Instant Pot Potato Soup

My dad has always made a delicious creamy potato soup. It’s a little rich but so worth indulging in occasionally. After buying his own Instant Pot recently, he tinkered a bit with the regular recipe and made the perfect Instant Pot Potato Soup recipe.

Now I want to call this 5 minute Instant Pot Potato Soup because that’s how you set the timer in soup mode but anyone familiar with an Instant Pot knows that you also need to prep the ingredients ahead of time, do a little sautéing, and once you are ready to hit “Soup” mode, you have the time doesn’t officially start until the Instant Pot pressurizes and heats up. In this case, it took 15 minutes before the 5 minute started in soup mode.

Instant Pot Potato Soup Ingredients

5 medium potatoes, diced
3 medium onions, diced
1 head of garlic, minced
10 slices bacon, chopped
2 quarts chicken stock
4 cups half & half
1/4 tsp bay leaves
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp crushed red peppers
2 tsp salt
black pepper
olive oil
1/2 stalk of celery

Start by baking your bacon in the oven at 400 degrees until crisp and set aside. Turn the Instant Pot on saute mode and add ~ 5 tbs olive oil. Dice the onions and saute until translucent. Add minced garlic and saute for another 2 minutes. Be careful not to burn the garlic.

For a little extra flavor add the bacon grease (from the pan you used to bake it in) and 1/4 cup of white wine. Let it simmer for a few minutes to evaporate the alcohol. Stir occasionally.

Chop the bacon and add it to the Instant along with 1 quart of chicken stock. Then add bay leaves, thyme, crushed red peppers, salt, and pepper. Add diced potatoes and top with celery (leave whole for easy removal). Add ~ another quart of chicken stock until the potatoes and celery are just covered.

Seal Instant Pot lid, turn on Soup Mode and set for 5 minutes. It took approximately 15 minutes for the Instant Pot to pressurize and heat up before the 5 minutes started.

When the timer is up, do a quick release. Once you can safely open the lid, remove the celery and add 4 cups of half & half. Add more salt to taste if necessary.

A couple things to note. You can substitute 4 cups of half & half with 2 cups cream and 2 cups milk. If you like the texture of celery in your soup, you can dice it before adding it to the soup. My dad has chopped bay leaves but if you have a traditional whole bay leaf, just add it just before sealing the Instant Pot and remove before adding the half & half.