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!
I’ve made this twice and each time it was delicious. I have to agree the ancho chile makes the difference. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for making our recipe, Melissa! We really appreciate you coming back to leave a comment too 😊
Excellent made it with veggie broth came out amazing
We’re so happy you enjoyed the soup, Irene! Thanks for commenting 😊
Can I use cubed ham instead of bacon?
Hi Penny! That should work. You may need a little more oil since the ham may not make as much grease. 🙂
The soup is amazing I added less milk and more heavy whipping cream, and shredded cheese into the soup. It turned out wonderful.
We’re so happy you liked it, Holly! Thanks for trying our recipe 😊
Delicious Best potato soup ever!!
We’re so happy you think so, Jessica! Thanks for giving our recipe a try 😊
Can use russets or Idaho potatoes instead of Yukon gold?
Absolutely! Enjoy the soup, Linda 😊
I loved it but I used the whole pound of bacon..
More bacon is always a good idea! Enjoy, David 😊
What if you don’t have any ancho chili powder
Hi Tiffani! Just regular chili powder will work. Enjoy!
What if you don’t have sour cream could u use something else or just omit
Hi Dana! You could use full fat plain Greek yogurt instead. If you don’t have that, the soup will still turn out without it, but you will lose a little bit of flavor. Enjoy! 🙂
I have to wonder if buttermilk would work in place of the sour cream as well…
I always sub sour cream for plain Greek yogurt. It works well.
Hi Sam, I live on a boat and do not have an oven. I have found many recipes for stove top baking. Have some of them mastered. Add a few stove top baking recipes. The potato soup was delicious! Thank you
Woah that sounds like a lot of fun! I’m glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
This came out well. I used half the amount of onion & it was perfect.
We’re glad you were able to make it to your liking, Britt! Enjoy ❤️
Can I use veggie broth instead of
Chicken?
You sure can! Enjoy 😊
It was delicious
We’re so glad you liked it, Robert! Enjoy ❤️
This is definitely the ultimate potato soup! Thank you so much for sharing!
We’re so glad you agree, Sherry! Enjoy 🙂
Thanks for the recipe. I’ve made this several times, both with and without the ancho Chile powder. I definitely recommend adding it 1000%! I also always add a can of condensed cheddar cheese soup to mine because we like it extra cheesy.
We’re so glad you like the soup, Susan! And yes, the ancho is a real game changer 🙂 Enjoy!!
Im sure you have answered this but can you use Russet Potatoes?
I have seen people adding carrots any other additions you like?
Thanks
You sure can! We love adding extra bacon, scallions, and cheddar cheese 😊
I’d like to make this soup in a few days for a large crowd. Any idea about how many servings the recipe makes, as written? I will likely need to double or triple. Thanks!
Hi Sarah! This recipe makes about 10 cups of soup. The servings we have listed say it serves 6, so that’s about 1 & 2/3 cup per serving. Hope that helps! 🙂
I never made a potato soup before and this one was great. I will share the soup with some friends.
I used a dried Anchor chili they didn’t have any powder. Great flavor.
We’re so happy you liked the soup, Jasmine! Enjoy 😊