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.
This recipe sounds so amazing. Is this recipe for an 8 qt or 6 qt instant pot?
I made mine in my 6 quart pot.
excellent! would make again!!!!
I’m kinda new to Instant Pot. This was great! Thanks for sharing,
I just made this recipe and it is delicious! My three year old picky daughter also loves it!
Amazing!!! Turned out so good!! Thank you!!!!
Yay!!
Great recipe and easy to make. I improvised using Penzey’s spices and Penzey’s bouillon. Loved it! Will definitely keep in my favorites.
So glad to hear that, Mack!
Absolutely the best soup I’ve made in my IP to date. Everyone loves it even the potato soup haters! Have made it with flour and freezes well in small batches. Have also made this Gluten free by using a cornstarch slurry. (half of what the recipe cals for) did freeze it and thaws/cooks a bit thicker. But just added a bit more stock to thin it and added a bit of salt and pepper. Worked well that way too. Thanks for the recipe!
I’m so happy to hear that it’s been a hit for y’all! Thanks for sharing your tips as well!
Excellent recipe!! I added the bacon and green onions after the release. I will definitely make it again this winter!
where’s the slow cooker version?
Here it is: https://belleofthekitchen.com/slow-cooker-loaded-potato-soup/
Thanks Ashlyn for adding the Crockpot version! :O)
Your recipe looks delicious, can’t wait to try it!
Thank you for sharing! It was a super easy to follow recipe and delicious!
Omg BEST EVER!
I made a package of bacon extra crispy and put it into the soup mix after I released steam out. After I poured into bowls then topped with green onion and a tad more cheese!
Perfect for a cold rainy night by the fire.
I made this last night and we thought it was super easy and very tasty! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Hi, I’m attempting to make the soup and it smells delicious! ???? The only issue I’m having is that my instant pot keeps saying burn has anyone else had this issue? Or is it just my luck hahaha
Hi Rosemary! I’m so sorry but I haven’t ever had that happen before! Did it turn out ok?
If anything sticks or burns on the bottom while sautéing, you will get a burn error once the pot pressurizes. The best way to prevent this is to “deglaze” prior to sealing. If the onions stick to the base, pour in the chicken broth and stir vigorously to break up the browned bits. That should solve it.
Be sure to thoroughly deglaze the pan after sautéing before pressure cooking. Any bits stuck to the bottom of the pot are likely to trigger the burn warning which will stop your instant pot from heating. You can deglaze with the chicken broth or add 1/4 cup of dry vermouth or dry white wine and scrape the bottom well before adding other ingredients.
I did that once with my crockpot instant cooker. The reason is too many potatoes.
From experience when the Instant pot indicates “burn”, it usually means you have it filled past the line limit.
Made this today. DELISH soup! ????Family loved it! Thank you.
I only had a can of mushroom soup so I used it instead of the cream of chicken soup. I added an extra cup of chicken stock, 1/2 cup of frozen corn, 1 peeled and chopped zucchini, 1/4 cup frozen baby peas, 2 large fresh chopped carrots and 1/4 tspn of dried thyme.
I have lots leftover soup so when it cooled I put it in the fridge overnight.
Question: Can I reheat it next day and for up to how many days after that. It contains the the 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese and 1 cup of milk with 1 Tblspn of flour (slurry).
Glad y’all enjoyed it, Larissa! You can definitely reheat the next day. I’d say it’s good for about 3-4 days in the fridge.
Can you freeze this soup?
I’ve never tried freezing it before so I’m not sure! Wouldn’t hurt to try it though.
I plan to make this tonight. Do you know how many people this recipe will feed?
I found it! Nvm! 🙂
I don’t understand adding the can of soup??? What could I add to make up for it? More cream….can’t see adding a can of soup to a pot of soup…..