Instant Pot Rutabaga is one of the easiest ways to cook fresh rutabaga. There is no standing over the stove watching a pot of cubed rutabaga boil poking it with a fork forever to see if it is fork tender.
Once the pressure cooker comes up to pressure it only takes 4 minutes to cook fresh rutabaga.
Mashed Root Vegetables
I haven't eaten mashed rutabaga since I was a kid. As I was thinking about my Thanksgiving menu plan I remembered that my mother always made mashed rutabaga to serve with our Thanksgiving dinner.
She also made homemade mashed potatoes which as you probably know is another root vegetable.
When I think about the foods that I ate growing up and the foods my family now eats there are a lot of things I don't make that my mother and grand mother did.
It makes me think about how quickly we lose family traditions.
I have fond memories of helping my mother peel and cut the vegetables on Thanksgiving morning.
How to prepare fresh Rutabaga for cooking in the instant pot
The Instant Pot has made it so easy to cook fresh vegetables side dish recipes quickly. You can find all of my other Instant Pot recipes on my Instant Pot recipes page.
Preparing fresh rutabaga to cook in the Instant Pot is no different than if you were going to cook it in a pot of water on the stove.
Step 1: Using a sharp ceramic vegetable peeler peel the fresh whole rutabaga. It is much easier to peel the whole rutabaga compared to trying to cut the rutabaga into smaller pieces to peel.
Step 2: Rinse the rutabaga under cold running water. Store bought rutabaga is coated in a food grade wax to help preserve them. You should remove as much wax as possible. Dry the rutabaga off with a paper towel so it is easier to handle.
Step 3: Place the whole rutabaga on a cutting board and carefully cut it into half with a sharp knife. Cut each half in to smaller pieces. One of the best things about cooking rutabaga in the Instant Pot is the size of the pieces really doesn't matter like it does when you are cooking it on the stove in a pot of boiling water.
Step 4: Place the rutabaga pieces into a large mixing bowl filled with cold water to prevent browning and to keep the cut rutabaga pieces from losing moisture and drying out.
How to cook fresh rutabaga in the Instant Pot
Cooking fresh rutabaga in an 8 quart Instant Pot is very easy. You prepare the fresh rutabaga by peeling, cutting into cubes and rinsing just like you would if you were going to cook it on the stove.
Step 1: Once you have peeled, cubed and rinsed the rutabaga you're ready to cook it in the pressure cooker. Place a steamer basket or the trivet that came with the Instant Pot into the bottom of the Instant Pot inner pot.
I love my silicone Instant Pot sling for jobs like this. The long handles make removing the cooked and hot rutabaga from the Instant Pot very safe and easy.
The silicone handles will not get hot so once the steam dissipates it is safe to lift the cooked rutabaga from the Instant Pot and transfer it to a bowl.
Step 2: Pour the water into the Instant Pot inner pot and measure 1 teaspoon of sea salt and add it to the water in the inner pot.
Step 3: Drain the cubed rutabaga in a colander and pour the cubed rutabaga into the Instant Pot.
Step 4: Snap the handles of the silicone sling together to secure them if using. Place the Instant Pot lid on the appliance and lock it into place. Twist the valve into the sealing position.
Step 5: Once the Instant Pot pressure valve is set to the sealing position it is time to set the pressure cooking setting. We will be using the manual pressure cooking setting.
Step 6: Press the manual button on the control panel of the Instant pot. Press the minus or plus button to set the pressure cooking time to 4 minutes.
Step 7: Pressure cook the rutabaga in the Instant Pot. Once it beeps alerting you it has finished pressure cooking allow the steam to naturally release for 10 minutes.
After ten minutes push the valve from sealing to releasing and allow any remaining steam to release. Once the steam has finished escaping through the valve twist the lid to unlock it. Remove the Instant Pot lid away from your face to prevent a burn.
Step 8: Carefully lift the silicone sling and lift it out of the inner pot of the Instant Pot. Transfer the pressure cooked rutabaga to a bowl by tilting the sling over a large bowl.
The rutabaga is cooked to perfection. The fork tender root vegetable can be used for all of your favorite fresh rutabaga recipes like mashed rutabaga for Thanksgiving.
The pressure cooker rutabaga is the perfect texture and you can serve it cubed as it is or you can use it to make a rutabaga like Mashed Rutabaga with roasted garlic and bacon that I will be sharing next week.
Mashed rutabaga is a perfect side dish served with a holiday turkey or ham.
More Thanksgiving Instant Pot Vegetable recipes
This is a sample of some of the Instant Pot vegetable recipes you can find on my Instant Pot recipes page. Head over to see all of my pressure cooker recipes for the holidays.
- Instant Pot Brussels Sprouts cooked with bacon and onions.
- Instant Pot Kabocha Squash the new winter squash on the block.
- Instant Pot Green Beans and Baby Potatoes two of my favorite side dish vegetables cooked together.
- Instant Pot Corn on the Cob is so fast you won't believe it. The corn is so tender.
- Instant Pot Candied Sweet Potatoes enjoy that favorite Southern sweet potatoes recipe with using the oven.
Print or pin the Instant Pot Rutabaga Recipe below
Email questions or recipe requests to flouronmyface@gmail.com. Follow me on Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
How To Make Instant Pot Rutabaga
Ingredients
- 4 lbs fresh rutabaga
- 1 cup water
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Peel the rutabaga with a vegetable peeler.
- Carefully cut the whole rutabaga in half with a sharp knife, and then cut the halves into 2 inch cubes.
- Place the cubes of rutabaga into a bowl filled with cold water as you peel and cube it to keep it from browning.
- Place a steamer basket or silicone sling into the bottom of the Instant Pot inner pot.
- Drain the cubes rutabaga in a colander and run cold water over the pieces to remove all of the food grade wax pieces.
- Pour the cubed rutabaga into the Instant Pot inner pot.
- Twist the lid on and set the valve to the sealing position.
- Press the manual button and set the pressure cooking time to 4 minutes.
- When the timer goes off allow the to steam to naturally release for 10 minutes. Twist the valve to the releasing position and allow any remaining steam to release.
- Carefully twist the IP lid off and lift it away from your face to prevent a steam burn.
- Lift the silicone sling by the handles and transfer the cooked rutabaga to a bowl by tilting the silicone sling or steamer basket (if using) over a large bowl. If you have used the trivet that came with the Instant Pot you will need to use a large spoon to transfer the cooked rutabaga pieces to the bowl.
- Use the cooked rutabaga in your recipe.
- Makes about 5 cups cubes cooked, cubed rutabaga.
Recipe Expert Tips
- Keep the uncooked rutabaga covered in cold water to prevent browning.
- Cooked rutabaga can be frozen.
Lynn M
I bought a large rutabaga that was thoroughly encrusted with wax. To make it easier to peel, I placed the whole rutabaga on the trivet in the IP and cooked it on the manual setting with low pressure with 1 cup water for 3 minutes. After leaving it sit in the IP to cool long enough that I could handle it, I removed it to a cutting board. Then I scrapped all the peeling and wax off with a knife. Peeling was as easy as cutting butter. Then I finished cooking it on manual using the more pressure setting.
Arlene Mobley
Lynn thanks for the great tip!
Tom B
My concern is that you did not say if the instant pot pressure cooker setting should be low or high. That has to be a key part of getting this right. Which is it?
Arlene Mobley
Tom the manual button has a preset temperature. On my model there is no high or low setting when using the manual setting.
Roshan Baskota
Thank you so much for the article. I am definitely trying this.