Instant Pot Potato Soup

Name: Instant Pot Potato Soup
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: 4 tbsp butter or olive oil; 8 cups potatoes ({peeled, and cut into 1-inch chunks}); 1 cup onion ({preferably white or yellow, sliced}); 3 cups chicken stock; 4 cloves garlic ({roughly chopped}); 1 cup half and half or heavy cream ({or dairy-free milk}); Salt and pepper to taste

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A cozy bowl of comfort food, Instant Pot Potato Soup is a healthy and simple dinner. This creamy potato soup is a super easy and delicious fast weeknight meal.

Two bowls of Instant Pot Potato Soup topped with bacon, onions, and cheese.

A big serving of this Instant Pot potato soup is like a hug in a bowl. It’s so cozy and is sure to become your favorite new comfort food.

If you are new to pressure cooking and the Instant Pot, check out this post on easy Instant Pot recipes for beginners. In addition to delicious recipes, that post is packed with tips and tricks to get started using your electric pressure cooker.

Ingredients

This recipe uses:

Potatoes! I love a mix of Russets and gold potatoes but use your favorites. I do recommend peeling the potatoes.
Onions and garlic – the building blocks of flavor.
Butter – you can also use ghee, dairy-free butter, or olive oil to make this plant-based.
Stock/broth – I use low-sodium chicken broth, but you can use veggie stock to make it plant-based.
Cream – I use half-and-half or heavy cream and have also used NutPods (non-dairy milk) or canned coconut milk with great results.

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS

*I’ll walk you through it here with some photos and tips, and you’ll also find a printable recipe card at the bottom of the post with exact measurements, etc. You can also click “jump to recipe” to skip down.

Set your Instant Pot to saute and allow it to get hot. Melt the butter and then add the onions and garlic and stir until they start to soften.

Add the potatoes and broth to the Instant Pot and then lock the lid into place and set the steam release handle (valve on top) to “Sealing”. Press Manual>High Pressure>6 minutes.

2 photos showing how to make potato soup in a pressure cooker.

When it has finished cooking, flip the steam release handle to “venting” and allow any additional pressure to be released (can take ~10 minutes). Remove the lid.

Next up, you’ll blend the soup to the perfect consistency for you. Want it super creamy? You got it. Kinda smooth with some potato chunks? The world is your oyster!

I blend mine directly in the Instant Pot using an immersion blender. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can carefully transfer the soup in batches to a blender. If the lid of your blender has an insert in it, remove the insert and drape a towel over the lid. This will keep the hot soup from popping the lid off during the blending process.

When the soup is looking perfect, slowly add in the heavy cream or half-and-half. Stir to combine and then salt and pepper to taste. Then, add all the toppings until your heart is full and your bowl looks incredible.

2 photos showing the process of blending and flavoring soup in a pressure cooker.

RECIPE VARIATIONS & OPTIONAL ADDINS

When it comes to toppings, the sky is the limit! Shredded cheddar or Parmesan, sliced green/spring onions, crumbled bacon, and sour cream are all favorites.

If you make this Instant Pot loaded baked potato soup without chicken stock, you may find it is lacking a depth of flavor.

Katie’s recipe for Vegetarian Dumpling Soup taught me the trick of adding nutritional yeast to boost the flavor. Start with 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast and add more to taste.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I double this potato soup recipe?

Yes! This recipe can be doubled in a 6 or 8-quart instant pot as long as the ingredients do not go over the max fill line.

If doubling, the cooking time will remain the same. It will take longer to come up to pressure and depressurize.

I recommend doing a full natural release if you are doubling this recipe. This prevents hot liquid from coming out of the vent during a quick release.

How do I thicken creamy potato soup?

This recipe is quite thick after it has been blended. If you prefer your potato soup recipe to be very thick, reduce the amount or completely leave out the half-and-half or heavy cream.

If you like your soup chunky, blend half of it and leave the rest of the potatoes unblended. Stir to combine.

The soup will thicken considerably for leftovers. When reheating, I thin it with a few tbsp of chicken broth.

How to meal prep this recipe

I love to use prepped and frozen ingredients when making this Instant Pot Potato Soup. I use frozen garlic, frozen onions, and frozen potatoes.

On a busy day, I will start this soup in the morning and just allow it to do a full natural release and then it automatically switches to “keep warm”. Right before serving I will blend the potatoes, add the heavy cream, and serve.

You can also meal prep the toppings by shredding the cheese ahead of time and cooking the bacon in the oven.

HOW TO STORE LEFTOVERS

This soup will thicken up as it sits in the fridge for a few hours. When reheating, you may wish to add a splash of chicken stock or milk/cream to thin it back out.

Storing Leftovers: Allow the Instant Pot baked potato soup to fully cool before storing it in air-tight containers in the fridge for 2-3 days.

Reheating Leftovers: You can reheat the soup in the microwave. Start with 1 minute, stir, and then add an additional 30 seconds until it is heated to your liking.

Or, reheat on the stovetop for 5-10 minutes on medium-low heat, stirring often.

Freezing: You can freeze potato soup and store it for 2-3 months with a few recommendations. I strongly encourage you to freeze the soup before you add any toppings. This will prevent weird textures in the soup upon reheating. You can add those items to individual portions once thawed and ready to serve.

The soup may become grainy upon thawing. You can stir it with a spatula to incorporate the textures or use an immersion blender.

My favorite way to freeze leftover soup is in 1-cup or 2-cup Souper Cubes. Once frozen, I remove them from the trays and transfer them to freezer-safe silicone bags for the perfect zero-waste freezer method.

Pro Tips/Recipe Notes

You don’t have to peel the potatoes but it will alter the appearance quite a bit if you don’t.
White and yellow onions are best, as red (c’mon, we all know they’re really purple) will make your creamy potato soup a pink hue.
If you don’t have an immersion blender transfer the soup in batches to a blender. Remove the middle part of the blender’s lid and loosely place a towel over it. This will allow some of the steam to escape and not pop open the cover.
Add the half-and-half or heavy cream in small quantities to make sure the soup doesn’t thin out too much.

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