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.
Stefani
My boys are food snobs and this recipe got a 10/10! Super delicious and super easy!!
Amy
Timing was way off for me (more than one hour instead of 30 minutes) and the liquid to solid ratio was off (and I used more potatoes than called for so that was a surprise.) Also not a fan of soggy bacon, will stick with adding bacon on the top.
Tom
I agree with the soggy bacon.i just add the bacon to what I put in the blender and it works a lot better for us.
Wendy L.
I’ve tried many potato soup recipes and this was by far my favorite! Cooking the Yukon golf potatoes in the milk/broth mixture and the addition of the ancho chili powder really made this recipe a huge hit with my whole family. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Monica Ellis
Made this soup recipe this morning for lunch. Absolutely fantastic!!! I added a few of my own twist, but fantastic!!😊
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you like it, Monica! Enjoy your lunch 😊
Edyie Whaley
I love this recipe. It’s easy and the family is always happy when I make it.
Matthew
Great recipe
I cooked the bacon and browned the some cubed ham in the bacon grease and the turned that into roux. Really an easy recipe and taste great!
Jen Mosley
I’m making this today for dinner, is it ok to let the soup slow simmer longer if waiting for guests? Like can it sit on the stove on warm for a little while? And is it good for reheating the next day?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yes, that should be fine! It also reheats well. We hope everyone loves the soup, Jen 😊
Robin Sawyer
Make this soup today as it’s cold rainy and windy outside. I used Chili powder I had on hand. Soup was so creamy, tasty and easy to make. I added garlic butter croutons on top with cheddar cheese and green onion. I’ll be making it again as we all loved it.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Sounds like the perfect meal for an almost-winter night! Enjoy, Robin! ❤️
Dolores Hunt
Would using left over mashed potatoes and add to soup be ok?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Others have done this and said it worked for them, so it’s worth a shot if that’s all you have! Enjoy the soup, Dolores 😊
Nicole
Made the recipe exactly as it said and put in mini bread bowls for hubby and kids… Super yummy 😋 Will make again, when MIL gets here Thursday.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yum! We hope everyone enjoyed it, Nicole! ❤️
Robin
Made this this evening and WOW! I’ve never made potato soup even though I love it. I’m so glad I tried this. I sent the recipe to my granddaughter to make for her hubby who’s a Marine and stationed at Camp Lejeune.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed the soup, Robin! Thanks for trying our recipe and sharing it with your family ❤️
Janine
What is classified as 1 serving? I saw that it feds 6 but I know I followed the recipe and there is more than 6 bowls.
It is amazing though!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Janine! A serving is about 1.5 cups. Enjoy!
Melly
Good recipe. I puréed the whole lot and omitted the flour in the beginning. I chopped the bacon into really tiny pieces and it was a nice speckling of bacon throughout. Thanks for the recipe!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed it, Melly! Thanks for your review ❤️
Renee
Absolutely delicious! Thanks for sharing!
Mary Louise Lawhorn
Just made this. I am lactose intolerant so we used lactose free milk and sour cream, because it doesn’t have the fat I used slightly less. We found the ancho chili powder at Kroger. I substituted sea salt for the salt. My immersion blender did the trick. It was so creamy.
It’s delicious!! Thanks for sharing.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much! Thank you for the feedback using the lactose free ingredients! 🙂
Jody Baker
What did you sub for the heavy cream? My son is lactose intolerant too and want to make this for Christmas. TIA!
Mary
Silk has a dairy free heavy cream.
Mary
I have made this at least a dozen times. My husband loves it. I make it exactly as the recipe states. Best potato soup ever! Thanks.