Baked Potato Soup is a staple comfort food in our home. It is the perfect side to go with your favorite sandwich, or make it the main course of a meal by simply adding a side of fancy bread. This recipe came to me as a spin-off of a stove top version I usually make, which takes a lot of ‘babysitting’ while it cooks. Well, a busy mom does not have time for that most days, so I made a few adjustments to prepare it in the pressure cooker. There are a lot of steps, but I promise it isn’t as intimidating or as time consuming as it may seem.

You will need…

• 3 celery stalks, chopped
• 4 large carrots, diced
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 6 Russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Pepper to taste
• ½ tsp Lawry’s Seasoning Salt
• 32 ounce low sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• ½ cup half and half 
• 6-8 slices cooked bacon, chopped
• 1 cup mild cheddar cheese, shredded
• Chopped green onion (optional)

First, you will want to cook the bacon. If you make bacon for breakfast, set aside some for later, or cook a double batch! When it comes time to prepare the soup later in the day, you will already have this step taken care of and the mess cleaned up. If you are cooking the bacon while preparing the soup, you will want to wash the vegetables and prepare them while it is cooking. When I cube the potatoes, I slice them lengthwise in half, and then in half again, finally chopping them into smaller cubes.

After your veggies are cleaned and chopped, set the Instant Pot to ‘sauté’ for 10 minutes. Add the olive oil, celery, carrots, and onion. While the vegetables are cooking, add the ground pepper and seasoning salt as well. When the veggies are almost done cooking (just starting to soften), stir in the cubed potatoes. After sautéing has finished, add chicken broth and two slices of chopped bacon. Adding a small amount of bacon before pressure cooking will help bring the bacon flavor into the broth and veggies, and trust me, it is AMAZING.

No such thing as too much bacon.

Turn the Instant Pot OFF. Then, select the ‘pressure cook’ setting and set to 12 minutes on high pressure. Make sure the valve is set to ‘sealing’. It may take a while for pressure to build, as the inner pot is so full, but I promise it will get there!

After pressure cooking has finished, allow the Instant Pot to naturally release for five minutes, followed by a quick release. A quick release is when you use a wooden spoon to open the valve to ‘venting’. Make sure to use a spoon-the steam is very hot!

When pressure cooking finishes your soup will look similar to this.

While the pressure is releasing, whisk together one cup of milk and 2 tbsp of flour. After pressure has completely released, remove the lid. Slowly stir in the milk and flour mixture. Then, turn OFF the ‘keep warm’ setting and set to ‘sauté’ for 5 more minutes.

After 5 minutes of cooking with the milk and flour mixture, use an immersion blender to break up some of the larger chunks. This gives the soup a potato like texture and an incredible color. If you do not have an immersion blender, simply use a potato masher, or leave the soup as is! Be careful when blending/mashing, you will want to leave some of the larger veggies to enjoy! 

Because every good cook has a burnt wooden spoon.

Stir in the half and half as well as some of the remaining bacon. You will want to leave enough bacon out for topping. It would be a tragedy if you could not top bacon soup with bacon. 🙂

Use the remaining bacon, cheese, and green onion for topping! Yay, you did it! Now it is time to enjoy! 

Emily