Instant Pot Potato Salad

Step 1

Gather all the ingredients.

Step 2

Place a stainless steel steamer basket inside your pressure cooker (I use a 6QT Instant Pot) and add 1 cup of water.

Step 3

In a small saucepan, place an egg and cover it with water. Bring it to boil with medium-high heat. Once boiling, reduce the heat to simmer and cook for 12 minutes.

Step 4

When the egg is done, immediately discard the boiling water and cool the egg with cold water. Once the egg has cooled, remove the eggshell and mash the boiled egg in a small bowl with a fork.

Step 5

While the egg is cooking, peel the potato skins and cut into 1 ½ inch (4 cm) pieces. They should be roughly about the same size so that they’ll be cooked at an equal rate. Remove starch by soaking the potatoes or if you don’t have any wait time, add them directly to the pressure cooker. By soaking the cut potatoes in water, it removes the starch and helps retain its colors.

Step 6

Place the potatoes in the steamer basket inside the pressure cooker. Close lid and pressure cook at high pressure for 5 minutes. Make sure to turn the sealing vent to the “sealed” position. For Instant Pot, click “Steam” and set the cooking time to 5 minutes.

Step 7

While the potatoes are cooking, prepare other ingredients. Cut the sliced hams into ¼ inch cubes.

Step 8

Peel the carrot skin and slice using a mandolin slicer. Mandolin slicer will help you achieve very thin slices of carrot. If you don’t have one, simply slice the carrot into thin slices.

Step 9

Peel the cucumber skin leaving some parts unpeeled. Use a mandolin to slice the cucumber or slice thinly with a knife.

Step 10

Sprinkle ½ tsp kosher salt over carrot and cucumber and massages with hands. Wait for 10 minutes to let them dehydrate. Alternatively, you can blanch the sliced carrot (don't blanch cucumber) for 2-3 minutes until tender.

Step 11

Quickly rinse under water, gently squeeze out water and set aside.

Step 12

Once cooking completes, you can let the pressure valve release naturally (takes about 15-20 minutes) or manually release the pressure. Insert a wooden skewer in the center of a potato. If it goes through smoothly then the potatoes are ready. If the skewer gets stuck in the potato, cook for a bit longer. When the potatoes are done, take out the steam basket and transfer the potatoes to a bowl (I used suribachi – Japanese mortar here). Mash potatoes with a masher or a large fork (I used surikogi – Japanese pestle here – my mom’s method). Don’t crush the potatoes completely, leave some small chunks for texture.

Step 13

Season the mashed potato with ½ tsp kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Step 14

Add 2 tsp rice vinegar and mix all together. Set aside to let cool.

Step 15

Add eggs, cucumbers, carrots, and ham to the mashed potato and mix all together.

Step 16

Add 4 Tbsp mayonnaise and combine well. Taste the potato salad first before adding more mayonnaise or salt.

Step 17

Mix all the ingredients together. Serve at room temperature or cover the potato salad with plastic and let it chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Step 18

The potato salad can be refrigerated for up to 1-2 days.