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.
Cindy
My family loved this so much I had to make it again the next night
Tanya
Best potato soup recipe by far! I made it tonight using bread bowls. My family was super happy
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy it was a hit for your family, Tanya! Thanks for your review 😊
Shirley
I happened to look up a potato soup recipe since I had potatoes that had to be cooked before spoiling so I decided I liked yours.It came out perfect and the same about the bacon disappearing.lol #1 in my recipe file,thank you
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed it so much, Shirley! Thanks for coming back to leave a review 😊
CAROL HOERMAN
I left out the heavy cream and added about 6 ounces of Velveeta and in the last 15 minutes added chopped broccoli…delicious!
Lynn
Went together easily. Add some extra chili powder. We like spice and heat. Will make this again.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Sounds delicious, Lynn! Thanks for giving our recipe a try 🙂
Leisl
Made it last night- was delicious!!
The only thing different (don’t you just hate it when people say that?) no, no real changes! Just made a lot more bacon to top it with. Somehow, when I’m not looking, the bacon disappears before it can make it to the soup. Even if I’m the only one in the kitchen. 🤫
Danna Kennedy
How do I thicken up my soup? I forgot I put chicken broth and let my son put more in how do I fix this?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Danna! It should continue to thicken as it simmers and then even more as it cools. If needed, you could always try adding a little cornstarch. Hope that helps 😊
Amy Couvillion
Awesome recipe, the best I’ve ever had! Super pro move puréing half the potatoes. ♥️♥️♥️
Heidi
Can you freeze this soup?
Sam
Hi Heidi! I don’t recommend it because the heavy cream could separate out.
Valeria
Hi! I’ve made this recipe many times already and I’ve loved it! Is there a possible alternative for a smaller portion perhaps if I wanted to make it with fewer servings?
Sam
Hi Valeria! You can just reduce all the ingredients by the same proportion to make a smaller batch. 🙂
Angela
I used almond coconut milk and left out the cream and sour cream. It was delicious!
Bonnie Clancy
What I like about this is that most of the ingredients are already on hand. And you could change up the flavours so easily. Dill for example. I tried smoked paprika instead of ancho chili. Such a simple soup!
Richard
Delicious, our third time.
Ashley
My family and I tried your recipe and your potato soup was amazing except I shouldn’t have used so much pepper lol but other than it was delicious, we didn’t have the right potatoes but it was still off the chain so thank you so much for your recipe and I will be trying more of your food. Thank you so much
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Ashley! 🙂
LindaCaulder
Would Greek yogurt work as well as regular yogurt
Sam
Hi Linda! It could work, just make sure it isn’t flavored. 🙂
Barb
Substituted cream with Yogurt and only used a tablespoon of bacon bits instead of the six slices of bacon. It was delicious!