Instant Pot Ranch Potatoes are creamy, cheesy, and full of flavor. They are so easy to make that they will soon become your favorite potato dish. Serve as a side or a main, great for Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holidays.
In a nutshell, ranch potatoes are red potatoes cooked and flavored with ranch seasoning.
Ranch seasoning is typically used to make a ranch salad dressing and consists of onion powder, onion flakes, dill, parsley, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and dried chives – a delicious mix of flavors.
While you would often use ranch dressing for a potato salad, it’s just as good in a hot potato dish.
Ranch potatoes can be as simple as cut-up spuds coated in oil and seasoned with dry ranch dressing, then baked until crispy. Or, you can cook the potatoes first and then toss in a ranch dressing as well as things like sour cream, bacon or chives.
To make things even better, warm ranch potatoes can be transferred to a casserole dish and baked with grated cheese on top.
Instant Pot Ranch Potatoes
In this Instant Pot ranch potatoes recipe, the bacon is first sauteed in the pot and then the spuds are cooked in stock for extra flavor.
The excess cooking liquid is then removed and the potatoes are coated in a mixture of ranch dressing and sour cream and mixed in with bacon and chives.
You can leave it at that or sprinkle grated cheese over the top to melt in. Or follow our final step of baking the ranch potatoes and cheese in the oven for that perfect golden crust finish.
This potato casserole is fabulous as a side dish or even as a main with vegetables or salad on the side. It’s great for potlucks, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, weekend family gatherings and barbecues.
Ingredients You Will Need
Here are the ingredients you will need to make cheesy ranch potatoes.
Potatoes. We love making it with red potatoes but white or yellow baby potatoes or even diced russet potatoes will work with this recipe.
Ranch dressing. Good old store-bought ranch dressing will do or you can make your own. This will give lots of flavor, tang and creaminess.
Sour cream. This is used for extra creaminess and to dilute the ranch dressing flavor so it’s not overpowering.
Extra flavors: To accentuate those classic ranch flavors, we’re also adding extra garlic and onion powders and a little paprika, plus fresh chives.
Bacon. Crispy bacon is optional but it adds a little saltiness and texture – a really nice addition to ranch potatoes.
Cheese. Finally, any grated cheese will work here. We love something sharp like Cheddar.
You will find the full recipe with ingredients and nutritional breakdown in the recipe card below.
There are three simple stages to making this dish in the pressure cooker. The first stage is to pre-sautee the bacon until crispy. The second stage is to pressure cook the potatoes. The final stage is to mix the potatoes with all the sauces and seasonings and bake with cheese over the top or to leave in the Instant Pot on Keep Warm setting for the cheese to melt.
You can use a 6-quart or 8-quart Instant Pot.
Here is the video for how to make this recipe and step-by-step photo instructions below.
Saute Bacon Stage
Step 1. Turn the Instant Pot on Saute using Normal or More mode. Add the olive oil and diced bacon and cook for 3-4 minutes, until crispy. Stir a few times.
Step 2. Remove the bacon to a bowl. Pour in the water and scrape the bottom of the pot to remove any stuck bits. Press Cancel to stop the Saute.
Step 3. Add the potatoes, stock cube or powder and salt and stir through.
Pressure Cooking Red Potatoes
Step 4. Secure lid and move pressure release valve to the Sealing position. Press Manual or Pressure Cook; cook at HIGH pressure for 5 minutes. When cooking is complete, use the quick release. Leave on Keep Warm setting.
Step 5. Strain any leftover cooking liquid and return the potatoes to the pot. You can leave about ¼ cup of the liquid to mix with the dressing.
Finishing Ranch Potatoes
Step 6. Add the ranch dressing, sour cream, garlic, onion powder, paprika, and pepper. Add the pre-cooked bacon and half of the chives/onions (you can save a few bits for garnish after). Stir everything through and taste for salt. Season with more salt if needed.
Step 7. The final step is to melt the cheese over the top. For those with no oven, leave the potatoes on Keep Warm setting. Sprinkle the cheese over and pop a regular glass lid on top. Leave for 5 minutes for the cheese to melt into the potatoes using the internal Keep Warm heat.
OR
Transfer the potatoes to a casserole/baking dish. Top with the cheese and pop under the grill/broil for 5 minutes for the cheese to melt and brown.
Step 8. Finish the dish by sprinkling the remaining bacon and chives over the top.
