Description
Ultimate comfort food! This hearty Snow Day Soup combines crispy bacon, tender potatoes, sweet corn, and rotisserie chicken in a rich, creamy broth. Perfect for cold winter days and can be made in Instant Pot or slow cooker.
Ingredients
Main Ingredients:
- 4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 1 tablespoon bacon grease (don’t you dare throw this away)
- ½ cup diced onion
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 20 ounces peeled and cubed russet potatoes (about 3-4 medium ones)
- 2 cups chopped, cooked rotisserie chicken
- 1 cup frozen sweet corn
Seasonings:
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- Pinch of red pepper flakes
For the Creamy Base:
- 3 cups milk (I use 2% because that’s what we drink)
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- ¼ cup cold water
Instructions
Turn your Instant Pot to sauté and wait until it says HOT. Throw in that bacon grease and the chopped onion. Cook for about 3 minutes until the onion gets soft and translucent.
Pour in the chicken broth and scrape up any brown crusty bits with a wooden spoon. Don’t skip this part – those bits taste good. Hit cancel to turn off the sauté function so nothing burns.
Add potatoes, salt, pepper, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, corn, and chicken. Stir it once or twice. It’s going to look crowded but everything fits, I promise.
Put the lid on, make sure the vent is set to sealing, and hit the soup button. It’ll cook for 4 minutes. When it beeps, let it sit for 5 minutes before you release the pressure manually. I learned this the hard way when I rushed it and got potato chunks all over my ceiling.
This next part is super important. You cannot just dump cold milk into hot soup or it’ll curdle and look disgusting. Trust me on this one. Take about a cup of the hot soup and pour it into your milk, stir it around, then pour that mixture back into the pot. This prevents the curdling thing.
Mix cornstarch and cold water in a small bowl until it’s completely smooth – no lumps at all or you’ll get weird gloppy bits. Turn the Instant Pot back to sauté mode and stir in the cornstarch mixture. Keep stirring for 5-10 minutes until it gets thick and creamy like you want.
Scoop into bowls, sprinkle bacon on top, and watch your family inhale it. My kids fight over who gets seconds.
Cook the onion in bacon grease in a regular pan for 3 minutes. I usually do this while I’m making my morning coffee. Dump everything into the slow cooker.
Add broth, potatoes, all the seasonings, corn, and chicken. Give it one stir and walk away.
Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours until potatoes are fork-tender. I start this around 2 if I want dinner at 6. The smell starts getting really good around hour 2.
Stir in the milk (tempered exactly like above) and cornstarch slurry. Cook uncovered on high for 15-20 minutes until thick.
Top with bacon crumbles and serve.
Notes
- Cut potatoes roughly the same size or some will be mush while others are still hard
- Don’t skip the 5-minute pressure release – I’ve learned this lesson multiple times
- Taste before serving and add salt if needed – some broths are saltier than others
- Stir in shredded cheese at the end if you want it richer
- I prep bacon and cut potatoes the night before when I actually plan ahead
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes (Instant Pot), 4 hours (Slow Cooker)
- Category: Soup
- Method: Instant Pot, Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: American