Instant Pot Potato Soup
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This delicious Instant Pot Potato Soup is decadent, easy, and freezer-friendly. It can be thrown together in your Instant Pot right before dinnertime.
A Few Reasons to Love This Recipe
- It’s easy. With the help of the Instant Pot, potato soup has never been easier. Simply add all the ingredients (minus the sour cream) in, press a button, and it’s done!
- Instant Pot Potato Soup is freezer-friendly. We are big fans of freezer meals, because they’re time-saving, money-saving, and sanity-saving for busy parents. Detailed freezing and thawing instructions below.
- Once the dicing and sautéing is done, its hands off. No babysitting a soup on the stove! This means you’re freed up to be more present with your people while dinner cooks.
- With substitutions, it can be made gluten-free and dairy-free! See Recipe Notes below for substitutions.
Can Instant Pot Potato Soup Be Made in the Slow Cooker?
Absolutely! This recipes converts well to the crockpot. Follow the recipe instructions below but with these changes:
- Instead of sautéing in the Instant Pot, sauté on the stovetop.
- Cook the soup on low for 6-8 hours instead of pressure cooking it for 7 minutes.
Another option is making our amazing Slow Cooker Cheddar and Bacon Soup.
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Ingredients for Instant Pot Potato Soup
Here’s what you need to make this potato soup recipe:
- Yukon gold potatoes – You can substitute peeled russet potatoes, if needed.
- Salted butter – If you use unsalted, be sure to add a bit of salt to the soup!
- Olive oil – Avocado oil is a great substitution
- Yellow onion
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Minced Garlic
- Flour – see gluten-free options in Notes
- Chicken broth – If you use low-sodium broth, you’ll have to add a bit more salt to the soup.
- Sour cream – Plain greek yogurt is a good substitution.
- Topping ideas: bacon bits (we get our bacon here), sliced green onion or chives, shredded cheddar cheese
How to Make Potato Soup in the Instant Pot
Dice the Potatoes and Onion
Before you even get rolling with this soup recipe, allow a little time to dice up your veggies. It’s important to dice your potatoes fairly small (1/2 inch) so the peel disappears into the soup while cooking.
Why Yukon Potatoes?
Because we use Yukon potatoes, there is no need to peel them! The skin is thin and practically unnoticeable once fully cooked. This proves to be a huge time saver.
Sauté the Onion
Set Instant Pot to the highest Saute setting and heat butter and olive oil until melted and sizzling.
Add diced onion, stirring until soft and translucent, about 3 minutes. Season lightly with salt and pepper while onion cooks. Stir in the garlic during the last 30 seconds of cook time.
Make the Roux
Add flour, stirring until thickened to create a roux (a mixture of flour and fat that’s used as a thickener), about 1 minute or so. Turn off the Saute function.
Pressure Cook the Potato Soup
Stir in chicken broth. Add the diced potatoes to the Instant Pot. Lock and seal the lid, and set to cook on high pressure for 7 minutes. (Note: It will take about 20 minutes to come to pressure.)
When cook time is up, quick release the pressure.
Mash the Potatoes
Use a potato masher to mash ingredients to desired consistency.
(It can quickly turn to baby food consistency, so I recommend going easy at first!)
Stir in Sour Cream & Serve
Stir in sour cream until completely melted. Taste and add salt and pepper, to your preference.
Top each bowl with your favorite toppings, like bacon bits, shredded cheddar cheese, and green onion or chives.
Instant Pot Cooking Times Chart
After testing hundreds of Instant Pot recipes, we have honed in on the best timing and methods for cooking different types of meals in the Instant Pot.
How to Freeze Potato Soup
Freeze For Later: After fully cooking the soup, let it cool. Store in an air tight freezer container and freeze.
Prepare From Frozen: To reheat, thaw the soup using one of these methods and then warm over low heat on the stove or in the microwave.
Did you make this? Snap a photo and tag us on Instagram at @thrivinghome so we can see your creations and cheer you on!
