Instant Pot Loaded Potato Soup
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
Recipe: 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!
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.
I don’t normally rate recipes but this turned out so good. I used half and half not milk 1 cup and corn starch 2 tablespoons. It is the best I have ever made.
Thank you I was looking for someone who used corn starch. I wasn’t sure if you could. I ran out flour. 😅
This was DELICIOUS!! At the end when you stir in the cheese we also stirred in extra bacon and green onions, also topped with more, so good!
this soup is amazing, When I make it i do use no salt broth, and no salt condensed soup. I find the cheese makes it salty enough, plus can always add more salt. The first time I made it I used 30% less sodium broth, and regular soup and it was way too salty for me with the cheese. Sometimes I like to add in a little frozen broccoli but this soup is tasty just as it is 🙂
Absolutely delicious! My daughter requested a thick hearty soup for dinner. The flavors are delicious together. Super simple to make in my instant pot. One problem… NO LEFTOVERS! Thanks for a delicious recipe!
Fast, easy and absolutely delicious! I will definitely be making this again.
I added garlic and onion powder, mustard powder, some dried thyme and Rosemary and a few teaspoons of worchrstire sauce. It all gave it so much flavor!
also large can or small can/box of cream soup?
Small size, 10..5 oz
what size instant pot is this for ?
Eating it now! Such an easy yet amazing recipe. I used corn starch instead of flour, used 2% milk and only added a cup of cheese to the soup and it came out great.
I started with cooking 3 pieces of bacon and left the grease in the instapot. I then followed the recipe adding 1/2 can of whole curnal corn and swapping half and half for the milk. It was my first time making potato soup and it far exceeded my expectations. Thanks.
Fantastic!
I started with cooking 3 pieces of bacon and left the grease in the instapot. I then followed the recipe adding 1/2 can of whole curnal corn and swapping half and half for the milk. It was my first time making potato soup and it far exceeded my expectations. Thanks.
this soup is amazing, When I make it i do use no salt broth, and no salt condensed soup. I find the cheese makes it salty enough, plus can always add more salt. The first time I made it I used 30% less sodium broth, and regular soup and it was way too salty for me with the cheese. Sometimes I like to add in a little frozen broccoli but this soup is tasty just as it is 🙂
I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to use the weight of the potatoes and not the amount. I used 6 russet potatoes and it filled my instant pot to the max line. I came out of this with tasty mashed potatoes in a volume large enough to fill the space left by my devastated hubris.
You can fill your instant pot as much as you want with food as long as the lid closes. The max fill line is for liquid only.
This soup is delicious!! such a nice combination. My wife and I really enjoyed it! Thank you, Becky.
This soup was so delicious! My 92 yr. old mother said it was the best soup she’s ever had! I did use heavy whipping cream instead of the milk and flour. I also used Yukon Gold potatoes and scrubbed them up. No peeling. I added the cheese on top of the soup bowls instead of to the whole soup. It was a very cold night here in Florida (42), so this soup and crusty bread was perfect! Thank you Ashlyn!
THis is the best potato soup I’ve ever had! Wow!
Delicious! I substituted half & half for the milk and used a cheese combo of gruyere & cheddar. Also while I was thickening it I took my potato masher and mashed the potato chunks a few times to have a combo of smaller & larger pieces. Definitely a make again!!
I found this recipe and made it this evening for a friend who just had gum surgery and can only eat soft, puréed foods. Amazing!!! When the potatoes were done, before I added the slurry, I used my hand blender to mash the potatoes. I also sautéed the onions and garlic in bacon bit roux, and used 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup heavy cream for the slurry. This recipe will now become a staple in our home. Thank you!
I doubled the recipe but didn’t change the cook time. It turned it great. I also added Cajun spice! Delicious!
This is an easy recipe that makes a lot of soup. It’s tasty and I have most of the ingredients already on hand. I used 8 small russet potatoes and feel that the starch from that alone was enough to thicken the soup. Don’t skimp on the cheese and do use cheddar. I used a milder cheese it tastes a bit bland, just me though. I also love that it takes no time at all in the pressure cooker. I will definitely make again.
Can you add chicken breasts to this recipe and then shred it before serving? If so- when would I add it ?