3 Reasons Why You Should Love Potatoes Again

I have 3 reasons why you should love potatoes again. If you can grow potatoes in your yard, a pot, or raised garden bed, you will never go hungry. I would highly, recommend purchasing USDA organic seed potatoes because then you can keep on growing potatoes. You plant, cultivate, harvest, and replant a section of the seed potatoes you just grew.

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Are you like me and want an easy and quick way to make potatoes for dinner? I had so many email requests asking how to use an electric pressure cooker that I decided to do a series on how to use one. Today it’s about how to cook potatoes in one.

I have a Fagor electric pressure cooker so that’s the one I will show you how to use. This is the one I have: Fagor 670040230 Stainless-Steel 3-in-1 6-Quart Multi-Cooker I’m left-handed and for some reason I need pictures to teach me things or someone to show me how to do things. Those instruction books do not work for me. So here are several pictures to get you started, step by step using an electric pressure cooker.

Why You Should Love Potatoes

This year I grew two kinds of potatoes in container pots outside. I planted Russet and small red potatoes. It has worked out great. It takes about two months and I have potatoes. I buy seed potatoes from a local store and dig a hole about 6-8 inches deep in my 20-inch by 20-inch pots. Next, I cut sliced potato chunks with eyes in the soil and covered them with soil.

I have water lines run so they have a drip system to water them. About a week or two later you can see some green leaf sprouts and I keep mounding the dirt higher around the plants. The potatoes I cooking today are from a local grocery store, not my garden. We ate the ones I grew, but I have some more growing right now.

By the way, once you grow your own potatoes there is no going back to the store-bought ones, except for this post today! Just giving you the heads up here, they are so soft and moist because they are picked fresh and eaten within a few days from your garden.

Love Potatoes-Electric Pressure Cooker:

1. How To Make Russet Mashed Potatoes:

Temperature High/8 minutes. Place the potato chunks with one cup of water in the pressure cooker. Put the lid on and make sure it’s locked. Move the button to the pressure gauge and push until you see 8 minutes on HIGH and click start.

Easy And Quick Way To Make Potatoes For Dinner | by FoodStorageMoms.com

As you can see above, I peeled these Russet potatoes to make mashed potatoes. I do not enjoy peeling potatoes but I peeled these to show my readers you can make mashed potatoes very easily in a Fagor pressure cooker. You do not have to mash these after cooking just so you know. You could serve them as potato chunks as well.

Here’s the deal, if you follow the instructions I put in the “recipe” card below you can make these and so many other meals quickly without having to wait for a pot to boil, and then deal with the mess when it sometimes boils over with water all over the stove.

A pressure cooker is very easy to wash by hand and dry on the counter. You can use a warm hot soapy dishrag and swish it around inside the inner pan, then rinse and dry it. You wash the lid and rinse it the same way. It’s easy or I wouldn’t do it, trust me.

Once I heard the beep that the pressure cooker was finished, I used a spoon with a towel so I wouldn’t get burned from the HOT steam as I turned it to “steam” to release the steam/pressure. After the steam was totally released, I then turned the lid away from me and lifted out the inner pan, and drained the potatoes in a stainless steel colander.

Then I got out a large bowl and added the cooked potatoes. Next, I grabbed my trusty old hand mixer and I was ready to mash the potatoes. I added a little butter and a smidge of milk and they were ready to serve.

Now let me tell you one thing while I am thinking about it. I remember when I first got a pressure cooker years ago. Thought I had turned it on. Well, I was impatient. I kept thinking why isn’t this darn thing doing anything? Well, it was doing something.

If you add the food and one cup of liquid, lock the lid on, and turn it to “pressure” it takes a couple of minutes to build up the heat to cook your food. You need to be patient.

You must decide which temperature you want to cook the food, either high or low, then check my temperature printouts, push the HIGH or LOW button according to what you are cooking and you are set.

Then you press the “start” button. Easy peasy. Then I can work on my blog or do some laundry while the food is cooking. How to release the pressure is stated below.

2. How To Make Mashed Small Red Potatoes:

Temperature High/8 minutes. Place the small potatoes the size shown below with one cup of water in the pressure cooker. Put the lid on and make sure it’s locked. Move the button to the pressure gauge and push until you see 8 minutes on HIGH and click start.

These are small red potatoes that I decided to mash after cooking them. I call these “dirty” potatoes because I didn’t peel them. They are yummy, even with the peelings left on them. Remember, everything you cook must have one cup of liquid every time. I used one cup of water.

Now I know some people prefer eating just small red potatoes as shown above. You can eat them with a little butter and salt and pepper to taste. It’s easy to cook them this way.

No waiting for the pan of water to come to a boil and standing around watching them cook. Nope, there is none of that when you use a pressure cooker. Set and forget as stated in my little “recipe” card below.

Now, after cooking these for 8 minutes in the pressure cooker, the cooker beeps. I used my spoon and a towel to turn the “pressure” button to “steam” and I was careful when the steam was released. It is very hot, just be cautious. Once you cook with one of these a few times it’s easy to learn how to release the steam.

Next, I removed the inner pan and drained the cooked potatoes. I placed them in a large bowl and used my hand mixer to mash them. I also added a little milk and butter. I took some over to my neighbor, JoAnn because there was no way Mark and I could eat all of these potatoes. I did freeze a few bags for future meals, but I can only freeze so many bags! LOL!

3. How To Cook Sweet Potatoes or Yams:

Boy, these turned out awesome. I peeled some sweet potatoes (the sign at the store said sweet potatoes). They might be yams, but it doesn’t matter because this is how I cooked them. They were cut into chunks and placed in the pressure cooker. Here again, I added one cup of water. I set the temperature to 8 minutes on HIGH by pushing 8 times on the HIGH button. Once it beeped, I used a spoon and a towel to release the “pressure” button to “steam” being careful not to get burned. It is hot steam, remember.

Now, I put the sweet potatoes or yams in a colander to drain the excess water. They are ready to eat and enjoy as is. They did not even need butter or salt and pepper. Perfect in my eyes, and so yummy!

FREE printable sheets:

1. Pressure Cooker Temperatures-Vegetables

2. Pressure Cooker Temperatures-rice, grains, beans

3. Pressure Cooker Temperatures-Meat

Please don’t be afraid of a pressure cooker, they are very easy to use. Sometimes you hear the beep that the pressure cooker is finished cooking and you turn the “pressure” button to the “steam” button (with a spoon or rag over it) and you see the food is not totally cooked to your liking. No worries, just add one cup of water and repeat the cooking process for a few more minutes.

Yes, it’s a guessing game, I thought I could cook the sweet potatoes or yams above in 4 minutes on HIGH. When I heard the beep that the pressure cooker was finished and safe to release the “pressure” button I did just that. I put a fork in the potatoes and they were not quite soft enough for my liking. I added one more cup of water, put the lid back on, and set it to “pressure”. Then I pushed the HIGH button 4 times, therefore 4 more minutes to cook. They turned out perfectly!

Dinner rolls by Linda

I love cooking potatoes this way. You can plant, cultivate, and harvest potatoes to cook at home.

How To Plant Potatoes