Place the chopped bacon (if using), onion, garlic, corn, potatoes, salt, pepper, thyme, and stock in the inner liner of the Instant Pot.
Cook at high pressure for 5 minutes. Allow the pot to sit undisturbed for 5 minutes, and then release all remaining pressure.
Use an immersion blender to roughly puree about soup so that it gets thicker but you have solid chunks of potato and corn still visible.
Add the nutmeg and cream and stir well before serving.
Stove Top Instructions
Sauté the onions and bacon (if you're using).
Add everything but the nutmeg and cream in, plus an additional cup of water and cook on medium high heat for 20 minutes.
Remove from the heat and use an immersion blender to roughly puree about soup so that it gets thicker but you have solid chunks of potato and corn still visible.
Add the cream and nutmeg and stir.
Make sure not to add the cream while it's cooking, because it can get too hot and it will ruin the consistency of your soup.
If you're wanting this to be vegetarian, use vegetable broth and omit the bacon.
Don't overblend your soup, but rather leave some chunks for a good mouth-feel.