Instant Pot Cheesy Potato Soup is luscious, rich, creamy, extremely delicious & get’s done under 30 minutes. You’ll love this cheesy potato soup loaded with sharp cheddar, heavy cream, sour cream and bacon.
Ingredients
- 2 medium potatoes ** peeled & diced into ½ inch cubes, about 2.5 cups, I used gold potatoes.
- 1/2 medium onion ** roughly chopped yellow onion
- 2 tbsp All-Purpose Flour
- 2 tbsp Unsalted Butter
- 1.5 cups chicken stock
- 1.25 cups whole Milk ** 1 cup + ¼ cup
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 3/4 cup cheddar cheese ** grated, use sharp cheddar
- 6 strips bacon ** cut into small pieces & fried until crispy
- 6 stalks Scallions ** chopped , use only green part
- black pepper ** crushed, according to taste
- Salt ** according to taste
Garnish
- Sour Cream
- bacon ** crispy fried
- cheddar Cheese ** grated
- scallions
Instructions
Fry Bacon
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Fry the diced bacon pieces until brown and crispy over medium high heat on the stove top on a cast iron skillet. Once done set aside the crispy fried bacon bits. We don’t need the bacon fat, you can preserve it for other recipes or discard it.
Making the loaded potato soup
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Set the Instant Pot on SAUTE function and keep it at the NORMAL heat setting.
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Add butter and when the butter melts add the onion and saute until they begin to turn limp.
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Reduce the heat to LOW settings and add all purpose flour. Saute the flour stirring briskly until the raw smell disappears. About 30 seconds. Do not stop stirring otherwise the flour will burn and you’ve to start all over again.
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Pour the chicken stock and de-glaze the pot well with the help of a spatula scraping the sides and the bottom of the pot to loosen any stuck up bits or crumbs. This will also help dissolve the roux uniformly in the liquid and prevent the BURN error!
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Now, add the peeled, diced and rinsed potato cubes. Also, add crushed black pepper according to your preference, Bring the ingredients into a boil. CANCEL the SAUTE function.
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Close the lid, seal the valve and Press the PRESSURE COOK function. PRESSURE COOK on HIGH for 3 minutes.
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Once, the cooking cycle is over wait for Natural Pressure Release (NPR) for 10 mins. Than, release the rest of the pressure manually by moving the valve from the SEALING to the VENTING position. When the floating pin drops open the lid carefully.
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Turn on the SAUTE function and set it on LOW heat setting. Now, add warm milk and more crushed black pepper as per your liking and give everything a quick stir. Bring the soup to a boil first and than simmer for a few mins. Stir often.
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Next, grab a potato masher and mash the cooked potatoes roughly inside the pot itself. This will give you a creamier yet slightly chunky soup. However, if you prefer super chunky soup mash only a few potatoes roughly to add body and texture to the soup.
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Add the sour cream, heavy cream, crispy fried bacon, chopped scallions and sharp cheddar cheese and mix well with the soup. If you prefer super thick soup you may simmer the soup for a few minutes on LOW settings (SAUTE function) or add 1 tbsp cornstarch + 1 tbsp water (made into a slurry) to thicken it up quickly.
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Turn off the Instant Pot. Dish out the soup topping with more sharp cheddar, scallions, fried bacon bites & dollop of sour cream. Dig in!
Notes
- Measuring Units Used, 1 cup = 240 ml, 1 teaspoon = 5 ml.
- Extremely rich Potato soup: Add 2-3 oz cream cheese softened along with the sour cream and heavy cream. Mix well until the cheese fully incorporates into the soup.
- Type of Milk: Full Fat whole milk is a must for this recipe.
- Dairy in the Instant Pot: We DO NOT prefer pressure cooking savory recipes with dairy like milk, cream, half and half. They might curdle resulting in the milk fat separating, which is of course not a pretty sight. Always add dairy after the pressure cooking cycle is over.
- Seasoning: Check for seasoning once the soup is all done. You may add more crushed black pepper and salt according to your preference.
- Spicy Soup: Add red pepper flakes + cayenne pepper.
- Bacon Bits: You can fry bacon bits at home or even use store bought ones.
- Sharp Cheddar: You can certainly use more cheddar.
- Creamy + slightly chunky consistency: Mash the cooked potatoes roughly with the help of a potato masher.
- Chunky Soup: Mash only a few cooked potatoes.
- Soup consistency: If you prefer really thick soup do simmer the soup until it reaches the consistency that you prefer. Use the SAUTE function and the LOW heat setting.
