Instant Pot Potato Salad (Paleo, Whole30, Low FODMAP)

With Canada Day and the 4th of July coming up, you definitely want to have this Instant Pot Potato Salad recipe in your back pocket! This healthy Instant Pot Potato Salad boasts tender potatoes mixed with crunchy veggies and coated in a creamy, tangy, mouthwatering dressing. The perfect side salad for a summer barbecue or holiday get-together, this Instant Pot Potato Salad is Paleo and Whole30 compliant as well as low FODMAP.

Potato Salad: A Summer Favourite

Potato salad has always been my favourite summer side dish. Before my clean eating days, I'd buy a tub of it at the store and quickly devour it. Now that I've been enlightened in the benefits of Paleo eating and unwillingly forced into the ways of low FODMAP eating, I don't do that anymore, which is clearly better for my health.

Why Instant Pot Potato Salad?

Because, well...Instant Pot. I love using it, and it makes cooking certain things so easy and hands-off. In the case of this potato salad, you add water to the Instant Pot, chop the potatoes, put them in on top of a veggie steamer, close the lid, set the pressure release valve to "Sealing," push the "Pressure Cook" button and set the timer for 2 minutes. When you open the lid, you have potatoes that are cooked perfectly for potato salad. They're tender but not too tender so that they fall apart when you mix them together with the other ingredients. Unless you're a particularly brutal stirrer.

Some Things to Consider Before Making this Instant Pot Potato Salad Recipe

One slight drawback to this particular recipe is that you need to have a vegetable steamer basket (like this one) in order to execute it properly. Using the trivet that comes with the Instant Pot will not work. The potatoes are too small and will fall right through.

Some recipes tell you to chop the potatoes into larger pieces initially so that they don't fall through the trivet. Then, you chop them after they're cooked. That idea didn't appeal to me since I have a veggie steamer basket and can just use that.

Secondly, I don't like eggs in my potato salad, so this recipe does not include the cooking of eggs, just potatoes. If you need eggs in your potato salad, I can respect that; there are tons of Instant Pot potato salad recipes with eggs out there that cook both the potatoes and eggs in the Instant Pot at the same time. I think this is brilliant but not necessary for my particular needs.

Necessary Equipment

Speaking of a veggie steamer, here's the full list of equipment I use to make this Instant Pot Potato Salad:

• Instant Pot Pressure Cooker
• Vegetable steamer basket (I use one like this)
• Chopping board
• Chopping knife
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Large spoon
• Two large bowls
• Small bowl
• Colander (a.k.a. strainer)
• Sink with cold water
• Whisk
• Spatula

Instant Pot Potato Salad: Ingredients and Tips for Success

Red Potatoes

Not all potatoes work well when it comes to making homemade potato salad. Waxy potatoes, such as red, purple, or fingerling potatoes are best as they are better at keeping their form when cooked than starchier potatoes like russet or Idaho. I use red potatoes for potato salad as they are easy to find around here.

To start, wash and chop 2 pounds of red potatoes into ½" pieces. You can remove the potato skins beforehand if you want to. I leave them on as I like keeping the nutrients that they bring in the salad. I'm also all about doing less work.

After pouring a cup of cold water and placing the veggie steamer into the Instant Pot, pile on the chopped potatoes so that they are evenly stacked on the veggie steamer within the Instant Pot. Close the lid, set the pressure release valve to sealing, press "Pressure Cook" and set the cooking time to 3 minutes. My pot took about 13 minutes to come to pressure, so your potatoes will take about 15 minutes total to cook and then take about 2 minutes to quickly release the pressure.

After the potatoes have finished cooking, open the lid, let the steam dissipate for a few seconds, and scoop them out with a large spoon into a colander. Gently rinse the potatoes them with cold water for a few minutes until they are lukewarm to the touch. Then, let them sit to drain and cool the rest of the way. You could just let them sit to cool without rinsing, but rinsing them with cold water is way faster and doesn't make them fall apart as long as you don't pressure wash them.

Other Produce

While the potatoes are cooking, I chop the rest of the produce for the salad. The produce I've selected is a bit non-traditional as I wanted to make this potato salad more refreshing and also compensate for having minimal celery to keep it low FODMAP. Here's the full list:

• Scallions: A.k.a. green onions, the green tops only for low FODMAP.
• Red bell pepper: Provides some refreshing flavour, crunch and colour.
• Celery: ¼ stalk per serving is Monash University's recommended tolerable amount for low FODMAP. We're only putting in one medium stalk, which comes to only 1/10 of a stalk per serving.
• Carrot: Adds more refreshing flavour, crunch and colour.

Finely chop everything but the scallions (just slicing them is okay). Add to a large bowl and set aside until the potatoes have cooked and cooled. Once the potatoes have cooled, add them to the bowl of other produce. Gently stir with a spoon until combined.

Dressing

The dressing ingredients include the following:

• Dairy-free mayo: I use avocado oil mayo by Chosen Foods. I'm providing the link for reference purposes, but I buy it way cheaper at Costco.
• Dried chives: One of my favourite low FODMAP herbs to replace garlic and onion powder. I use dried instead of fresh as I always have them on hand, and it's just so easy to throw them in.
• Salt and ground black pepper: These bring out all the flavours.
• Fresh dill, chopped: a common potato salad ingredient. I would not use dry dill if you can help it; you really want the flavour of fresh dill to shine through.
• Horseradish: Not a super common ingredient for potato salad, but I had potato salad with horseradish many years ago and really liked it. It gives the potato salad a bit of a kick without being too spicy. Monash University's Low FODMAP Diet App lists horseradish as low FODMAP in quantities of up to 2 tbsp per serving. We're only putting in 1 tbsp for 10 servings of potato salad.
• Yellow mustard: Monash deems yellow mustard tolerable for people with IBS in quantities of up to 1 tbsp per serving as long as the mustard does not contain added garlic or onion. We're only putting in 2 tbsp spread across 10 servings. I discuss more on mustard and suggest low FODMAP brands in my Juicy Turkey Burgers post.
• White wine vinegar: I believe white vinegar is traditionally used in potato salad for acidity, but I find its flavour incredibly harsh and generally think that white vinegar should only be used for cleaning. I use white wine vinegar, which is low FODMAP as well as Whole30 compliant.

Add the dressing ingredients to a small bowl and whisk to combine. I've ordered them a bit oddly in the ingredients list, but I did this intentionally so you can reuse your measuring spoons without having to clean them or get a new one to add the ingredients that follow. That's a bit of a pet peeve of mine when I have to do that while making a recipe. You'll see what I mean when you make it.

Once you've mixed the dressing ingredients together, pour the dressing onto the produce mixture, using a spatula to scrape every last bit of dressing out of the bowl. Stir the salad until all of the produce is evenly coated.

Cover and refrigerate the salad for a minimum of 1 hour prior to serving but preferably longer so it gets well chilled. If you'd like to make a side salad that you don't have to chill before serving, check out my Broccoli Salad with Bacon recipe. It doesn't require chilling before serving.

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