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!
Made this tonight and my boyfriend couldn’t get enough and had three servings ! This soup was so delicious and easy! Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
We’re so happy the soup was such a hit for you both, Alexia! Thanks for trying our recipe ❤
How many servings is this recipe?
Six! You can always find this info in the recipe card 😊
Love this soup. I made it tonight for my husband, and he loves it too!! Will be making it again!!
That’s great, Debra! Thanks so much for giving our recipe a try ❤
This soup was extraordinary!! OMG. I have never made potato soup and I am so glad I tried this first. The ingredients and processing the soup worked together for such a hearty, robust and delicious soup that I cannot believe how easy it was. Although I blended half the soup I also potato mashed with the hand masher just a tid bit and created smaller chunks. Soooo good! Thank you so much for this recipe!
We’re so happy you enjoyed the recipe, Karyn! Thanks so much for coming back to leave a review ❤
I made this last night for my husband and son. It was a huge hit. Hardy, tasty meal.
We’re so happy it was a hit for your family, Kelly! Thanks for trying our recipe ❤
I made this a little while ago but I dislike spicy so I didn’t use the ancho chili, and it felt like it was missing something. I also didn’t have an immersion blender. Wellll, for Christmas I got my blender and we had the recipe tonight exactly as listed and it is amazing. I don’t think I will ever use another potato soup recipe ever. Creamy, just the right blend of spices, and not too spicy, even for me.
We’re so happy you were able to try it a second time, Rebecca! The ancho really does make a huge flavor difference without adding any heat. Thanks so much for coming back to let us know how you liked it ❤
Yummy! Huge hit with the family…even the husband. lol
Wonderful! Thanks for letting us know how it went for you, Jamie 😊
This is the best potato soup I’ve ever made, the hubby said he would eat it every day if he could!
I did add leek and celery to the soup as they were going to go bad and made a full pack of bacon
Sounds delicious, Jordyn! We’re so happy you both enjoyed it so much. 😊
I even call the hubby’s coworkers and had 3 of them come for a bowl as they were still out working and they said it was the best soup they have had in a long time and helped warm them up from working in the cold all day and most the evening ! Definitely will be making this again
Love this recipe! As my husband and I have made it a few times, we have adjusted the recipe a bit like using shallots instead of white onion and reserving some of the bacon as a topping rather than mixing it all in. The only reason this is 4 stars instead of 5 is because it takes far longer than 30 minutes to make.
Loved this soup but found it plain. This recipe is a good base to make it your own. I melted some sharp cheddar with heavy cream and poured in in the soup after blending half. Also used one whole pack of bacon. Added red pepper flakes, celery seed, garlic salt, onion powder, paprika, rosemary and parsley. Everyone loved it!
Yummy!! Just made this recipe for the first time won’t be the last! ❤️❤️
I made this tonight and it was literally the best recipe! My whole family LOVED it! Chef kiss!
Wonderful! We’re so happy everyone loved the soup, Janet. Thanks for trying our recipe ❤
I’m preparing everything to cook tomorrow, and I’m wondering if I should add something extra when using russet potatoes.
Hi Elisabeth! Russets will work fine, no changes needed. Enjoy!
This was delicious. I did add some celery and carrots just to veg it up for my family but this was a hit and I’ll definitely make it again.
Sounds delicious, Amber! Thanks for letting us know how it went for you ❤
The first time I made this I had no idea what I was doing. Came out amazing, I make it all the time now. Perfect for winter in Maine – cannot mess this recipe up. Even my pickiest eaters love it.
Thank you!
We’re so happy our soup has become a staple in your home, Becca! Thanks for your review 😊
Very yummy. Made it step by step. Think there could be one more cup of broth to make it less thick.
We’re so happy you enjoyed it, Brittany! Yes, sometimes the potato starches can make it a little thick–adding more broth or milk always helps. Thanks so much for your review ❤
Haven’t tried this yet, but was wondering if ham would work instead of bacon,, or both?
Hi Larry! Ham probably won’t produce the same grease as the bacon so you’d lose a little flavor there, but I know others have done it with success. 🙂