INSTANT POT Bacon Potato Corn Chowder

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Give me all the BACON!

Y’all. If you love bacon, you will LOVE this Instant Pot Bacon Potato Corn Chowder. (drool)

To make our Instant Pot Bacon Potato Corn Chowder you will need:

• 1 lb. bacon
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 8 cups diced potatoes
• 1 cup cut carrots
• 3 cups corn
• 1 cup onion
• 1 cup celery
• 1 tsp. chopped garlic
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper, or more for a kick
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 2 tsp. thyme
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 Tbsp. water
• 1 cup heavy cream

Let’s get started…with the bacon:

We use Hormel Black Label bacon. This is what my Mom always bought when I was growing up, so this is just what I always buy. Use whatever bacon you like.

Start by pressing the saute button on your Instant Pot. We used our 6 quart pot for this recipe. When HOT add 1 Tbsp. oil and chopped bacon. I personally think the easiest way to chop bacon is with sharp kitchen shears and I just cut mine right into the pot.

Cook ’til nice and crispy and beautiful. BEAUTIFUL BACON…

Veggie time:

It takes a while for the bacon to cook up so I went ahead and chopped my veggies while the bacon cooked. Just make sure to keep an eye on the bacon and stir so it doesn’t burn. Chop up the onions and carrots. Speaking of carrots, I usually buy baby carrots because I’m lazy and don’t have to peel them and they are nice and uniform. That being said, these carrots are not baby carrots so I put the extra love in to peel and chop them somewhat uniformly. And ya know what?! I really think non baby carrots are so much sweeter and more flavorful. Hmmm…

Chop up the celery…

And of course, peel and chop up them taters.

When the bacon is done turn the pot off and remove the bacon with a slotted spoon. You want the bacon drippings to stay in the pot. Now, if your bacon stuck to the pan a lot you will want to remove the bacon and then pour the drippings into a bowl ever so carefully because it is hot! Then scrub out the pot, dry it and return it. Pour the bacon grease back into the pot liner. Hopefully you just waited until the pot read HOT and added a little oil to prevent the stickage. Let’s take a moment for that beautiful bacon.

Cook it up:

Next you will turn the pot back to saute and add the onion, celery and garlic to the bacon grease. Make sure as you cook these you scrape the bottom of the pot to de-glaze it, getting off any brown bits from the bacon. You want these to cook for a few minutes until soft.

Now add the rest of the veggies.

Freezer corn works well for this. We are lucky enough to have LOTS in our freezer that we processed this summer. If using canned corn just drain it first.

Now pour in the broth. I LOVE using Better Than Bouillon for broth. It is really flavorful and I always have it in the fridge. Another thing I love is my clear batter bowl with measurements. It is so easy to fill the water to the line and add the Better Than Bouillon and mix it up.

Finally, add your seasonings and give everything a good stir.

Under pressure:

Now close the lid and make sure the valve is set to sealing. Set the time for 8 minutes on high pressure. When the time is up do a quick release by carefully turning the valve on the lid to venting. When the pressure is released and the pin has dropped go ahead and open the lid.

Finishing up:

Now you have a few options to thicken this up. We used 1 Tbsp. of water mixed with 1 Tbsp. of cornstarch.

You could also use flour here. Press the saute button again and add the slurry to the soup and stir until thickened.

We also used our immersion blender and pulsed it a few times to thicken the soup. If you like it more chunky feel free to skip this step. You could also use a potato masher and mash a few times right in the pot. Now turn the pot off, add the heavy cream and stir.

Star of the show:

You can add the bacon now but we like to top each bowl with it so it stays nice and crispy. We also topped ours with cheddar cheese and parsley. Green onions would be so good but I didn’t have any this time.

Because I took 528,302 photos I will go ahead and show ya a few more. 😉

Pretty and delicious…who could ask for more?

My family LOVES this chowder. It is full of veggies and is so creamy and very filling. An entire meal in a bowl.