Colcannon (Irish Mashed Potatoes)
Colcannon, aka Irish mashed potatoes, is a surprisingly simple dish—just buttery mashed potatoes and greens topped with even more butter. When you make it in your Instant Pot, it comes together in a flash!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe This easy Irish mashed potato recipe is packed with buttery flavor and has wilted greens for additional flavor. It’s buttery goodness you’ll want to serve year round!
Over the years, we’ve developed Instant Pot versions of several St. Patrick’s Day favorites, like Corned Beef and Cabbage, Guinness Stew, or Shephard’s Pie.
This easy Colcannon recipe is a really easy way to make a classic Irish side dish at home!
Serve colcannon with bangers (Irish sausages), which our local Kroger carries each March. You can also serve it with ham or pot roast!
INGREDIENTS YOU NEED
It doesn’t take much to make this delicious Irish favorite!
- Potatoes: For this recipe, we like to use half Yukon potatoes and half russet potatoes. We really like this blend for flavor and texture.
- Greens: We chose a blend of equal parts kale and cabbage; however, if you prefer to use only one or the other, it will still taste fantastic. Regardless, make sure to remove the entire thick stem—it doesn’t cook as quickly as the rest of the leaf.
- Butter: For best results, use room temperature butter in this recipe! For even more Irish flavor, we splashed out on Kerrygold Irish Butter—and it was delicious. (This brand typically goes on sale around St. Patrick’s Day at our grocery store, so we often take advantage and stock up.)
- Garnish: We used thinly sliced green onions, but you could also use parsley or just let the greens do the work in this one. Either way, make sure to finish with salt and pepper to taste.
How to Make Colcannon in an Instant Pot
✅ This easy recipe will work in any brand of electric pressure cooker, including the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, or Power Pressure Cooker XL.
First, steam the potatoes. Make sure to cube the potatoes to roughly the same size so they cook evenly. Use 1 cup of water under a steamer basket to cook the potatoes—this helps the texture stay fluffy instead of glue-y.
Select High Pressure and set the cook time for 7 minutes, then finish with a quick pressure release.
Then, prep the kale and cabbage. Double check that you’ve removed all of the thick core of the greens. (This often resulted in us having two halves of the leaves.) Then, create ribbons of cabbage and kale by stacking the leaves on top of each other, rolling them into a tube shape (as best you can), and slice into ¼-inch slices.
When we had diced our kale and cabbage, and it was roughly 1 cup of each.
Next, saute the greens and mash the potatoes. Set aside the steamer basket, discard the water, and dry the cooking pot. (No need to wash.) Use the saute setting to melt half of the butter, then cook the cabbage and kale in the butter until they soften and wilt—about 5 minutes. Transfer the veggies to another bowl.
Pour 1 cup milk into the cooking pot and let it warm up before proceeding. Add the potatoes back to the cooking pot and mash them well. Return the cooked greens, and stir until the greens are well distributed.
Finally, melt the butter and serve. Transfer the mash to a serving bowl. Make a shallow well in the center, then add the remaining butter and let it get melty and delicious. Serve immediately.
Frequently Asked Questions about Colcannon
Sure! You can use all Russets or Yukon gold, we just liked the texture and flavor when they were mixed.
While you can skip this, it will change the texture and color of the final dish. Yukon potatoes have a thin skin, and russets have a thicker skin—I at least recommend peeling the russet potatoes.
Store them in an air tight container for up to 3 days.
Honestly, the pot in pot method is best—warms them up without drying them out! Just place 1 cup water and a trivet in the bottom of your cooking pot, then place the potatoes in an oven-safe dish.
How long to set the cook time depends on the amount of mashed potatoes you’re reheating. A single portion will take a very short time; I’d start with 1 minute. If you’re reheating enough to feed a large family, I’d try 6 minutes, but it may take more depending on the type of inner pot you’re using.
If you’re using a microwave, I’d use 50% power, stirring at 1 minute intervals until they’re warmed to your liking.
(Also, you’ll likely need to mix in more milk to restore the potatoes to their soft and creamy texture.)
MORE Potato Side Dish Recipes
Other Instant Pot Potato recipes you may enjoy include:
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Colcannon | Instant Pot recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound Yukon potatoes peeled and cut into 2-inch cubes
- 1 pound russet potatoes peeled and cut into 2-inch cubes
- 2 ounces curly kale with the thick middle stem removed (about 1 large leaf)
- 2 ounces cabbage leaves with the thick middle part removed (about 2-3 large leaves)
- 8 tablespoons butter room temperature, divided into 1 tablespoon slices (we used Kerrygold)
- 1 cup milk plus up to 1 cup more, as needed
- ½ cup thinly sliced green onions optional (I prefer to omit, but my husband prefers it with them)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Add 1 cup water to the pressure cooking pot. Place the potatoes in the steamer basket, then carefully place the full steamer basket inside the pressure cooker.
- Lock the lid in place. Select High Pressure and 7 minutes cook time.
- While the potatoes cook, prepare the kale and cabbage leaves. Stack 5 kale leaves, one on top of the other, then roll into a tube shape (as best you can). Slice the kale into ¼-inch slices to create kale ribbons. Repeat this process with the cabbage.
- When the cook time ends, finish with a quick pressure release.
- When the valve drops, carefully remove the lid. Remove the steamer basket from the cooking pot and set aside. Discard the cooking liquid and wipe out the cooking pot.
- Select Sauté to preheat the cooking pot. Add 4 tablespoons butter to the cooking pot to melt. When melted, add the cabbage and kale to cook for about 3-5 minutes. Add the green onions, if using, and cook for the last 2 minutes more until the cabbage is softened and the kale is wilted. Remove from heat and transfer the contents into a separate bowl.
- Add 1 cup milk to the cooking pot and allow to warm. Then use a ricer, immersion blender, or potato masher to mash the potatoes in the cooking pot. If needed, add milk, a little bit at a time, until your mashed potatoes reach desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper. Add the cooked kale, cabbage, and butter, and stir until well distributed. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Keep warm until ready to serve.
- To serve, transfer the mashed colcannon to a large serving bowl. Use a spoon to make a shallow well in the center, then place the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter in the middle and allow to melt and pool. Scoop out individual portions, making sure each plate gets some melty butter from the center.
Notes
Nutrition
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Also – there is no milk in the ingredients.
Thanks for catching that. The recipe calls for 1 cup and then whatever extra is necessary to reach your desired consistency. (It can vary a bit depending on the potatoes.) I’ve updated the recipe.
Your ingredients say 1 large kale leaf, but the instructions say to stack 5 kale leaves… Just a little discrepancy you might want to change so it isn’t confusing.
Thanks so much for catching that! (In our original test recipe, we did use 4 leaves, and it ended up being much more kale than we liked, so we reduced it.) We’ve updated the instructions to reflect our current amounts.
I love kale and I often just steam it in the Instant Pot and serve it as a side. This recipe tastes amazing and I love the idea of mixing steamed cabbages of any kind with mashed potatoes. Thank you for the inspiration!
Thanks Sonja!
I’ve been using our Instant Pot annually for Corned Beef for over 30 years. Kale is, in my eye, the most vile ingredient that would ruin the recipe. I have Kale prepared in every way, there is no way that Kale can be prepared to taste good. I wouldn’t even use it as a laxative.
Wow you definitely have a hatred for Kale, but it’s not fair to rate a recipe you haven’t even tried.