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!
This is the perfect potato soup! Thanks for sharing
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Kristin! 🙂
I added garlic cheese cut in cubes! Loaded potato soup!! Yummy
That sounds delicious! I am so glad you enjoyed it, Angela. 🙂
Hi Sam,
I’m not really big on using recipes, however, I love potatoe soup and it seems easy enough to follow, but can I substitute any chili powder instead of ancho?? I don’t even know what ancho chili powder is.
I plan to make this soup tonight.
Hi Gayla! Yes you can use regular chili powder instead. I hope you love the soup!
I just made this – and have been tasting as I wait for my husband to get home so we can eat 🙂 … it is wonderful !
I wouldn’t tell if you snuck a bowl or two in before he made it home. 😉 I hope he loves it just as much!
He came home saying – ‘it sure smells good in here’ … and after a few bites of soup – ‘this is really good – save the recipe’ … thank you so much for sharing
Can you leave the heavy cream out what does this do to it
Hi, Peggy. The heavy cream really helps make the soup creamy. 🙂
This is the three time making this soup my family loves it, which doesn’t happen often. Thank you so much!
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it, Jessica! 🙂
I do not like sour cream, can it be made without it?
I really recommend adding it, you won’t be able to taste it at all. 🙂
I’ve never made Potato Soup and my husband said his aunt makes the best out of any he’s tried, so I have been looking for one and this is the one I’m going to try today 😰
I know everyone is going to love it, Lisa! 😉
Good morning, if I may ask, can i make this soup the night before and then reheat it the next day in a crock pot for work?
Hi, Bryan. That will work just fine. 🙂
My entire family loves this soup. It snowed today so this soup and grilled cheese sandwiches warmed us up.
Victoria
Sounds like the perfect snow day treat to me! 🙂
Hubby said that is the best soup we ever made….and he’s totally right!!!
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it, Trish! 🙂
One word for this soup is “Incredible”!!
Thank you so much, Dodie! 🙂
Made dinner for the family, so I doubled the recipe, except the chili powder, I only put in 1/4 tsp. It turned out amazing!
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Hannah! 🙂
So good! I didn’t have the ability to puree it so I took the potatoes out with a slotted spoon and mashed them instead. Thanks for posting!
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Jared! 🙂
My family and I all agree, this is the best potatoe soup we have ever had. It is even better than the best restaraunts soups. If you love potatoe soup then this is the only recipe you need…even if you don’t like potatoe soup you will most likely benifit from trying this potatoe soup.
Thank you so much, Beth! I am so glad you enjoy it. 🙂
Looks yummy. I plan to make it for a group of ladies in a few days. I cook dinner for 12 to 14 ladies and then we do a Bible study at my home. This is once each month so I like to try different recipes. I’ll double the recipe and substitute rice flour as some have gluten allergies. I will serve salad and French bread with it. Can’t wait to do this. Thanks for the recipe.
That sounds like a great meal. Enjoy! 🙂