Description
This soup is fantastic. It has a lot of flavor and is super comforting on a cold day. The leftovers are perfect for freezing, although, you probably won’t have much leftover.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 1 medium sized onion, diced
- 1 1/2 cups carrots, chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 3/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 7–8 large red potatoes (about 3 pounds), peeled and diced
- 1/2 teaspoon ground thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup flour
- 3 cups whole milk
- 5 cups sharp cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Cook bacon. You can cook it in the instant pot on the sauté function, but I like to use my perfectly cooked bacon recipe. If you cook in the instant pot chop it up before putting it in the instant pot to cook. Once cooked, set cooked bacon aside and leave grease in the instant pot. If you use my perfectly cooked bacon recipe, transfer grease from the cookie sheet to the instant pot.
- Turn on sauté function on the instant pot. Add onions and carrots and cook for 5 to 6 minutes. Add garlic, salt and pepper and cook for another minute.
- Add chicken broth, potatoes, ground thyme, and bay leaves.
- Place lid on instant pot and cook for 8 minutes on high pressure.
- While soup is cooking you will make the roux. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add flour and cook for 2 minutes while stirring constantly. Add milk and whisk until thickened, about 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat and add cheese. Stir until cheese is melted.
- Once instant pot is done cooking, quick release and remove bay leaves.
- Add cheesy roux and stir until combined.
- Add crumbled bacon and stir.
- Top with more cheese, bacon and/or crackers if desired.
Notes
- Cooking the bacon ahead of time and waiting until the end to add it back in will ensure that your bacon won’t be soggy. No one wants soggy bacon.
- Make sure that your carrots and potatoes are all the same size when diced. This is important because if some are bigger, they might not be cooked all the way through.
- This makes a big batch, so the leftovers are perfect for freezing in individual containers. My husband loves when I make a big batch of soup because then he will have a lot of soup to pick from in the freezer for his lunch during the week.
- I like to make freezer meals for other people, whether that’s for friends or family. I find these disposable containers are perfect. They are just the right size for individual portions and since they are technically disposable, no one has to worry about getting the container back to me.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 minutes