Potato Soup loaded with bacon and topped with shredded cheese is a comforting and hearty Instant Pot meal! It doesn't get any better than creamy homemade soup that's ready in less time than it takes to order takeout.
Prep Time15 minutesmins
Cook Time20 minutesmins
Total Time35 minutesmins
Course: Soups and Stews
Cuisine: American
Keyword: instant pot soup, instapot, loaded potato soup, potato soup
Dice shallot, jalapeno, and press the garlic cloves. Set aside. Cut red potatoes into fourths and baby yellow potatoes into halves. Cut bacon into small pieces.
Select sauté setting on instant pot. Add 2 Tbsp butter, shallot, jalapeño, garlic, and bacon. Cook for 3 minutes. Turn off.
Deglaze the pot by adding the chicken broth, and scraping the bits stuck to the bottom with a wooden spoon.
Add potatoes, 2 Tbsp butter and fresh thyme to the pot. Secure the lid in place and make sure the valve on top is set to "SEALING."
Select High Pressure for a cook time of 8 minutes.
While the soup cooks, in a small bowl, mix 3 tbsp cornstarch and 3 tbsp water to make a slurry. Set aside.
When the cook time ends, do a quick release of the pressure by moving the valve on top to "VENTING."
Open the lid and add the cornstarch slurry with 1 cup whole milk, 1 cup heavy whipping cream, and black pepper to the pot and stir. Set to SAUTE and cook for 8 minutes, until thickened.
Lightly mash potatoes to desired consistency. Let cool for 10 minutes to thicken. Top with shredded cheese & green onion, and sour cream if desired. Add more bacon bits too if desired.
Notes
Recipe tested in a 6qt Instant Pot.
To add more spice to your potato soup, garnish with even more sliced jalapeño.
If the soup has too much spice for you, you can reduce or omit the jalapeño entirely.
Make sure to thoroughly deglaze the pan before the pressure cooking step! Any bits of shallot or bacon stuck to the pot are likely to burn due to the high heat the Instant Pot reaches when cooking.
A potato masher is the easiest way to mash the potatoes at the end of cooking time. If you don’t have one, the back of a heavy spoon will work.
Store the soup in an airtight container in the fridge for about 3 days. I don’t recommend freezing this soup because of all the milk products. The cream will separate from the other ingredients and affect the texture.