add cubed potatoes to the basket. Place eggs directly on top.
4. Once the water is lightly simmering, cancel sauté mode and pressure cook on Manual (High) for 4 minutes.
5. While cooking, mix the dressing ingredients in a large bowl. Taste and adjust seasoning.
6. When the timer is up, Quick Release the pressure.
7. Carefully remove eggs and place in an ice water bath.
8. Remove potatoes and spread on a baking sheet to cool quickly.
9. Peel and chop eggs, then mix them into the cooled potatoes with the dressing.
10. Add any optional ingredients for a "loaded" salad.
11. Chill for a couple of hours for best flavor. Enjoy!

For quicker cooling of the potatoes, spread them out on a baking sheet.

How to Store Instant Pot Potato Salad

• Refrigerator: Store leftover potato salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Make sure it’s completely cooled before sealing it to avoid excess moisture buildup.
• Make-Ahead Friendly: This salad is even better the next day! The flavors have time to meld, making it ideal for prepping the night before a BBQ or picnic.
• Do Not Freeze: Potato salad doesn’t freeze well due to the mayo-based dressing. The texture will turn watery and grainy after thawing, so it’s best enjoyed fresh from the fridge.
• Transport Tip: If you're bringing this salad to a gathering, keep it chilled in a cooler with ice and serve it cold. Mayo-based salads should not sit out longer than 2 hours (or 1 hour if it's really hot out).

I think the reason everyone loves this InstaPot Potato Salad is because it's simple, but has great flavor. And it's easy to make.

More Delicious Instant Pot Recipes
Instant Pot Hawaiian BBQ Sloppy Joes
Instant Pot Smoky Sweet Baked Beans
Instant Pot Baby Back Ribs
Instant Pot Corn on the Cob

5 from 6 votes

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Easy Instant Pot Potato Salad

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

4 mins

Pressure Build & Cooling

20 mins

Total Time

39 mins

 

A simple and delicious potato salad made using the Instant Pot. No more boiling potatoes on the stove and draining them. Classic flavor with room for any add-ins.

Course: Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: pressure cooker potato salad recipe

Servings: 8

Calories: 327 kcal

Author: Sandy Clifton

Ingredients

• 1 cup Water (for the Instant Pot)
• 8 med Potatoes, cubed in bite-sized pieces. I don't peel mine
• 5 Eggs

Dressing

• 1 ¼ cups Mayonnaise
• 1 Tablespoon Yellow Mustard
• 1 ½ Tablespoons Dill Pickle Juice
• ½ teaspoon Kosher Salt (I usually end up adding a pinch more, but this is a good start)
• ½ teaspoon Pepper
• 1 small Sweet Onion (finely chopped. Walla Walla or Vidalia are great!)

Optional, to Load it Up!

• ½ cup Cooked Chopped Bacon
• 1 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese
• ¼ - ½ cup Sour Cream (reduce mayo)
• ½ cup Green Onions, sliced

Instructions

Warm up the Instant Pot. Prepare a bowl of ice water for the eggs.

1. Put the water in the Instant Pot (make sure the liner is in it!). Plug in the pot and press the "Sauté" button. Continue with recipe prep as the water warms up. This helps your Instant Pot get up to pressure faster.

Prepare Potatoes & Eggs

1. Add cubed potatoes to a mesh colander or basket that is safe to cook in, and can hold all of the potatoes. Set the whole eggs directly on top of the potatoes as they will cook together.

2. As soon as the water in the Instant Pot is starting to simmer, very carefully set the basket of potatoes/eggs in the pot and close the lid, turning the steam release knob to the "Sealing" position.

3. Then turn the pot off by pressing the "Keep warm/Cancel" button.

4. Press the Manual button and use the + /- button to adjust cook time to 4 minutes.

5. While the IP is doing its magic, put all of the dressing ingredients, including the onion, in a bowl and whisk together. Taste to see how you like it and adjust seasonings to your liking (I like mine to taste just a little bit too salty, as there are a lot of potatoes to season, and for me it comes out perfect. Start with recommended amount, just to be safe!).

6. When the cook cycle has finished, turn the pot off and turn the steam release knob to the Venting position to Quick Release the steam/pressure. Once the pressure is released and the pin drops, open the lid facing away from you so you don't get a face full of steam!

7. Take out the eggs using tongs, and put them in the bowl of ice water. Then carefully take out the basket of potatoes. I use a mesh stainless basket and take out the basket of potatoes with pot holders.

8. To cool the potatoes faster, spread them out on a baking sheet in a single layer and stir them a few times. That helps a lot.

9. Peel the eggs and chop them to the size you want.

10. Put the cooled potatoes into a large bowl, pour the dressing on and stir. Add the chopped eggs, bacon, cheese, sour cream, and green onions, if using, and fold them in.

11. Refrigerate salad for a couple of hours, if you can wait that long, and serve!
    

Recipe Notes

How to Store Instant Pot Potato Salad

• Refrigerator: Store leftover potato salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Make sure it’s completely cooled before sealing it to avoid excess moisture buildup.

• Make-Ahead Friendly: This salad is even better the next day! The flavors have time to meld, making it ideal for prepping the night before a BBQ or picnic.

• Do Not Freeze: Potato salad doesn’t freeze well due to the mayo-based dressing. The texture will turn watery and grainy after thawing, so it’s best enjoyed fresh from the fridge.

• Transport Tip: If you're bringing this salad to a gathering, keep it chilled in a cooler with ice and serve it cold. Mayo-based salads should not sit out longer than 2 hours (or 1 hour if it's really hot out).