Happy Thursday Blogger Friends!

I have taken a small hiatus from blogging (it has been one heck of a January), but I am BACK and ready to share my latest recipe with y'all. So giddy on up! (How do we feel about the accent? Not my style?) Oh well, HERE WE GO!

Baked Potato Soup. Who doesn't love a good BPS? I have made many variations and have loved it more and more each time! I have made it on the stovetop, in the crockpot, with broccoli, and last night, I made 10 - Minute Baked Potato Soup in the INSTANT POT! WHOA! How does that even work? Potato's cant be cooked under pressure? This sounds like madness.. 

(Narrator) And madness it was.

The recipe is as follows (with my edits of course) :

Baked Potato Soup

5 lb bag of potatoes (I used about 8 Russet Potatoes)

1 large shallot minced (or 3 tbsp. minced onion)(I used onion and threw in some garlic too)

5-6 cups chicken broth/stock (I used stock, less calories)

4 tbsp. butter

1/3 cup softened cream cheese

1/3 cup sour cream (I used plain Greek yogurt)

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I used Colby Jack because its WAY better)

Dash of S&P and any additional spices desired 

1-2 cups milk (depending on how thin you want your soup) (I added ZERO CUPS.. Stay tuned)

Bacon crumbles (optional)

Green onion (optional)

This seemed easy enough.. (it was not)

I started by searing up the garlic and onion in a little EVOO. It doesn't call for this, but it makes the flavor SO MUCH BETTER. I love this setting on my IP! It eliminates the need to transfer your seared items and locks the flavor in! After searing for about 3 minutes, I added the diced up potatoes and filled the pot with chicken stock until the liquid just covered them.

Popped the lid (and sealed it of course), set it on SOUP for 10 minutes and let it do its THANG. I was so excited to use the soup function. It is really no different from the others I have used, but it is my goal for 2018 to use all 10 settings on my IP ULTRA! Challenge accepted!

It was so simple, I had no clean up and nothing else to prepare so I sat down to relax.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP. This thing really lets you know when its done! I let it do a natural release for about 10 minutes before releasing the rest. While the steam was whistling I could start to smell the yummy soup that was waiting for us inside. I opened the lid and it looked great! The potatoes were so tender that they mashed up with no effort. Reno stepped in to help and added the butter, cream cheese, sour cream, Colby jack cheese and spices of our liking to the pot and mixed it up until smooth. That is where our problems began.

The potatoes DISINTEGRATED! POOF GONE! We went from thinking we were going to have a thick hearty soup, to stirring up hot POTATO WATER. YUCK.

I was PISSED! What the heck am I supposed to do with HOT POTATO WATER. NOT what I was expecting AT ALL. Good thing I am a quick problem solver, I immediately popped some more potatoes in the microwave while Reno added a flour/water mixture to the completed 'soup'. We had just made enough potato water to feed a small country, so there was no way we were going down without a fight.

The flour was starting to thicken the soup up, its a miracle how that works! And ding ding ding, the potatoes were ready! Reno cut the potatoes into chunks as I watched with my fingers crossed hoping these additions would make the soup edible. After about 10 minutes we had our verdict.

IT WORKED! THANK GOODNESS!

Our Potato water was beginning to look more like soup by the second! I got all the toppings out and we were ready to rock and roll! Reno and I like to top our soups (and really all our meals) in very different ways! I like mine classic, with Greek yogurt (sour cream), bacon crumbles and a little more cheese (because why not!) while Reno likes his DRENCHED in SRIRACHA!

We finally sat down to eat, and boy was it worth the wait! This soup is creamy, flavorful and delicious! The only downside to a soup like this is the amount of servings it yields! I used less of everything and we still got enough to portion out for the next 100 days. If excess soup is my only complaint, I would say that this recipe is pretty darn good overall! I will definitely add more potatoes next time.. I'm always learning.