Instant Pot Ham & Potato Soup

Welcome to the October 9th, 2016 edition of Sunday Scratchups: Your weekly recipe from scratch around grocery store sales and affordable ingredients. This week, Sweet Tomatoes declared bankruptcy and suddenly closed all of its Illinois restaurants. 🙁 This made both the kids very sad! Me, I could generally take or leave Sweet Tomatoes, but their departure got me thinking about a seasonal rosemary potato soup I had there once, and which I did quite enjoy.

So: Since my garden is still producing tons of fresh rosemary, potatoes are cheap in October, and I had some leftover ham from earlier in the week, this seemed like the perfect good time to scratch up a pot of Instant Pot Ham & Potato Soup with fresh rosemary!

Did this Instant Pot potato soup turn out like the Sweet Tomatoes version? Not really, but it’s good. Instant Pot ham & potato soup is the perfect easy comfort food recipe for a cool fall day — plus, this is a great way to use up some leftover ham, so keep that in mind for the holidays.

*** Looking for a slow cooker potato soup recipe? Check out Slow Cooker Potato Soup here, or see the easy alternative Crock-Pot directions underneath the Instant Pot directions below.

Instant Pot Ham & Potato Soup

Ingredients

2 Tbsp butter
1/2 a small yellow onion, diced
2 Tbsp real bacon bits
2 lbs Yukon Gold and/or red potatoes, cut into chunks (peel if desired)
8 whole garlic gloves
32 oz box of chicken broth
Dash of cayenne
2 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary (can substitute 1.5-2 tsp dried)
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
8 oz brick cream cheese, softened and cut into chunks
1/2 cup shredded cheddar
1 cup cooked diced ham
Additional bacon bits, green onions, parsley, or chives for garnish (optional)

Directions

Saute onion in butter until soft using the saute function on the Instant Pot, stirring frequently to avoid burning, then add bacon bits and saute another 30 seconds or so. Hit keep warm/cancel, then add in potato chunks, garlic, chicken broth, cayenne, rosemary, sea salt, and pepper.

Seal your Instant Pot and set it to cook on high pressure on manual for five minutes. When time is up, quick release the steam. Remove lid, set the Instant Pot to keep warm, and mash potatoes & garlic to desired consistency with a potato masher. (You can also use an immersion blender, but I like my potato soup on the chunkier side for texture.)

Stir in cream cheese and cheddar until completely melted and well incorporated into soup. Stir in ham until heated through. Add additional salt, pepper, and/or cayenne to taste, then serve your hot ham & potato soup topped with additional bacon bits and green onions, parsley, or chives (optional).

Alternative Crock-Pot directions

Mince garlic. Sauté onion in butter in a small pan on your stove top until soft. Add bacon bits and minced garlic and cook another minute. Add onion, garlic, & bacon bits, plus the potatoes, broth, and spices to slow cooker and cook on low for 7 hours.

Remove lid, set slow cooker to keep warm, and mash potatoes to desired consistency with a potato masher. Stir in cream cheese and cheddar until completely melted and well incorporated into soup. Stir in ham. Cover and cook on low for another 15 minutes, until ham is heated through.

Add additional salt, pepper, and/or cayenne to taste, then serve your hot ham & potato soup topped with additional bacon bits and green onions, parsley, or chives (optional).

A simple & delicious potato soup

This savory, cheesy, and delicious ham & potato soup will warm your bones on a cool evening, and is so easy to throw together on a weeknight. Just add bread & a green salad, and you can have a complete hot dinner on the table in about half an hour! The Instant Pot makes for such a quick & simple potato soup recipe, and is so much faster than cooking it up on the stove top.

And I don’t know about you, but I think nothing beats a big pot of soup for comfort food, especially on a chilly fall evening. Both kids pronounced this: Good, and I’ll definitely be making potato soup in the Instant Pot again — so easy!

Instant Pot Ham & Potato Soup, printable recipe

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Instant Pot Ham & Potato Soup

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Instant Pot ham & potato soup is the perfect easy comfort food recipe for a cool fall day — plus this is a great way to use up some leftover ham, so keep that in mind for the holidays.

Course Soup

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author Rachel Singer

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 a small yellow onion, diced
• 2 Tbsp real bacon bits
• 2 lbs Yukon Gold and/or red potatoes, cut into chunks (peel if desired)
• 8 whole garlic gloves
• 32 oz box of chicken broth
• Dash of cayenne
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary (can substitute 1.5-2 tsp dried)
• Sea salt, to taste
• Black pepper, to taste
• 8 oz brick cream cheese, softened and cut into chunks
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar
• 1 cup cooked diced ham
• Additional bacon bits, green onions, parsley, or chives for garnish (optional)

Instructions

• Saute onion in butter until soft using the saute function on the Instant Pot, stirring frequently to avoid burning, then add bacon bits and saute another 30 seconds or so.
• Hit keep warm/cancel, then add in potato chunks, garlic, chicken broth, cayenne, rosemary, sea salt, and pepper.
• Seal your Instant Pot and set it to cook on high pressure on manual for five minutes.
• When time is up, quick release the steam.
• Remove lid, set the Instant Pot to keep warm, and mash potatoes & garlic to desired consistency with a potato masher. (You can also use an immersion blender, but I like my potato soup on the chunkier side for texture.)
• Stir in cream cheese and cheddar until completely melted and well incorporated into soup.
• Stir in ham until heated through.
• Add additional salt, pepper, and/or cayenne to taste, then serve your hot ham & potato soup topped with additional bacon bits and green onions, parsley, or chives (optional).

Notes

Total cooking time includes time for Instant Pot to come to pressure.

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