Instant Pot Loaded Potato Soup
This Loaded Potato Soup is decadent, creamy, and will come together in your Instant Pot right before dinner.
Ingredients
- 3 – 3 1/2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, diced into 1/2 inch pieces (about 9-10 cups; no need to peel; sub: peeled russet potatoes)
- 3 tablespoons salted butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 large yellow onion, diced (a generous 1 cup)
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 cloves garlic, minced (or 1 –1 1/2 teaspoons pre-minced garlic)
- 3 tablespoons flour (see gluten-free options in Notes)
- 1 quart (32 ounces) chicken broth
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- Topping ideas: bacon bits (we get our bacon here), sliced green onion or chives, shredded cheddar cheese, etc.
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Instructions
Make It Now:
(Note: Prep the potatoes, onion, and garlic according to ingredient list above and have them waiting on you for this recipe.)
- Set Instant Pot to the highest Saute setting and heat butter and olive oil until melted and sizzling. Add diced onion, stirring until soft and translucent, about 3 minutes. Season lightly with salt and pepper while onion cooks. Stir in the garlic during the last 30 seconds of cook time.
- Add flour, stirring until thickened to create a roux, about 1 minute or so. Turn off the Saute function.
- Stir in chicken broth*. Add the diced potatoes to the Instant Pot. Lock and seal the lid, and set to cook on high pressure for 7 minutes. (Note: It will take about 20 minutes to come to pressure.) When cook time is up, quick release the pressure.
- Use potato masher to mash ingredients to desired consistency. (It can quickly turn to baby food consistency, so I recommend going easy at first!)
- Stir in sour cream until completely melted. Taste and add salt and pepper, to your preference.
- Top each bowl with your favorite toppings, like bacon bits, shredded cheddar cheese, and green onion or chives.
*If using low-sodium broth, add in 1 teaspoon of salt at this point.
Freeze For Later: After fully cooking the soup, let it cool. Store in an air tight freezer container and freeze.
Prepare From Frozen: To reheat, thaw the soup using one of these methods and then warm over low heat on the stove or in the microwave.
Notes/Tips
Gluten-Free Version: Substitute 1:1 gluten-free flour for the regular flour. Or, skip Step 3 and add a cornstarch slurry at the end of Step 4 instead. To do that, stir together 2 T water and 2 T cornstarch in a small bowl. After releasing the pressure at end of Step 4, stir in the cornstarch slurry while it’s still piping hot. It will thicken over the next few minutes.
Dairy-Free Version: Substitute plant-based butter or olive oil for the butter. For the sour cream, either omit it or try one of these options instead.
Want to Add More Veggies? Up the nutritional value of this soup by using the whole onion (instead of half) and adding some chopped or riced cauliflower (fresh or frozen).
How to Make on Stovetop: Use a large stockpot instead of Instant Pot to saute the veggies and flour in butter/oil over medium-high heat, according to Steps 2-3. Add broth and potatoes, bring to a boil, and reduce to simmer. Cook for about 12-15 minutes or until potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and follow Steps 5-7.
Recipe Credit: A huge thanks to Alyssa Nitz, contributing author, for posting this original delicious recipe many years ago. After retesting on 9/20/22, we have tweaked it slightly and added substitutions and tips. Our changes include using unpeeled Yukon gold potatoes (instead of peeling Idaho potatoes), salting and peppering the onions, and using a quick release of pressure (instead of natural release). Thanks for the great recipe, Alyssa!!
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This recipe came together so fast and is not lacking any taste. I’m new to IP cooking and this was the first time I didn’t have any problems with my seal. We left the bacon out for lent. Can’t wait to find more vegetarian meals/fish to help me with getting through lent.
★★★★★
To clarify: in the post it says to cook on high pressure for 14 minutes, but in the recipe it says high pressure for 7 minutes. Which is correct? Thank you! This sounds delicious—I can’t wait to make it!
Whoops- forgot to update the text within the post. Thanks for pointing it out! Got it fixed. Enjoy!
Thank you!