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’d just about given up on finding a potato soup recipe that didn’t end up like a plate of mashed potatoes! Made it vegan with cashew cream and oatmilk, and replaced the bacon with smoked paprika. Delicious! Thank you for sharing!
Wonderful! We’re so happy those substitutions worked for you Liz ❤️
This is my go to recipe, I love it. I just add a can of corn after the puree and it always comes out amazing!
I don’t have any heavy cream. Can I make it without it or will it make the soup to be thinner or less tasty?
Thank you for your response!
Becky
Hi Becky! It will definitely be thinner and you will definitely lose some flavor, but it should still turn out.
I tried this Amazing Potato Soup recipe today. The best ever!!..👍 I didn’t have chicken broth so I used beef broth. It was still delicious!! The beef made the flavor a bit richer, but it worked. My family loved it too!… It was a hit!!!…😊
Thank you for your amazing recipe!…😋
Wow! Our family loves this recipe! Super tasty and easy to throw together when beat from a long day.
Awesome
Made this yesterday.The soup was amazing the only add was a teaspoon of bacon seasoning Day two was even better thank you
Very good!!
Thanks for the review, John! Enjoy the soup 🙂
So amazing and creamy!! So easy to make and delicious my 1 and 3 year old devoured this! Thanks for the good recipe!
Simply the BEST!!!! Look no further!
I found this recipe a year ago and it’s been our family favorite ever since. So easy to make and a hit every time. Thank you!
Best potato soup I’ve ever had!! My husband said “I’ve never in my life finished a bowl of potato soup until today”, (he’s never been a fan) so now this recipe has made him a fan! Also, my 2 year old kept asking for more! Thank you so much for this quick and delicious recipe 😋
Wow, sounds like we’ve converted him for sure! We’re so happy this was a hit for your family Emily ❤️
This soup was fantastic! I added some additional parsley and used greek yogurt to top instead of sour cream (didn’t have any.) Loved the ancho chili powder, it added a great little something extra that my soup has always been missing. Very easy to throw together on a work night- will be making again!
So happy you enjoyed it so much, Lisa! Thanks for your five star review 🥰
I just had dental surgery. Can I make this in the crockpot with frozen potatoes?
Hi Elizabeth! There are a lot of different steps so I’m not quite sure how doing it in a crockpot would go.
I won a soup contest with this recipe! (I use a full pound of bacon and added some spices) this is the only potato soup recipe I ever use and it’s always a hit ❤️
So good! I made it for our family dinner; my mom said it was better than hers. Kids loved it, husband went back for 2nds and 3rds (I doubled the recipe)
We are so happy everyone loved it, Gina! Thanks for your review 😊
This was so good! I’ve never even left a comment on a recipe before but this was great. I am really slow at cooking but it didn’t take me as long as I thought. I didn’t have the chili powder or sour cream, and I left out the bacon because I’m vegetarian. I added a little paprika and curry powder because I’m just on a kick with those flavors.
We’re so happy you enjoyed it, Maggie! Thanks for commenting 🥰
Best potato soup recipe out there! So yummy!
Would i be able to use russet potatoes or does it have to be gold potatoes?
Absolutely! Enjoy, Isabel 🙂
This soup is a little thinner consistency than I prefer for potato soup. It’s still tasty of course-but if you’re like me and like thicker don’t use as much broth or near as much milk.
I used double the potato and puréed, came out perfect! Also used 4 cups milk 4 cups broth. Another tip, if it is to runny for your liking you can throw some potato’s in the microwave and purée with a bit of the soup liquid until you get your desired consistency!
I found this recipe and decided to try it as I wanted something soothing after a long day. This was the BEST potato soup I have ever had and will definitely be making it again!!!
This is the BEST potato soup I have ever made. Will definitely be making it again.
OMG, this is by far the best recipe I’ve ever made. This will be my winter go-to soup!!!!