The days of baked potatoes taking hours to make are behind us. These perfectly fluffy instant pot baked potatoes are piping hot and ready to eat in under 40 minutes!

When it comes to baked potatoes, the Instant Pot is a complete game changer. Giant restaurant-style baked potatoes with crispy skins and fluffy middles used to be nearly impossible to make at home if you didn’t have all afternoon to stay home and babysit the oven. Now, they can be on the table in a little over a half hour!

And if you love baked potatoes as much as I do, check out the whole Baked Potato series on TheCookful.

Baked potato topped with sour cream and chives, in front of an instant pot.

How To Make Instant Pot Baked Potatoes

To make perfect instant pot baked potatoes, start by piercing several russet potatoes all over with the prongs of a fork. This step is really important, so don’t skip it! Potatoes have a lot of water in them, and that water turns to steam as it heats up. Piercing the potatoes gives that steam a way to escape. Without an exit-route for the steam, the pressure can build up and you run the risk of the skins cracking or your potatoes bursting open.

Next, pour a cup of water into your Instant Pot and drop in the trivet. Pile your potatoes on the trivet, keeping them out of the water itself – you want your potatoes to steam, not boil.

Pop on the lid and turn the vent to sealing. Cook the potatoes under high pressure for 12-20 minutes, depending on how big they are. Let the pressure release naturally, then take off the lid and carefully remove the potatoes – they’ll be very hot! I like using a pair of tongs for this.

The potato skins come out surprisingly crispy straight from the pressure cooker. If you want them to be extra crunchy, pop them under the broiler for a few minutes or crisp them up further in an air fryer.

Otherwise, load them up with salt and pepper, sour cream, chives, bacon, or your favorite toppings and enjoy!

How Long To Cook Baked Potatoes In An Instant Pot?

Some recipes for Instant Pot baked potatoes call for shorter cooking times, but I always add an extra minute or two. This helps ensure the internal temperature of the potatoes reaches 210 degrees – the optimal temperature for those soft, fluffy middles that make restaurant potatoes so crave-worthy.

Small Potatoes (baseball sized): 12 minutes
Medium Potatoes (the size of a small fist, typically sold packed together in a 5- or 10- pound bag): 16 minutes
Large Potatoes (slightly larger than your fist, typically sold loose): 18 minutes
Extra-Large Potatoes (steakhouse-sized potatoes up to 1 pound each): 20 minutes