Instant Pot Cauliflower Bacon Chowder is a lower carb chowder with great flavor. If there is a favorite food type I like to cook in my Instant Pot® electric pressure cooker, it’s soup! I make all kinds of soups, stews, and chowders. Especially when the season turns cooler. I love this pressure cooker Cauliflower Bacon Chowder. It is rich, smoky, and so very delicious!
Instant Pot Cauliflower Bacon Chowder
When the Earth turns herself away from the heat of summer, and leans into Fall, I’m immediately in “Soup Mode.” It just happens naturally, and is always a fun phase of the year for me as a cook.
My Instant Pot® has made making soup so much fun! I hardly ever make in on the stove top any more.
As inspiration, I go for the ingredients that are in season, or on sale. I like to buy cauliflower when the price is good. There are so many wonderful meals that cauliflower fits into. Mashed, roasted, pureed, pickled, I love it all!
This Instant Pot Cauliflower Bacon Chowder is my favorite! The close second is my Instant Pot Smoky Creamy Cauliflower Soup, a great vegetarian alternative to this soup, actually.
If you love soups, check out my New ecookbook “For the Love of Soup”
Containing 25 delicious soups you can make in your electric pressure cooker. Featuring 7 new soup recipes that are not on the website!
French Onion
Coconut Red Curry Noodle
Lentil with Bacon
Chicken Tortilla
Vegetable Tortellini
And more…
You Might Also Like
Instant Pot Dill Pickle Soup
Instant Pot Split Pea Soup
Instant Pot Chicken Corn Chowder
Instant Pot Cauliflower Bacon Chowder is rich, smoky, and delicious! This is a great soup for a starter, or serve with some crusty bread as a main dish.
- 1/2 lb Thick Cut Bacon, (about 5 slices) chopped in bite sized pieces
- 2 Tbsps Butter
- 1 med Onion, chopped
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 4 cloves Garlic, pressed or finely minced
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt (or 1/2 tsp table salt)
- 1/4 tsp Pepper
- 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour
- 4 cups Chicken Broth, low sodium
- 2 1/2 lbs Head of Cauliflower, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
Turn on the Sauté feature of your pressure cooker (med/normal heat). Add the bacon and cook until done. Transfer to a paper towel and discard all but 2 tsps of the fat.
Add the butter, onion, and bay leaf to the pot and cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot, until the onion turns translucent. You might need to splash in a little bit of broth to help get all of the brown bits off the bottom of the pot.
Add the garlic, salt, and pepper. Cook for 1 minute, or less if it gets fragrant, stirring constantly. Don't let the garlic burn.
Sprinkle on the flour and stir, cook the rawness from the flour for about 20 to 30 seconds.
Stir in the chicken broth, 1 cup at a time, making sure no lumps form from the flour.
Add the cauliflower and 2/3 of the reserved bacon (saving 1/3 for garnish). Stir.
Place the lid on the pot and lock in place. Set the steam release knob to the Sealing position.
Cancel the Sauté function.
Press the Pressure Cook (or Manual) button, or use dial, and then the + or - to choose 7 minutes. When cooking cycle finishes, let the pot sit and enter the Natural Release (Keep Warm) phase for 10 minutes.
Turn the steam release knob to the Venting position to release the remaining pressure from the pot (on the Ultra, push the button). When the pin in the lid drops down, open the lid and stir the soup.
Remove the bay leaf.
Use an immersion blender to puree the soup. If you don't have one, use a potato masher to mash up the cauliflower pieces.
Taste and adjust salt, if needed.
Stir in the heavy cream and serve, garnished with reserved bacon.
RESOURCES TO MAKE this recipe and more
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Looks tasty! Could this be made with precooked bacon and riced cauliflower?
Hi Jennifer. I actually have some riced cauliflower in my freezer and was going to try making soup with it, just to see what might be different. I think it would work fine, as long as you can get the equivalent of a head of cauliflower so your ratios aren’t thrown off. You might lose some flavor using precooked bacon as you won’t have any fat to sauté the veggies in, but It would still be good, I’m sure.