The Ultimate Creamy Potato Soup
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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 3/4″ 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 1/4 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
Equipment
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
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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
Delicious. Would cut back to 2 cloves of garlic. Love the Ancho Chili flavor. Went the full 1/2 tsp. Make more bacon if you want toppings.
I made this and I will say that my family destroyed it! I will have to double it next time because they wanted more…..and then to freeze it. I have never made potato soup before but was really craving it and this was spot on what I was looking for. The only thing I did differently was added shredded cheese to the soup and did not use sour cream, but increased the heavy whipping cream. Only because I didnt have any. Highly recommended.
Great recipe. Super easy and fast.
My first time making potato soup, and it’s delicious!!! I omitted the chili powder, and added mild cheddar and sharp cheese to the soup, as well as garnished with cheese OMG so good…
My husband says this is now his favorite soup.
So delicious and hit the spot! Curious how it does refrigerated and if it could be froze?!
It does do well in the refrigerator, I’d be worried about the soup separating in the freezer though.
Can I use diced ham instead of the bacon?
That should work. You may need a little more oil since the ham may not make as much grease. 🙂
Delicious! No change to recipe! Except I sautéed the bacon in the butter and onion and then took it out and chopped it up. Added it back after blending. Topped with additional bacon
I’m so glad you enjoyed, Adrienne! Thank you so much for truing my recipe! 🙂
Can I double this recipe, or will it not turn out the same? Also, can I leave out the sour cream, or is that pretty important?
Hi Kristina! The sour cream adds a nice depth of flavor to the soup so I don’t recommend leaving it out, but you shouldn’t have any issues doubling it. 🙂
Best potato soup ever!! The direction was easy to follow, simple available ingredients for an amazing soup. I used chicken bouillon and water in place of chicken broth and my entire family loved it….i think i over ate:(. We paired this with some fresh country baguette and it was fantastic. This recipe is perfect…it’s a keeper!!
Love this soup! Make it everytime!
My first try at potato soup… the guys loved it!
I made this but altered something’s Bc of my limited supply. Beef broth and red wine. Omg the flavor!! So good!
I’m so glad to hear everyone enjoyed, Cynthia!! 🙂
Will not use this recipe again. It came out greasy from the bacon, and the overall flavor was just ok. Husband used a recipe from outback and it was much better. Should not add the bacon in the soup during cooking, sprinkled it on top of the soup when serving instead. Also it’s better to boil potatoes separately and then add them to the pot with potato soup during the process.
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it Val! You can remove some of the grease from the pan after making the bacon if your bacon is particularly fatty. You certainly can retain the bacon to just add on top, that’s a personal preference. As far as boiling the potatoes separately, that is really an unnecessary step. I’m glad you have a recipe that you enjoy.
This is the best potatoe soup recipe. My husband and mom loved it.
When you are from the north but live in the south & are missing home this was the perfect soup. Super easy, tasty even my picky eaters liked it.
Made your recipe yesterday amazing I did remove some ingredients and added others .. But still came out so yummy.. way better than my favorite restaurant.. I made mines fully creamy . Wish I could share pictures..
I’m so glad you enjoyed, Latoya! Thank you so much for trying my recipe, I really appreciate it! I wish there were a way to share photos, too, you can always tag me on Instagram though!
Can I substitute crushed red pepper for anchor? If so what is the conversion?
Hi Todd! Unfortunately the flavors are quite different. While you could add crushed red pepper if you are looking to add heat/spice to the recipe, I would not use it as a substitute for ancho chili powder. You can always leave the ancho chili out or substitute regular chili powder, but for best flavor I recommend using ancho chili.
Oh my goodness! My husband & I LOVED the soup. My old recipe I used is out the door! TY! Delicious!!
I was craving potato soup on this cold autumn Saturday. Very creamy and satisfying! I’ve saved this recipe and will be making it again. Love it!
Do you have to blend it?
Hi Sarah! You don’t have to blend it. It just really gives it a nice texture. 🙂
Turned out great! I added a little more bacon then called for! Family loved it. Thank you for sharing! ❤️❤️❤️
This recipe is amazing! Turned out perfect!
This was really good!! I actually used a bag of frozen hash brown potatoes and it was so good!!!