Cook the bacon. I like to make this soup with intentional leftovers from breakfast, that way we get to enjoy bacon for two meals of the day. Win, win.

Wash, peel, and prepare all of the veggies.

Set the Instant Pot to ‘saute’ for 10 minutes. Next, add the olive oil, celery, carrots, and onion. As the vegetables are cooking, go ahead and add the ground pepper and seasoning salt.

When the veggies are almost done cooking (just starting to soften), stir in the potato cubes.

When the sauteing has finished, go ahead and add chicken broth and two slices of chopped bacon.

Turn the Instant Pot OFF. Then, select the ‘pressure cook’ setting. Set to high pressure for 12 minutes. Make sure the valve is set to ‘sealing’.

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 open the valve to ‘venting’. Make sure to use a spoon because the steam is very hot!

While the pressure is naturally 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 Instant Pot’s ‘keep warm’ setting and set it to ‘saute’ again 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!

Stir in the half and half as well as some of the remaining bacon. You will want to leave enough bacon out for topping.

Grab a bowl, fill it up, top with bacon, green onion, and cheese. It is time to eat!