Delicious fork tender instant pot red potatoes. These red potatoes are easy prep, perfect for a simple dinner side dish and ideal for using in an instant pot red potato salad.
You can prep these pressure cooker red potatoes whole, or quarter them and they make a fantastic plan B for baby potatoes.

Red Potatoes Instant Pot
It wasnโt until I met amazing people through the instant pot community that I became obsessed with red potatoes.
I would just go shopping and buy whichever bag of potatoes was closet to me and then pressure cook the potatoes, or air fry them.
One of my favourite options was air fryer baby potatoes or instant pot new potatoes, but I soon learnt that our American readers would use red potatoes instead and cut them into quarters. They were then a similar size to the British baby potatoes.
I soon tried them and realised that baby potatoes and red potatoes could easily be switched around, depending on the season and the price of potatoes.
This week we are celebrating the red potatoes in our kitchen gadgets. Today it is instant pot red potatoes, tomorrow it is air fryer red potatoes and the day after tomorrow we are loving microwave red potatoes.
So let me show you today how to cook red potatoes in instant pot, how long to cook red potatoes in instant pot, more about quartered potatoes so that you get pressure cooking with me.
Plus, if you would like more potato recipes to cook with your gadgets also try: air fryer sweet potato fries, air fryer frozen sweet potato fries, microwave sweet potatoes, ninja foodi potatoes, soup maker leek and potato soup, and yummy air fryer roast potatoes.
Are You New To The Instant Pot?
Plus, as well as our extremely popular instant pot mini course which teaches you the instant pot basics in 5 days, we also have our instant pot bucket list. That is loaded with 30 FREE bucket list worthy instant pot recipes.
Click here or on the banner above and you will have access to both in an instant.
Can You Cook Red Potatoes In Instant Pot?
Yes, you can. Instant pot red potatoes are delicious and in my opinion better than most white potatoes.
You also have the option of boiling the red potatoes or using the steamer basket to make steamed red potatoes.
Though, if I had to choose, I would choose steaming because it retains the nutrients and the flavours of the red potato.
Are Red Potatoes Better For Boiling?
Yes, red potatoes are better for boiling. Red potatoes have a better flavour to them and need a little longer to be cooked compared to traditional white potatoes, this makes them an ideal boiling candidate.
How Long Does It Take To Boil Potatoes In An Instant Pot?
To boil potatoes in the instant pot, it varies depending on the size of the potato and which potato you are boiling.
Plus, of course if you are making our no drain instant pot mashed potatoes it will be even longer.
For these red potatoes we recommend an instant pot boil of 1 minute. This is because the red potatoes in the instant pot are boiling in the water and also have the time when they are going to pressure.
However, if you follow our red potatoes instant pot recipe we are steaming in which case the quartered potatoes donโt sit in the water and need slightly longer. So we increase the temperature to 2 minutes.
How Long Does It Take For Potatoes To Soften In Instant Pot?
In our pressure cooker red potatoes recipe, it takes JUST 2 minutes for the red potatoes to soften and be what I call โfork tenderโ.
This is based on either baby red potatoes, or medium sized red potatoes that have been quartered. It can of course vary depending on the potatoes you are pressure cooking.
Red Potatoes In Ninja Foodi
Got a ninja foodi and want to make ninja foodi red potatoes? Well, you can with this instant pot red potatoes recipe. That is because the Ninja Foodi and the Instant Pot are both brands of pressure cookers and they just have a different button to press.
For example, in the real old instant pot I have it calls it โmanualโ i.e. you are manually setting the time, and then the Ninja Foodi you just press the โpressure cookerโ button.
So what we should really be calling todays recipe is how to pressure cook red potatoes.
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Can You Recommend An Instant Pot?
I often get asked which electric pressure cookers we recommend and which one we use. In 95% of our instant pot recipes, we use either this instant pot duo (we have both the 6qt and 8qt) or the Ninja Foodi air fryer and pressure cooker in 1. You can click on the links above and read up on them.
Plus, we recommend you head over to our instant pot recipes category as we have many electric pressure cooker recipes and have been using instant pots for 5 years.
Red Potato Instant Pot Ingredients

Red Potatoes โ we used a 1.5kg bag of red potatoes which is 3 and 1/3 pounds. Be careful about ones with eyes on, because you will be doing instapot red potatoes with their skins on.
Butter โ We all know that everything tastes better with butter and pressure cooker red potatoes makes an excellent pairing. We recommend salted butter though for flavour.
Stock โ You can add water to the instant pot, but red potatoes in instant pot is much more flavoursome if you add some veggie stock. We make instant pot veggie stock from peelings then freeze for later and then add to the instant pot with the red potatoes.
Seasonings โ Then we finished off with some delicious seasonings such as salt, pepper, and parsley. You can also use mixed herbs or Italian seasoning if you prefer.
How To Cook Red Potatoes In Instant Pot?

- Load. Pour 1.5 cups (360ml) of veggie stock into your instant pot inner pot. Then quarter your red potatoes and give them a wash. Add your steamer basket to the instant pot inner pot and add the quartered potatoes into the steamer basket.
- Season. Next add chunks of butter over the instant pot red potatoes so that it will melt into the potato as it pressure cooks. Plus, season generously with salt, pepper, and parsley.
- Cook. Then place the lid on your instant pot, set the valve to sealing and pressure cook red potatoes for 2 minutes followed by a quick pressure release (QPR).
- Drain. When the instant pot is done, check that the red potatoes are fork tender before serving.
You now have easy instant pot potatoes.
How Long To Cook Red Potatoes In Instant Pot?
The instant pot potatoes cooking time is JUST 2 minutes. Though of course, like with any pressure cooker recipe, it doesnโt include the time taken to go to pressure.
Instant Pot Red Potatoes Whole
I love instant pot small red potatoes and it saves on chopping the potatoes into quarters (I know arenโt I lazy?). If small potatoes are in season, then follow this recipe for instant pot red potato and then cook the red potatoes whole.
The baby red potatoes are similar in size to medium red potatoes that are quartered.
Instant Pot Red Potatoes For Potato Salad
Do you like a potato salad? We have always made an instant pot potato salad from white potatoes, but why not make an instant pot red potato salad? You can follow our potato salad as is, then just swap white for red.
Listen To Instant Pot Red Potatoes

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More Instant Pot Potato Recipes
- Instant Pot Potatoes & Carrots
- Instant Pot Breakfast Potatoes
- Instant Pot Baked Potatoes
- Instant Pot Sweet No Drain Mashed Potatoes
- Instant Pot Sweet Potato Mash
- Check out all our 250+ instant pot beginner recipes!

Learn how to cook instant pot red potatoes below, note you can print it out with or without photos, adjust servings, or click between metric and imperial depending on where you are in the world.
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Instant Pot Red Potatoes
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg Medium Red Potatoes
- 360 ml Instant Pot Veggie Stock
- 2 Tbsp Salted Butter
- 1 Tbsp Parsley
- Salt & Pepper
Kitchen Gadgets
Instructions
- Place 1.5 cups (360ml) of veggie stock into your inner pot. Clean and then chop the red skinned potatoes into quarters.
- Add the steamer basket to the instant pot, fill with the red potatoes and then season the potatoes with salt, pepper, and parsley and then decorate the top of the potatoes with little chunks of butter.
- Place the lid on the instant pot pressure cooker, set the valve to sealing and pressure cook for 2 minutes followed by a quick pressure release.
- After a quick pressure release, do a fork test to make sure they are fork tender and then serve the red potatoes with extra butter and season with extra salt and pepper if needed.
Video

Notes
Nutrition
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