Instant Pot Loaded Baked Potato Soup

This loaded baked potato soup is basically all the flavours you’d put on a loaded jacket potato turned into a thick, creamy soup. There are potatoes, bacon, cheddar, cream cheese and spring onions, and because it’s made in the Instant Pot you don’t need to leave a saucepan simmering on the hob for ages.

It’s definitely not one of my lighter soups, and I’m not going to pretend that a soup containing bacon, cream cheese and a fairly generous amount of cheddar is! It’s one for those days when you want something really filling, particularly when it’s cold outside and a bowl of vegetable soup just isn’t what you fancy.

The recipe makes four portions and takes around 35 minutes altogether, including the preparation and cooking time.

Loaded baked potato soup ingredients

You’ll need:

• ½ brown onion, diced
• 2 tbsp crushed garlic
• 470ml chicken stock
• 110g cream cheese
• 4 medium russet potatoes, diced
• A pinch of salt
• 250ml semi-skimmed milk
• Black pepper to taste
• 165g grated cheddar cheese
• 70g bacon lardons or bacon crumbles

For the toppings, you’ll also need some extra bacon, spring onions and grated cheddar.

There’s quite a lot going on in this soup, but that’s really the point of a loaded potato soup. If you’re looking for something lighter or more vegetable-heavy, have a look through my healthy soup recipes instead because there are plenty of completely different options there.

Which potatoes are best for loaded potato soup?

I used russet potatoes for this recipe. They’re floury potatoes, which helps give the soup its thicker texture as they cook.

Russets aren’t always labelled as such in UK supermarkets, so if you can’t find them, look for a floury potato suitable for baking or mashing rather than getting too hung up on finding exactly the same variety.

Cut your potatoes into fairly even bite-sized pieces so they cook at roughly the same rate under pressure.

How to make loaded baked potato soup in the Instant Pot

Start by preparing everything before you switch the Instant Pot on. Scrub and dice the potatoes, dice the onion and crush the garlic.

Set the Instant Pot to sauté. Once it has heated, add the bacon lardons and sauté them for 3 minutes, stirring when needed.

Add the diced onion and cook for another 2 minutes or until it has softened. Add the crushed garlic and cook for a further minute, then switch off the sauté function so the garlic doesn’t burn.

Add the diced potatoes, a pinch of salt and the chicken stock.

Fit the lid, seal the valve and set the Instant Pot to manual/high pressure for 10 minutes.

Once the cooking time has finished, carefully perform a quick pressure release following the instructions for your Instant Pot. Keep your hands and face away from the escaping steam.

Add the cream cheese, cutting it into smaller pieces if necessary so that it melts more easily. Add the semi-skimmed milk, black pepper and grated cheddar, then stir everything together.

Replace the lid without pressure cooking again and leave the soup for about 5 minutes to give the cheese time to melt into it.

Stir again before serving and add spring onions, extra bacon and grated cheddar on top.

What do you put on loaded baked potato soup?

This is where you can treat your bowl of soup rather like a loaded baked potato.

I’ve used bacon, cheddar and spring onions, but you don’t have to pile absolutely everything on every portion. Extra grated cheese is probably my favourite, although Stuart and Ben would undoubtedly argue that extra bacon is more important!

Other toppings that would work include a spoonful of soured cream, finely chopped chives or simply some extra black pepper.

Bear in mind that toppings can quickly make an already substantial soup even richer, so add as much or as little as you actually fancy.

Can I make loaded baked potato soup vegetarian?

Yes. Replace the chicken stock with vegetable stock and leave out the bacon or use a vegetarian bacon alternative that you know you like.

You don’t necessarily have to replace the bacon at all. The cheese, potato, garlic and onion already give you plenty going on, although you may want to adjust the seasoning because you’re losing some of the salty, smoky flavour from the bacon.

If you’re vegetarian, remember to check that the cheese you choose is suitable too.

Can I add other vegetables?

You can experiment, although I’d avoid turning it into an entirely different recipe on your first attempt.

Carrot, broccoli or cauliflower would be possibilities if you want to include some extra vegetables. Just remember that adding lots of extra ingredients changes both the volume and consistency of the soup, and you mustn’t fill your Instant Pot above its recommended maximum level.

Personally, if I wanted a vegetable-heavy soup, I’d probably just make a different soup rather than trying to shoehorn half the fridge into this one!

Can I use leftover cooked meat?

Cooked ham or gammon would work particularly well with potato and cheese.

If you’re using cooked leftovers, make sure they’ve been stored safely and are reheated thoroughly. I wouldn’t just chuck leftover meat into the finished soup and assume a few minutes sitting in hot liquid is enough.

Why isn’t my potato soup thick enough?

This isn’t intended to be a completely smooth soup. The pieces of potato are part of its texture.

If you’d prefer it slightly thicker, you could mash some of the cooked potato into the liquid before adding the cream cheese, milk and cheddar. That will thicken the soup while leaving plenty of potato pieces intact.

I wouldn’t immediately start adding flour or cornflour because you may find that simply breaking up some of the potatoes gives you the consistency you want.

Remember that the soup will also become thicker as the cheese and cream cheese melt into it.

Can I make this soup thinner?

Yes. If the finished soup is thicker than you’d like, add a small amount of milk or hot stock and stir it through.

Do this gradually. You can always add another splash, but once you’ve turned your potato soup into cheesy potato water there’s no undo button!

What should I serve with loaded baked potato soup?

It’s filling enough to eat as a main meal on its own, particularly with all the toppings.

If you want something alongside it, crusty bread or a bread roll would be the obvious choices. A simple salad could work too if you want something fresh alongside such a rich soup.

For lunch, I’d probably have a smaller bowl rather than adding loads of sides because there’s already potato, cheese and bacon in there.

How to store leftover loaded potato soup

Cool leftovers and get them into the fridge promptly in a covered container. Eat refrigerated leftovers within the appropriate safe timeframe and reheat them until steaming hot throughout.

Because this soup contains dairy and potato, its texture may thicken considerably in the fridge. Add a splash of milk or stock while reheating if necessary.

Reheat only the amount you’re actually going to eat rather than repeatedly warming and cooling the whole batch.

More Instant Pot and soup recipes

If you bought an Instant Pot and it spends more time sitting in the cupboard than actually cooking anything, have a look at my easy Instant Pot recipes for some more ideas.

For something completely different, I’ve also got lots of healthy soup recipes, including vegetable, lentil and creamy soups, as well as soup maker recipes if that’s your preferred way of making soup.

And if potato, bacon and a frankly unnecessary-but-lovely amount of cheese is exactly what you fancied today, this loaded baked potato soup should do the job nicely!

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