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!
Definitely in my top 5 favorite soups I’ve ever eaten. It’s creamy and so delicious. Very different from other potato soup recipes. I have to make it every year at least a couple times.
That’s so nice to hear, Melinda! Thanks so much for trusting our recipe and coming back to leave a review. It means a lot to us!
Loved the soup so much. My boyfriend hates soup but he loved this. Thank you for the recipe!!!!
Wow, what an honor! We’re so happy you both enjoyed it! Let us know if you try any of our other soups, Shayann 🙂
Amazing!!! This is a winner especially on a cold snowy day. I added a sprinkling of pepper flakes for just a little kick. Mmmm
We couldn’t agree more, Bunny! Thanks so much for letting us know how you liked the soup–it means a lot to us. Enjoy 🙂
My husband found this recipe and asked me to make it on a cold day. Today happened to be just such a wintry, snowy Colorado day so we thought it would be perfect comfort food. This stuff really sticks to your ribs and warms you up! It’s more of a baked potato soup IMO but I happen to love baked potato soup so it’s all good. Hubby LOVED it! Never would have thought of the ancho powder (and TBH I was a little skeptical about using it), but it did punch it up a little which is good because potato soup can be a little bland. The litmus test for any new recipe is me asking my husband “Would you want me to make this again?” Tonight he said “Oh heck yeah!” Ding ding ding, we have a winner! 🙂
We’re honored to know that we passed the test! 😊 Thanks so much for letting us know how much you both loved the soup. We really appreciate you coming back to leave a review!
I love this recipe and come back to it every soup season!!!! Making it tonight again! Sorry it took me so long to review. This is in my top soup recipes!!!!
That’s so wonderful, Michelle! Thanks for coming back to leave a review–it means a lot to us! Enjoy your soup 😊
Great for a winter night. Yummy Thank you so much.
We couldn’t agree more! Thanks so much for trying our recipe, Martha. Enjoy the soup ❤️
Followed the recipe exactly except for the chili powder. It was the best potato soup I’ve ever had.
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Tina! Thanks for coming back to leave a review 😊
Can this be made in the crockpot?
Hi Sharon! That should work just fine. 🙂
I want to know the same thing 🙏🏼
This is the absolute best and most flavorful soup
Thank you so much, Jewel 🙂 Enjoy!
By far the absolute best potato soup I have ever made. I make triple batches of this for my family and friends. Making it again today.
Thank you so very much, Linda! We are so happy you love the soup. Thank you for coming back to leave a review–it means a lot to us! 😊
Whats an alternative to using a blender?
You could use a potato masher instead 😊
The addition of ancho chili powder was delicious! Making it again this weekend.
How long can I keep this in the fridge?
We’re so glad you liked it, Nikki! We recommend enjoying within 4 days.
Thank you for sharing!!! Delicious
We’re so happy you like it, Mavis! Thanks for coming back to leave a review 😊
Delicious recipe! I was afraid to blend the hot soup, so I smashed about half the potatoes with a fork. Turned out great.
We’re so happy you liked it, Hannah! 😊
Fun to make even better to eat…thanks for the recipe.
We’re so happy you liked it, Mona! Thanks for coming back to leave a review 😊
So delicious. 10/10 would recommend. I did about half the amount of onion and used regular chili powder due to not finding the one the recipe called for.
We’re so happy you enjoyed the soup, Meryem! Thanks for commenting 😊