Here’s the best easy loaded Instant Pot potato soup! It’s insanely creamy, a healthy spin with no heavy cream and no blender needed.
Ready for the coziest of Instant Pot recipes? Meet this Instant Pot potato soup. It’s velvety and creamy, with light chunks of potatoes for texture. It’s savory with a hint of Old Bay seasoning. There’s no heavy cream, and loaded with all the fixings, it’s a deliciously tasty healthy dinner idea. And did we mention you don’t even need a blender? Alex and I knew when we made our new favorite loaded potato soup that we’d need a version for the pressure cooker too! And are we glad we did! Here’s how to make it.
How to make Instant Pot potato soup: basic steps!
This Instant Pot potato soup is easy to make: it’s the perfect creamy, cozy pressure cooker soup to load up with toppings! Truly, I can’t think of anything more comforting. The nice thing about this one is that it’s a healthy spin too! It uses milk and a moderate amount of butter, instead of loads of cream like many recipes. In just a 10 minute cook time, the potatoes mash down into a beautiful puree using a potato masher. Here are the basic steps for how to make this recipe.
Step 1: Use Saute mode to cook shallots in butter.
First, you’ll use Saute mode on your Instant Pot to cook the shallots in butter. Tip: We usually set our Saute mode for 10 minutes: if you don’t set a time, it shuts off on its own. Cook those shallots until they’re tender but not yet browned. Your kitchen will smell amazing at this point!
What are shallots? If you haven’t cooked with them before, they’re like a small onion. Their flavor is more delicate and mild, and they’re perfect for potato soup.
Step 2: Pressure cook on High with potatoes and broth for 10 minutes.
To those fragrant shallots and butter, add the peeled diced potatoes and vegetable broth. Then pressure cooker on High for 10 minutes. If you’re a seasoned pressure cooker pro, you’ll know it takes a few minutes to “preheat” the Instant Pot to come up to pressure. Here it takes about 10 minutes, making this step take about 20 minutes total.
Step 3: Quick release, add seasonings and flour, and stir! Then add milk & Saute for 2 minutes.
Do a quick release to release the steam from the Instant Pot. Here’s the fun part: whisk together flour with a little bit of broth. This will simulate a “roux” to thicken the soup. Add the flour, salt and Old Bay seasoning. Then here’s the important part! Stir stir stir until it’s creamy! The potatoes will be so tender that they will fall apart.
Once they’re the texture of chunky mashed potatoes, stir in the milk. The very last step only takes a few minutes! Just turn back on Saute mode and heat the soup until it’s warmed through. And that’s it: the most delicious, creamy Instant Pot potato soup you’ll find!
Ways to top Instant Pot potato soup
The best part about Instant Pot potato soup? The toppings! Once you’ve made a batch, load with toppings and enjoy. Here are the toppings we used:
- Shredded cheese: This one’s a must! We used sharp cheddar, but smoked gouda or Mexican blend would also work.
- Sliced green onion or chives: Onion is required on a great loaded potato soup.
- Sour cream or Greek yogurt: consider Greek yogurt for a healthy spin: it adds a nice tang
- Bacon: Alex and I eat lots of vegetarian and vegan meals, so for this one we served it with shiitake mushroom bacon! It added just the right smoky flavor. You could use real bacon of course, or other vegan bacon options like coconut bacon or crumbles of tempeh bacon.
How to make it a meal
So, what to serve with this Instant Pot potato soup to make it into a meal? Here are a few great sides we’d suggest:
- Easy Arugula Salad Here’s the simplest salad you’ll ever make! This easy arugula salad is fool-proof: you don’t even need to make dressing. Make it while the soup cooks.
- The BEST Kale Salad This is the BEST way to eat kale! A dressing of lemon, garlic and Parmesan cheese transforms kale into tangy goodness in this Tuscan kale salad.
- Homemade Cornbread or Classic Cornbread Muffins This tender, moist homemade cornbread is easy to make and tastes like box mix, but 100 times tastier. We also have a vegan version.
What kind of Instant Pot do you use?
The brand we use is an Instant Pot 6 Qt Pressure Cooker, so this recipe is customized to that pressure cooker! There are lots of other great brands, but we love this one and find it’s been very reliable. We also have 3 Instant Pot sealing rings: they can pick up the flavors of food, so we like having multiple ones and washing them as necessary.
