You can use any ground meat. Ground beef, ground turkey, or even turkey sausage will work.
Bison was on sale at my grocery for half-off (it is a little pricey otherwise). I got the super lean version and it was…lean. Like, so unbearably lean that I didn’t know what on earth I was going to do with it. It melts right into this soup, though.
All of the recipes that I list here shoot for at least 8-10g of protein per 100 calories. It took a while to come up with a baked potato soup to fit the nutritional profile that I was after. I was nervous about putting ground meat into it and ruining the smoothness, but it actually does the trick very nicely. It just makes the soup feel even more loaded.
Keeping it real – you CAN taste the cauliflower in here. It is a nice note if you enjoy cauliflower, but if you think that you are fooling someone into thinking that they only have potatoes, you might not be successful. If you don’t enjoy cauliflower, then use less of it and add an extra potato or two.
The nutritional info was calculated for eight servings. 1/8 of the recipe is a very large, very filling serving. It could probably serve closer to twelve people.
Instant Pot Loaded Baked Potato and Bison Soup
Servings 8
Ingredients
- 2 lbs frozen cauliflower florets
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 5 baked potatoes*
- 2 lbs ground bison or beef
- 4.5 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups milk
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 5 tbsp minced chives
- salt and pepper
- optional toppings: cooked crumbled bacon, shredded cheddar cheese, more chives, sliced scallion
Instructions
- *To bake the potatoes: Pierce with a fork, massage the potatoes with oiled hands, and lightly salt. DO NOT WRAP IN FOIL. Bake at 425 for 45 minutes to an hour. Alternatively, just stick them in the microwave.
- Add 1 cup of water to the instant pot along with a steamer basket. Add the cauliflower.
- Pressure cook on high for 0 minutes. Quick release. Set the drained cauliflower aside on a plate.
- Dump the water out of the pot, turn it to saute and add the oil.
- Brown the ground meat in the pot with a bit of salt and pepper.
- Drain the fat and remove the meat to a plate.
- If the saute function on the instant pot timed out, turn it back on. Add the chicken broth, milk, potatoes, and cooked cauliflower to the instant pot.
- Cook for a few minutes until heated through. Use an immersion blender to smooth it all out. (If you do not have an immersion blender, you will have to pour it into a blender).
- Add the Greek yogurt. Stir.
- Season with salt to taste.
- Add the ground meat and the chives. Stir.
- Serve topped with crumbled bacon, shredded cheddar and extra chives.
Notes
For 1/8 of recipe made with lean ground bison:
327 calories – 7 fat – 26 carbs – 40 protein