An easy and delicious creamy potato soup recipe that can be made in just one pot! Loaded with bacon and creamy potato goodness, this is a favorite comfort food in my household.
Something savory today!
Savory, creamy, and loaded with bacon, sour cream, and cheese. You guys already know that we don’t exactly do health food around here, right? 😉
Even when I’m not sharing desserts, the food is always comfort food, and that’s usually best served with extra cheese (have you tried my baked mac and cheese yet!?) and usually comes with a few calories. Let’s not think about that too much, alright?
I know I mentioned to you guys that I had this potato soup recipe for you back when I posted my Oreo Balls; I made it when Zach had a bad cold and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since (you might think that’s an exaggeration, but I can assure you that my food obsessions run deep… Please see photo below to understand why).
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Zach prefers to eat healthy most of the time (I pretend that I do, too, but really if I lived alone I’m pretty sure I’d eat creamy cheesy foods every night and never fit through any doors ever again), so the soup was a good break from baked chicken breast, but this definitely isn’t an every night kind of meal in our house.
Potato soup is definitely on the menu for this weekend, though… it’s so frigid outside I’ve convinced myself that I need soup, specifically creamy potato soup, to survive. Potato soup makes me dramatic, evidently.
If you’re in the midst of a cold spell yourself (or even if you’re not) I think you’re going to enjoy this creamy potato soup as much as we do. Read on for some tips on how to make it!
Tips for Perfect Creamy Potato Soup
- Cut your potatoes into pieces no larger than ¾″ and try to keep them around the same size so that they cook at the same time. Nothing worse than biting into a crisp, raw-inside chunk of potato!
- To make this soup nice and creamy, I recommend pureeing about half of it either by using an immersion blender or by transferring a portion of the soup to a blender, pureeing, and then stirring the pureed soup back into the pot (maybe you recognize this technique from my corn chowder). If you want a completely smooth soup you can puree all of it, but I prefer to have a few actual pieces of potato, so I think pureeing half gives it the best taste and texture.
- Don’t return the bacon to the pot until after you have pureed some of the soup. It’s best not to blend the bacon 😉.
- The ancho chili powder is, in my humble opinion, a must and gives this soup the most perfect depth of flavor. I blend it into the potato soup and also sprinkle it on top before serving. I recommend adding just a ¼ teaspoon and then taste testing before adding more.
This would make a great comfort food for this cold and windy weekend (is there anything more cozy than a pot of soup simmering on the stove while the wind is howling at your window? Anything!?), and while I don’t follow football at all I do know that this would be great to make ahead and enjoy during the big game this weekend.
Who really cares about football when you can make yourself a Super Bowl of soup! 🤣😂 OK OK I’m sorry, enough of that!
Enjoy!
How to Make Potato Soup
The Ultimate Potato Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 strips (uncooked) bacon cut into small pieces
- 3 Tablespoons butter unsalted or salted will work
- 1 medium yellow onion chopped (about 1.5 cup/200g)
- 3 large garlic cloves minced
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour (42g)
- 2 ½ lbs gold potatoes peeled and diced into pieces no larger than 1” (this was about 6 Large potatoes for me/1.15kg)
- 4 cups chicken broth (945ml)
- 2 cups milk (475ml)
- ⅔ cup heavy cream (155ml)
- 1 ½ teaspoon* salt
- 1 teaspoon ground pepper
- ¼ - ½ teaspoon ancho chili powder**
- ⅔ cup sour cream (160g)
- Shredded cheddar cheese, chives, and additional sour cream and bacon for topping optional
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Place bacon pieces in a large Dutch Oven or soup pot over medium heat and cook until bacon is crisp and browned.
- Remove bacon pieces and set aside, leaving the fat in the pot.
- Add butter and chopped onion and cook over medium heat until onions are tender (3-5 minutes).
- Add garlic and cook until fragrant (about 30 seconds).
- Sprinkle the flour over the ingredients in the pot and stir until smooth (use whisk if needed).
