Make This Classic Side Dish In Half The Time With Your Instant Pot

The humble potato salad is one of many kitchen staples that can sometimes feel like more effort than it's worth, often because the potatos take anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes to cook through. If you're in a time crunch, this may mean skipping the potato salad altogether. However, an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker can cut potato cook time to a fraction of what you're used to because pressure cookers rely on trapped steam and high temperatures to swiftly cook their contents.

Cook times vary depending on the size of your potatoes. It only takes four minutes for quartered (or small) potatoes to cook on a high setting, and you can save prep time by leaving the skin on. When deciding which potatoes to get, try Yukon gold, the absolute best spuds to use in a classic potato salad. Red potatoes are another great option since they tend to be smaller. For those who include eggs in potato salad, your Instant Pot saves you even more boiling time since you can cook the eggs with your potatoes simultaneously. The trick is to fill your cooker with water to just about cover the potatoes and pop your eggs (still in the shell) on top. But the pressure cooked ingredients are just one piece of the puzzle. No potato salad is complete without dressing.

Potatoes are a neutral, palatable ingredient; therefore, you can experiment with many complementary add-ins and spices. For example, potatoes pair nicely with sour cream- or mayo-based dressings (or dressings that use both). Some even prefer a ranch-based potato salad. However, it can be time consuming to make ranch from scratch; you need to let it rest so the flavors can incorporate properly. In that case, try using a dried ranch dressing packet to save on prep time.

You can use other ingredients, such as red wine vinegar and pickles, to balance the flavor with a slight acidic bite. You may even include this secret sweet ingredient that old-school cooks have used in potato salad recipes for years: sugar. After you mix your components together, toppings, such as fresh green onion, red onion, or bacon, can add a bit more texture and flavor.

Once complete, you can enjoy this warm dish right away. You could even roast your potatoes instead of boiling them, which, conveniently, is also a feature on an Instant Pot. On the other side, some recipes recommend enjoying it cold, mostly because the flavors in dressings tend to blend nicely together as they chill in the fridge. All in all, there's no right or wrong way to enjoy potato salad, but we can guarantee your Instant Pot can save you time and hassle.