Instant Pot Twice-Baked Potato Recipe

A fair word of warning here: Once you eat these Instant Pot twice-baked potatoes, you're never going to want to go with boring "once" baked potatoes ever again, and neither is your family. That said, provided you have the right hardware in your kitchen, you can whip up a batch of twice-baked potatoes every bit as quickly as their classic counterpart. "These are very easy to make as long as you are familiar with using an Instant Pot," says chef and recipe developer Miriam Hahn. 

And not only are twice-baked potatoes delicious, they are also, frankly, impressive. "They take any meal a notch up because they look harder to make than they are," says Hahn, adding: "And they are so delicious. The Instant Pot speeds up the whole process and minimizes clean-up." If you have a hand blender handy as well, so much the better. 

All told, there is all of 15 minutes of hands-on work here, and that work can be done well ahead of time. "I love how you can make them ahead — up to two days — and store them in an airtight container. Then just reheat in the oven," says Hahn. "If you do that, just wait to add the final toppings."

To make a great batch of Instant Pot twice-baked potatoes, you'll need some medium to large russet potatoes, a cup of water, butter (or a vegan substitute like Earth Balance), sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese (or a substitute that will melt reliably), unsweetened almond milk (or regular milk), salt, garlic powder, and onion powder.

As optional (and excellent) toppings, consider classics like bacon bits, scallions, parsley, and black olives, and you can add some delightful spice with sliced jalapeños and some red pepper flakes.

Wash and dry the potatoes, and then poke each one five or six times with a fork — this helps prevent potato explosion. Now pour one cup of water into the Instant Pot and place the trivet inside. Next, stack the potatoes in the Instant Pot.

Close the lid, set the Instant Pot to sealing and high pressure, then set the timer to 13 minutes (or 15 if the potatoes are on the larger side). When the timer goes off, let the pot naturally release for another ten minutes. Now is a good time to pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Now carefully switch the knob from sealing to venting and let any more steam release before opening the lid.

Remove the Instant Pot twice-baked potatoes and set them aside to let them cool for about 15 minutes. Then, holding the potato lengthwise, slice off the top third of each potato.

Scoop out the insides of the potatoes, leaving about a quarter inch of the interior intact around the perimeter so the potato stays together nicely throughout the process. Additionally, scoop the potato out of the top section as well, and place all of the scooped-out potato in a bowl.

Don't worry if the potato isn't yet at the smooth consistency you expect for prepping this dish — that will come next. 

Put all of the scooped potato back into the Instant Pot along with all of the remaining ingredients except toppings. That includes the onion and garlic powders, the cheese, the milk, the sour cream, and the butter.

Turn on the appliance's sauté setting and stir and cook everything for about five minutes. The potato mixture will now but much softer and easier to mix. Use a hand blender to process the potato and other ingredients until everything is smooth. (If you don't have a hand blender, you can use a potato masher and some patience or transfer the ingredients to a regular blender.)

Your work is almost done! Spoon the smooth, well-combined potato mixture evenly into each potato skin shell, and note that they will be overstuffed with plenty of potato sticking up over the sides. Place these prepped skins into an oven-safe pan.

Now top the stuffed potatoes with cheese and add bacon bits if desired, then put them in the pre-heated oven for 15 minutes.

Once the 15 minutes have passed, remove the potatoes from oven and add additional toppings as wanted, then serve the Instant Pot Twice Baked Potatoes and enjoy, meaning both the flavor and the compliments.