This Instant Pot Loaded Potato Soup is creamy, delicious, and tastes like you slaved over it all day! It’s easy to prepare and is ready in a flash thanks to the Instant Pot. There’s also a slow cooker version if you’d rather prepare it that way!
Cooler weather is just around the corner, or maybe it’s already made its appearance in your neck of the woods!
When the temperatures take a dip, all I want to do is put on some warm fuzzy socks and curl up with a bowl of this Instant Pot Loaded Potato Soup.
I’ve been busy creating recipes for my Instant Pot and am super excited about this one.
This recipe is an adaptation of the Slow Cooker version shared by Carrie of Kenarry: Ideas for the Home on my site, and it came out so good and was ready in a flash!
Ingredients for Instant Pot Loaded Potato Soup
- butter
- onion
- garlic
- chicken broth
- cream of chicken soup
- Russet potatoes
- salt and pepper
- milk
- flour
- cheddar cheese
How to Make Instant Pot Loaded Potato Soup – Step by Step
- Add butter to the Instant Pot and turn on the sauté button. Once butter is melted, add in the onions and cook for 3-4 minutes until soft. Add in the garlic and cook for one additional minute until fragrant, stirring constantly so that garlic does not burn.
- Add the chicken broth, cream of chicken soup, potatoes, salt, and pepper to the pot, and stir well. Place the lid on the Instant Pot and turn the vent valve to “sealing.” Cook over manual high pressure for 10 minutes, then quick release the pressure.
- Meanwhile, stir together the milk and flour in a small bowl to create a slurry. Set aside. Once the steam has completely released and the pin has dropped on the lid, open the lid and stir in the slurry. Turn the pot to sauté and cook the soup for 4-5 minutes, until thickened. Stir in the 2 cups of cheddar cheese and stir until melted.
- Serve garnished with chopped bacon, green onions, and more cheese. Enjoy!
Tips and Notes
- Make sure to chop your potatoes into roughly the same size for even cooking. About 1 inch cubes is what I recommend.
- If you prefer a less chunky soup, you can use an immersion blender to smooth out your soup at the end of cooking, or place the soup in a blender and blend it until it reaches the consistency you like.
- My favorite cream of chicken soup is from Pacific Foods Brand. It’s really flavorful and only contains simple, real food ingredients.
- My favorite kind of cheese to use in this soup is sharp cheddar. It adds such great depth to the flavor. I also recommend shredding your own cheese from a large block as it will melt beautifully.
What kind of potatoes work best for Potato Soup?
Russet potatoes have a high starch content and work wonderfully when making loaded potato soup. They are what I use and prefer most often. I also like Yukon gold potatoes and use those occasionally. Red potatoes would also work here, but won’t lend quite as creamy a texture as russets will.
How to Make Loaded Potato Soup in the Slow Cooker
If you’d rather make your potato soup in a slow cooker, I have a full recipe and directions for how to do that! This is a great way to prepare it while you are gone during the day.
Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten Free, and Dairy Free Options
To make this recipe vegetarian, swap the chicken broth for vegetable broth and the cream of chicken soup for cream of celery soup. For a vegan alternative, swap out the butter for vegetable or olive oil. Also swap the milk for soy, hemp, rice, or almond milk, and the cheese for a vegan cheese alternative, or leave it out completely.
This Loaded Potato Soup can be made gluten free by using a gluten free cream of chicken soup. My favorite cream of chicken soup is from Pacific Foods and it is gluten free. I’ve also found that Walmart carries a gluten-free cream of chicken soup under their Great Value brand.
You will also need to swap the all purpose flour for a gluten free version, such as rice flour, chickpea flour, or oat flour.
To make this Loaded Potato Soup dairy free swap out the milk for soy, hemp, rice, or almond milk, and the cheese for a vegan cheese alternative, or leave it out completely. You will also want to use a dairy free cream of chicken soup, which isn’t always easy to find on the shelf at the grocery store. Here is a recipe for dairy free cream of chicken soup you can make at home.
More Delicious Instant Pot Recipes
- Instant Pot Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup
- Instant Pot Cheesy Broccoli and Rice
- Instant Pot Shrimp Fried Rice
Instant Pot Loaded Potato Soup (with a slow cooker version)
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon butter
- 1 medium onion,, diced
- 3 cloves garlic,, minced
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 can/box cream of chicken soup, (I prefer Pacific Foods brand)
- 7-8 medium sized russet potatoes,, peeled and chopped into 1 inch cubes (about 2.5 pounds of potatoes)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, (or more/less to taste)
- black pepper to taste, (I like a lot of pepper)
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, (I use sharp cheddar)
Garnish:
- 5-6 slices bacon, (cooked and chopped)
- sliced green onions
- shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Add butter to the Instant Pot and turn on the sauté button. Once butter is melted, add in the onions and cook for 3-4 minutes until soft. Add in the garlic and cook for one additional minute until fragrant, stirring constantly so that garlic does not burn.