What To Serve Ranch Potatoes With
These creamy, cheesy ranch potatoes can be served as a main dish or as a side.
- Try them with roast chicken, grilled chicken or nuggets.
- With a juicy steak, pork or lamb chops.
- It would pair nicely with hamburger patties, meatballs or chicken rissoles.
- Sausages and ranch potatoes are a new variation of bangers and mash.
- Great as a side with barbecued meats or brisket.
- Refrigerator: store any leftover Ranch Roasted Potatoes in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- How to Reheat: you can reheat in a preheated 350 F oven for about 10 minutes, or until warm. If you happen to have an air fryer, you can also toss them into there for a few minutes.
More Instant Pot Potato Recipes
- Instant Pot Loaded Mashed Potatoes (With Or Without Oven!)
- Instant Pot Stuffed Baked Potatoes 4 Ways
- Instant Pot Salt Potatoes With Herb Butter + VIDEO
- Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes
- Want more? Best Instant Pot Ground Beef Recipes
Rate This Recipe
Instant Pot Ranch Potatoes (Creamy & Cheesy)
Ingredients
Cooking phase
- 4 rashers of bacon diced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ⅔ cup water
- 1.3 kg / 3 lb small red potatoes unpeeled and cut into quarters
- 1 vegetable stock cube or use ⅔ cup ready-made vegetable stock
- ½ teaspoon salt
Dressing phase
- ½ cup Ranch dressing
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 - 1.5 cups shredded cheese like Cheddar or mixed
- ⅓ cup chopped chives or green onions
Instructions
- Turn the Instant Pot on Saute using Normal or More mode. Add the olive oil and diced bacon and cook for 3-4 minutes, until crispy. Stir a few times.
- Remove the bacon to a bowl. Pour in the water and scrape the bottom of the pot to remove any stuck bits (this is known as 'deglazing'. Press Cancel to stop the Saute.
- Add the potatoes, stock cube or stock powder and salt and stir through.
- Secure the lid and move the pressure release valve to the Sealing position. Press Manual or Pressure Cook; cook at HIGH pressure for 5 minutes. Please note the pressure will take about 5 minutes to come to pressure first.
- When cooking is complete, use the quick release. Leave the Instant Pot on Keep Warm setting.
- Strain any leftover cooking liquid and return the potatoes to the pot. You can leave about ¼ cup of the liquid to mix with the dressing for more saucy potatoes.
- Add the ranch dressing, sour cream, garlic, onion powder, paprika, and pepper. Add the pre-cooked bacon and half of the chives/onions (you can save a few bits for garnish after). Stir everything through and taste for salt. Season with more salt if needed.
- The final step is to melt the cheese over the top. For those with no oven, leave the potatoes on Keep Warm setting. Sprinkle the cheese over and pop a regular glass lid on top. Leave for 5 minutes for the cheese to melt into the potatoes using the internal Keep Warm heat. Or, Transfer the potatoes to a casserole/baking dish. Top with the cheese and pop under the grill/broil for 5 minutes for the cheese to melt and brown.
- Finish the dish by sprinkling the remaining bacon and chives over the top.
I’m so disappointed. We made this for a potluck and everyone loved it! Now, whenever we have a potluck, this is all they will let us bring! We handed out recipe cards the last time.
Thanks, Claire. I was a bit worried when I started reading your review but then realised you were using a little sarcasm there. Glad everyone enjoyed the recipe!
What remaining bacon? you added it already in the previous step
Add the pre-cooked bacon
sprinkling the remaining bacon
Looks delicious will try, but don’t like the chemicals in Ranch dressing, will try something else
Just wondering if you had an air fryer such as the instant pot air fryer, you could put it under that to crisp it up instead of the oven
Yes Sylvia that’s a perfect idea. I would still put it in a separate container (not the basket) to air-fry to make cleanup easier.
I cannot get enough of these! Made them a handful of times now, and absolutely love how easy, cheesy and salty they are! Yummy!
Thanks, Leva. Glad you enjoyed these so much.
This recipe is perfect comfort food. Can’t beat the combination of potatoes, bacon and cheese to make everyone happy.
This was such a delicious side dish! We served it alongside our dinner tonight and I know it’s going to be a regular at our table all fall & winter long!
Yummy! We all loved these so much. Thanks!
So delicious! Love the fun flavors and it was so easy to make in the Instant Pot. Everyone loved it
Thanks, Kim 🙂