Instant Pot Cauliflower Potato Soup

You’ll love how creamy Instant Pot cauliflower potato soup is, with fewer carbs than a traditional creamy potato soup but oh, so delicious! With easy vegetarian option.

The silky texture of this pureed cauliflower potato soup makes it seem like you’re enjoying an ultra-rich splurge. It tastes like a creamy bisque, laden with heavy cream and cheese. You’ll be pleasantly surprised when you find that there isn’t a bit of heavy cream or butter in the ingredient list, and only a mere half cup of shredded cheese. The taste is there but not all the fat.

And to make it even better, cauliflower replaces a good share of the potatoes to lessen the carb load. Cauliflower is low in carbs, super nutritious, and very popular right now. Have you tried my cauliflower nachos yet? So good! This roasted cauliflower and cheddar dip is always a hit at parties and so are air fryer buffalo cauliflower bites. 

Even if you aren’t a fan of cauliflower, and I know there are a few of you out there, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by this creamy soup. Quite honestly, it’s hard to discern the presence of cauliflower at all. It’s kind of a sneaky way to get your vegetables.

About this recipe

Like most Instant Pot recipes, this soup comes together pretty quickly. Everything is cooked right in the Instant Pot in thirty minutes, start to finish. Allow yourself fifteen minutes to clean and chop the cauliflower, potatoes, and onions, and you can have a delicious creamy soup on the table, with a lovely garnish of bacon crumbles, shredded cheddar cheese, and sliced green onions in only 45 minutes!

You can use either frozen cauliflower, which is super convenient, or buy a head of fresh cauliflower and cut it into florets. Either works fine. Don’t worry if the cauliflower is still frozen because it doesn’t matter a bit (yay!). Just dump the frozen cauliflower out of the bag and into the pot.

For the best creamy results, use Yukon gold potatoes. They add great texture and a unique flavor to the soup. There’s no need to peel them first, just give them a quick scrub.

The process of making this soup begins with a quick sauté of the bacon garnish. Don’t you just love the Sauté feature of the Instant Pot? So handy! Reserve the bacon, and use the drippings to sauté the onion next.

Add the rest of the ingredients (except the cheese), and set the pressure for ten minutes. The pressure cooker will take about ten minutes to come to pressure, so you have twenty minutes of hands-off cooking. That’s a great time to make a quick salad to serve with your soup or a pan of whole wheat cornbread.

When the timer goes off, quick release the pressure. Use a hand held blender to purée the soup or carefully transfer it to a blender to process. If you aren’t quite ready to serve the soup, keep it perfectly warm for up to an hour on the “Keep Warm” setting of your Instant Pot.

Stir in the garlic powder, salt, and pepper, and some of the cheese and enjoy with your desired toppings!

What you need

• Cauliflower: Good news! Both frozen and fresh work in this recipe. Use whatever you have on hand.
• Yukon Gold Potatoes: We recommend sticking with Yukon gold potatoes for the creamiest, silky soup.
• Flavor: We keep things pretty simple in this soup, all you need are onion, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
• Make it Soupy: The base of this soup is a combination of chicken stock and milk. We always recommend using unsalted or low-salt chicken stock so that you can control the salt levels yourself. For a vegetarian soup, use vegetable broth (and leave out the bacon).
• Cheddar Cheese: We recommend stirring some in so it can melt and flavor the soup, and then reserving some for sprinkling on top of your bowl of soup.
• Garnishes! Aren’t garnishes and toppings always the most fun part? For this soup, we recommend crumbled bacon, more cheese, and sliced green onions or chopped parsley, for garnish. Fresh chives would be terrific, too, if you don’t have green onions.

How to make this healthy soup your own

• Vegetarian option: Omit the bacon, and sauté the onion in a tablespoon of olive oil instead. Substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth.
• Experiment with toppings. Fresh chopped parsley, french-fried onions, homemade croutons, or fried sage leaves perfectly garnish this soup.
• Sharp cheddar cheese can be replaced with another type of cheese. Use a cheese with plenty of flavor and that melts well, such as a sharp fontina, Gruyère, or Swiss. 

Storage and Reheating Tips

Creamy cauliflower potato soup is fantastic left over and makes a great lunch. Store leftovers in a tightly covered container in the fridge for up to 4 days. We don’t recommend freezing this soup. Reheat in the microwave at 50% power, or on the stovetop over low heat.

Soup’s on!

And it’s on the table in a lot less time if you use your Instant Pot! Try:

• Instant Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup
• Instant Pot Tomato Soup
• Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Soup
• Instant Pot Minestrone Soup Recipe
• Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings
• Instant Pot White Chicken Chili
• Instant Pot Spicy Peanut Soup with sweet potatoes and kale by Pinch of Yum