Instant Pot Jalapeño Popper Chicken Soup

It’s jalapeño popper… in soup form! Loaded with hearty chunks of chicken breast, bacon, jalapeños, and crispy tortilla strips, this Instant Pot Jalapeño Popper Chicken Soup packs a punch of flavor! Make-ahead friendly!

I truly did not intend to be posting another Instant Pot recipe (this is three in a row now) and I’m going to pull a classic “sorry, not sorry”.

I was working real hard on some homemade granola, but I can’t get it to come out just how I like it. So it’s not happening just yet.

I want things I share with you to be GREAT, and worth your time. Not just mediocre recipes pumped out for pageviews that I tried and will never make again. The granola WILL be conquered. But it’s just not ready yet. So for now, here’s another Instant Pot recipe I’m in love with.

An unintended bonus that came with a new career in food blogging were the little associations and memories created with each recipe I post.

Having a semi-permanent record of my favorite recipes leaves room in my brain for tidbits of info that resurface when I see the photos or remake the recipes. Here are a couple examples:

• Double Chocolate Peppermint Pancakes: I used a mortar and pestle to crush candy canes. SO FUN.
• Chocolate Espresso Zucchini Brownies: Took these camping. Fed them to everyone at night. Forgot they were fully loaded with espresso powder. Ha!
• And this soup recipe: Will never forget my husband putting a bowl of this soup into the microwave… and not all of it getting into the microwave. Soup everywhere! Not going to forget the visual of this soup inside the microwave, all over the stovetop, splashed onto the back of the stovetop PLUS the wall, ever.

It really did go everywhere. Hopefully the same thing never happens to you. Andddd that’s a great transition into the soup making discussion.

Reasons I’m digging this Instant Pot Jalapeño Popper Chicken Soup:

• It tastes even better the next day. This soup is rock solid for meal prepping because the flavors mingle and develop even more overnight. When I make a batch, we’ll keep eating it throughout the week and it’ll keep tasting better!
• Plus, it actually tastes like a jalapeño popper. REAL TALK – Bacon is NOT my favorite thing (turkey bacon is pictured). But we tried this soup without the bacon, and it simply wasn’t the same. Point is – jalapeño popper taste is taken up several notches by adding bacon, cream cheese, and yeah, lots of jalapeños!
• It’s pretty darn easy. The original inspiration for this recipe required using pre-cooked chicken. How about, no. I’m cooking the chicken with the soup at the same time because Instant Pots are magical. The only actual semi-challenge here would be making your own bacon bits, but that’s not very technical either.
• No beans. Most taco style soups and chilis have beans. I first made this soup with beans and it was little too hearty. Plus, the beans and spicy food combo were not pleasant to our digestive systems. So, no beans it is. Less taco soup, more jalapeño popper.

While everything is cooking in my Instant Pot (affiliate link!), I use my Dutch Oven to cook up some  bacon bits real quick.

Here’s a detailed post with multiple methods on how to make homemade bacon bits!

After 10 minutes on high pressure and a quick release, you simply toss in the cream cheese and cooked bacon, stir until mixed, then you’re DONE.

Please enjoy my very first Instant Pot soup recipe. BECAUSE WE ARE.

Here are some more deets on the soup. It’s:

• Great for dinner!
• Perfect to make-ahead!
• Not smelly or bad to reheat in small spaces!
• Easy to meal prep!
• Simple to customize!
• YUMMY.

More Instant Pot recipes from Project Meal Plan:

• Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Meatballs Meal Prep
• Instant Pot Cinnamon Apple Steel Cut Oats
• Instant Pot Mexican Quinoa