My husband loves when I use turnips as a replacement for potatoes. Mind you he has loved his spuds for a lifetime and it was hard for him to limit them as a diabetic. They make an awesome alternative to potatoes in soups, stews, casseroles and more.
This post may contain affiliate links to Amazon or other programs. I do earn a small commission from the sales made through these links; however your price never changes. Your purchases bless our family and help to fund recipe development and the activities of this blog. Thank You!!
I’ve used turnips as a potato replacement for a long time. I ate primarily low carb before beginning my Trim Healthy Mama
Potatoes have always been a huge trigger food for me, so finding a replacement that my husband was agreeable to was important to my success. Yes, I’ve used radishes as suggested in the Trim Healthy Mama Books with success but my wonderful husband just isn’t a fan.
[table id=3 /]
Why Turnips are a Good Replacement for Potatoes
I got really tired of having that debate, so tried the turnip trick and he is agreeable to it. Which meant that I had to find a way to make them a bit easier to prepare than boiling or roasting them. Enter my Instant Pot.
The Instant Pots I Use
For the last year or so I’ve been using an Instant Pot Duo60 6 QT 7 in 1
We recently got this super cute and functional 3qt mini which is perfect for small batch soups, stews, Homemade Yogurt and more. I’m really excited about what is to come.
How I Make Turnips in My Instant Pot
I wash and peel my turnips. We then slice or dice them. I place the slices into the liner of my pot or on a steamer basket.
I couldn’t fit the basket into my 3qt Mini Duo
To Prepare Turnips Under Pressure
Cover them with water. Add 1 teaspoon of salt. Close the lid. Place the valve to sealing. And process on High pressure for 3 minutes. Allow the pot to naturally pressure release (this takes about 10 – 15 minutes).
This photo is of my 3qt Mini Duo — You can see that 2 pounds of sliced turnips filled it to the Max line.
To Prepare Turnips Using the Steam Function
Using 1 cup of water. Close and lock lid into place. Place valve into the “venting” position. Press the steam button and use the adjust setting to adjust the time to 8 minutes.
How I Store Turnips
Turnips are a root vegetable so they can be stored in a cool dry place for a week or two. You do need to blanch them or cook them before freezing (my prefered method). You can also peel them and toss them with a bit of lemon juice and keep them in the fridge for a few days.
I do find that precooking them in the instant pot allows me more options. I can keep a container in the fridge and fry them up much quicker for hash n eggs. I freeze them in zip bags with a bit of the cooking liquid to mix into casseroles.
How To Prepare Instant Pot Turnips
- Serves: 4
- Serving size: ½ cup
- Calories: 25
- Carbohydrates: 6g
- Sodium: 63mg
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 1g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
- 1 pound turnips (chopped)
- 3 cups water
- Place Steamer basket in your Instant Pot liner.
- Wash, peel & chop turnips, place in the steamer basket.
- Pour in Water
- Close and lock lid. Press Manual, high pressure. Adjust time to 3 minutes.
- When pot beeps, allow the pot to naurally release pressure keeping your hands and face away from the release valve.
- Place Steamer basket in your Instant Pot liner.
- Wash, peel & chop turnips, place in the steamer basket.
- Pour in Water
- Close lid. Press the steam button. Adjust time to 8 minutes. Allow pot to come to temperature and finish the cook time..
chris says
Is there a reason you would pick one method over another?
Judy says
For me prepping in the Instant Pot is a bit quicker and I dont have to watch the pot
Monica says
Is there a reason you choose high pressure over steam or vice versa? Which would be easier to mash?
Judy says
Yes it makes them easier to mash
Michael says
Judy, are you a real person? Your answers to the previous two questions do not make sense. It’s like this is just a program scanning the questions for keywords and then providing a canned answer.
Judy says
Yes, I am a real person 🙂 I will try to answer more in depth in the future.
Jon says
Those answers made perfect sense to me. And they were also very simple questions that only require a simple answer 😉
Doug says
Made sense to me as well. Not sure what part was confusing. Keep rolling Judy!
Pam says
She clearly said she prefers pressure cook and that to is easier to mash
Celene says
Do you make mashed turnips just like you would mashed potatoes?
Judy says
Yes ma’am 😁
Judy says
Judy, not only are you a very real person, but your a great THM. Thank you for all you do. Now my question is, you’ve got the turnips cooked, how do you fry them?
Judy says
I drain and then fry them in butter with a little bit of onion and red peppers 😉
Nas says
Can I use rutbaga with it same settings?
Thank you so much.
Judy says
Yes 🙂
Len says
Thank you for this recipe. I combined the turnip with a bit of sweet potato plus some chopped onion, and it turned out fine. My wife and I enjoyed the outcome May continued Blessings come your way.