- Add diced potatoes to the pot along with chicken broth, milk, heavy cream, salt, pepper, and ancho chili powder. Stir well.
- Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork (about 10 minutes).
- Reduce heat to simmer and remove approximately half*** of the soup to a blender (be careful, it will be hot!) and puree until smooth (half is about 5 cups of soup, but just eyeballing the amount will be fine. Alternatively you can use an immersion blender.).
- Return the pureed soup to the pot and add sour cream and reserved bacon pieces, stir well.
- Allow soup to simmer for 15 minutes before serving.
- Top with additional sour cream, bacon, cheddar cheese, or chives. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Cindy
Do you know how many quarts or cups this make? Thanks
Sam
Hi, Cindy. I have not measured it by cups or quarts so I don’t know the answer but you should be able to get 6-8 servings out of it.
Judi
I have made potato soup ALOT! But I always vary the recipe slightly… I saw this recipe and gave it a whirl…. This was by far the BEST potato soup I have ever made… I will definitely be saving this one!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Judi! 🙂
Amanda
Can I use red potatoes for this recipe instead?
Sam
Hi, Amanada. Yes I think red potatoes would work just fine. 🙂
Alicia
Can this soup be frozen? I was thinking of making extra and freezing it. Thanks!
Sam
Hi, Alicia! I am afraid the heavy cream will separate out in the freezer, so I don’t recommend it.
Erin
I have made this twice in two weeks. I doubled it this time considering it went so fast last time! This is now my go to recipe for potato soup, it is absolutely delicious!!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Erin! 🙂
Teddie Ellis
Just had a tooth out tried this out it was great.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Teddie! Feel better soon! 🙂
Cassandra
This recipe was a success! I substituted heavy cream with additional milk/butter (and) used regular chili powder. Tasty and filling. Don’t go for that second bowl too quickly 🙂
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Cassandra! 🙂
Michael
Using an Apple cutter on potatoes then slicing saves time on both what you put in the blender and other.
Sam
Great tip, Michael! I have not tried doing this. 🙂
Janelle
Have you ever done this in a crock pot? I would love a conversion!!!
Sam
Hi, Janelle. I have not, and I’m not sure how you would do it. The first few steps are vital to creating that excellent flavor. 🙂
Pattie Barnes
I subbed acorn squash for half of the potatoes. This is an easy and delicious soup. I love it.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Pattie! 🙂
Priya
This was amazing. I took your recipe and made it my own by adding a few extra things such as carrots, celery, garlic salt and some parsley among other things. Thank you for sharing your recipes with the rest of us.
Sam
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed!! Thanks for commenting, Priya! 🙂
Theresa
I didn’t have cream, so I just used whole milk. I also added celery, but otherwise followed exactly as written and it was delicious! I admit to being lazy and hate messing with removing the potatoes to puree. A hack my grandmother taught me is to simply cut a potato or two in much smaller pieces so they cook faster than the rest and dissolve on their own. 🙂 Thanks for a delicious recipe!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Theresa! The pureeing step can be a bit of a pain so sometimes I even skip it. I haven’t tried cutting them into very small pieces. I’ll have to try that next time. 🙂
Dylane
This recipehas become a family favorite! The whole family loves it!
Sam
I’m so happy to hear this! Thank you for commenting and letting me know how you enjoyed it, Dylane! <3
Liz
This soup was great! Left out the sour cream to suit our taste. Recommend the puree step for extra smooth texture. Toppings added more flavor and attractive presentation. Everyone loved it!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Liz! 🙂
Brenda Dallen-Kidd
Would this recipe be OK to make a day ahead?
Sam
Hi, Brenda. Yes it will be ok to make a day in advance. 🙂
Emily
One thing I love about this recipe is that I was able to make it (pretty much) with what I happened to have in the house (subbed half and half for the cream and some of the milk, because that is what I had in the fridge and used a bit of regular chilli powder instead of ancho). I love it when I can make a good home cooked meal without having to run out for ingredients.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Emily! 🙂