Looking for more? Try more of our Best Instant Pot Recipes!
This Instant Pot potato soup recipe is…
Vegetarian. For gluten-free, use 1-for-1 gluten free flour. For vegan, go to Creamy Vegan Potato Soup.
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Best Instant Pot Potato Soup (No Cream!)
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4 to 5 1x
Description
Here’s the best easy loaded Instant Pot potato soup! It’s insanely creamy, a healthy spin with no heavy cream and no blender needed. (For vegan, go to Vegan Potato Soup.)
Ingredients
- 2 large shallots
- 4 medium russet potatoes
- 4 tablespoons salted butter
- 2 ½ cups vegetable broth, divided
- 6 tablespoons all purpose flour (or 1-for-1 gluten free flour)
- 1 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
- 1 garlic clove
- Fresh ground black pepper
- 2 cups 2% milk
- Topping ideas: Greek yogurt, shredded cheese, thinly sliced chives or green onions, bacon, shiitake bacon or coconut bacon, hot sauce
Instructions
- Mince the shallots. Peel and dice the potatoes.
- Turn on Saute mode and add the butter to the Instant Pot. When it is melted, add the shallot and saute 4 to 5 minutes, until softened but before it browns.
- Add 2 cups vegetable broth and the potatoes. Lock the lid of the Instant Pot. Place the pressure release handle (vent) in the “Sealing” position.
- Cook on High Pressure for 10 minutes: Press the Pressure Cook button, making sure the “High Pressure” setting is selected, and set the time. Note that it takes about 10 minutes for the pot to “preheat” and come up to pressure before it starts cooking. (During cooking, avoid touching the metal part of the lid.)
- Quick release: Vent the remaining steam from the Instant Pot by moving the pressure release handle to “Venting”, covering your hand with a towel or hot pad. Never put your hands or face near the vent when releasing steam. Open the pressure cooker lid.
- Meanwhile, add the flour to a medium bowl. Whisk in the remaining ½ cup vegetable broth until the flour is combined. Turn off the Instant Pot.
- Add the flour mixture to cooked potatoes and add the salt, Old Bay seasoning, grated garlic, and fresh ground pepper. Stir until potatoes are mashed and creamy, like the consistency of chunky mashed potatoes. Then stir in the milk until smooth.
- Turn on Saute mode again and cook for 2 minutes until soup is warmed through. Turn off the Instant Pot and serve immediately, garnished with the desired toppings.
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: Instant Pot Potato Soup, Loaded Potato Soup
The best potato soup ever. It’s done so quick and it’s so easy. I make this every single week now.
I’m so glad you love it! Thanks for commenting :)
Worked perfectly! Easy and so creamy!
I made this today and it was so easy and tastes great! I had never made potato soup before and this recipe came together quickly and simple. Will make this again!
So glad you enjoyed!
I made this last night using yukon gold potatoes and a homemade old bay substitute and my whole family loved it! We topped it with shredded cheddar cheese, a little sour cream and carrot bacon! Will definitely make this again. Thanks!
Can I substitute Cassava flour for regular if I am grain free and coconut milk for milk if dairy free?
I think the cassava flour would thicken too much, I’d try just a couple of tablespoons. For the milk, I’d do almond or soy milk for a similar flavor.
To make this vegan, would oat milk be okay? And coconut oil or vegan butter? Thanks!
We need to make a vegan one some day!
Coconut oil or vegan butter would definitely work. I’m not sure about the oat milk — sometimes it has a hint of sweetness in savory foods. It would probably be ok, but an unsweetened nut milk would maybe be better.
This recipe was so easy and turned out amazing! I’m adding it to my Fall/Winter rotation!
So glad you enjoyed it! :)
Since my first time making this back in March, I can’t count the times I’ve made it and it has been great always! I have played around with the garlic, used beef broth, (I thought I had chicken but didn’t) used creole seasoing, etc. I’ve enjoyed experimenting with this recipe! Thank you again!!
I love this! Thanks for commenting :)
Was not a fan as the consistency was more “mashed potatoes gone wrong” vs potato soup. I will stick to stove top as we like more potato chunks and less thick.
Can we use dried chives if we don’t have fresh ones?
Yes!
Can you use an 8 qt insta pot for this recipe, or how would you adjust it for the 8 qt? Thank you!
Yes it should work with an 8qt!