- Add the chicken broth, cream of chicken soup, potatoes, salt, and pepper to the pot, and stir well. Place the lid on the Instant Pot and turn the vent valve to "sealing." Cook over manual high pressure for 10 minutes, then quick release the pressure.
- Meanwhile, stir together the milk and flour in a small bowl to create a slurry. Set aside.
- Once the steam has completely released and the pin has dropped on the lid, open the lid and stir in the slurry. Turn the pot to sauté and cook the soup for 4-5 minutes, until thickened. Stir in the 2 cups of cheddar cheese and stir until melted. Serve garnished with chopped bacon, green onions, and more cheese. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Make sure to chop your potatoes into roughly the same size for even cooking. About 1 inch cubes is what I recommend.
- If you prefer a less chunky soup, you can use an immersion blender to smooth out your soup at the end of cooking, or place the soup in a blender and blend it until it reaches the consistency you like.
- My favorite cream of chicken soup is from Pacific Foods Brand. It's really flavorful and only contains simple, real food ingredients.
- My favorite kind of cheese to use in this soup is sharp cheddar. It adds such great depth to the flavor. I also recommend shredding your own cheese from a large block as it will melt beautifully.
- Best Potatoes to use: russet potatoes have a high starch content and work wonderfully when making loaded potato soup. They are what I prefer and use most often. I also like Yukon gold potatoes and use those occasionally. Red potatoes would also work here, but won't lend quite as creamy a texture as russets will.
- How to Make Loaded Potato Soup in the Slow Cooker: If you'd rather make your potato soup in a slow cooker, I have a full recipe and directions for how to do that! This is a great way to prepare it while you are gone during the day.
- To make this recipe vegetarian, swap the chicken broth for vegetable broth and the cream of chicken soup for cream of celery soup.
- For a vegan alternative, swap out the butter for vegetable or olive oil. Also swap the milk for soy, hemp, rice, or almond milk, and the cheese for a vegan cheese alternative, or leave it out completely.
- This Loaded Potato Soup can be made gluten free by using a gluten free cream of chicken soup. My favorite cream of chicken soup is from Pacific Foods and it is gluten free. I've also found that Walmart carries a gluten-free cream of chicken soup under their Great Value brand. You will also need to swap the all purpose flour for a gluten free version, such as rice flour, chickpea flour, or oat flour.
- To make this Loaded Potato Soup dairy free swap out the milk for soy, hemp, rice, or almond milk, and the cheese for a vegan cheese alternative, or leave it out completely. You will also want to use a dairy free cream of chicken soup, which isn't always easy to find on the shelf at the grocery store. Here is a recipe for dairy free cream of chicken soup you can make at home.
Nutrition
Katherine Grimm says
This is absolutely the best potato soup I’ve ever made. Creamy, thick, and ever so tasty! Using my fooodie was quick and very easy. I’ll definitely make it again.
Robin says
Soo amazing. The only thing I changed is that I used heavy cream instead of milk and gluten free flour. A definite hit with the family. Adding this to my recipes!
Keith says
This recipe is great and fast; my family loves it. We like it as a meal or as a side for for grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. It goes together quickly and doesn’t generate a lot of dirty dishes. It freezes well too.
Even though we love it just the way it is written, I have begun to improvise a bit. Here are some things that I have tried:
Add some finely chopped celery to the onion step to add body (and it is a good way to use up some celery that might be getting soft in the fridge). Have some other veggies getting old in the fridge? Drop them in too. I added some finely chopped “surplus” baby carrots last night.
Splash in some dry sherry (1 or 2 Tbsp, or to your taste) after the onions and garlic have cooked, to deglaze the pot. This gives a hint of a bisque character to the soup.
Drop in a couple of large pinches of dried chives to the chicken broth .
For more richness, add some cream or substitute it for some of the milk.
To hide the added veggies from a picky teenager like mine, put them in last, on top of the potatoes and cook as normal. After releasing the pressure, use an immersion blender to puree just the top veggies, right before adding the milk and cheese.
Lexi says
Amazing! Just made for dinner. It is so good.
Tori says
Fantastic! One of my favorite dishes I’ve made in my instant pot so far.
I made two modifications:
Set the pressure to normal instead of high, since the potatoes I had on hand were already a little soft. They came out perfectly.
Substituted mozzarella for the cheddar (didn’t realize I was out of shredded cheddar until that step!), but tbh I found that I prefer the mozzarella flavor in potato soup over cheddar. So it all worked out!
Bookmarked and saved for future dinners!
Kristi610 says
This is the easiest potato soup I’ve ever made it turned out great thx ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Fatima T says
I’ve been looking for a good potato soup recipe. It would love to surprise my husband with this since he loves loaded anything.
Bella says
gimme all the soup please! I love summer but fall is the best because you can make soup everyday!! lol
Marisa says
This looks so good! I’ve been looking for a good Potato Soup recipe, I can’t wait to try this one!
Charlie Moore says
CAN’T WAIT TO MAKE THIS! I’m living out of my instant pot at the moment! 🙂
Heather says
This looks so good! I’m finally starting to use our Instant Pot more so I can’t wait to try it.