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 made this soup and shared with my friends and we all loved it. Best potato soup I’ve ever had. I added cheddar to the soup to make it a little more cheesy. So good !!!!it’s a 10
Better than I expected. So good.
Very good I added celery and carrots
Can just regular chili powder be used? I am not sure of the difference.
Hi Michelle! Ancho chili powder is made from dried poblano peppers. It has a smoky, slightly sweet flavor and a very mild heat level. Plain chili powder is usually a blend of a few spices. If you don’t have the ancho you could leave it out, or you could do a combination of regular chili powder and paprika (to mimic that sweet and smoky flavor). Hope that helps!
Excellent and scalable recipe! I tried it on my finicky three and they loved it. I doubled your recipe and had to substitute regular chilli pepper and paprika as you suggested. What makes your recipes work is your notes! Also, you give statistics like how much volume measurements. I ended up using Lactose free milk and Lactose free whipping cream etc cuz of my girls issues, but kept the healthy keto butter and bacon fat for flavour. Lactose free sour cream and Lactose free cheese are were also used!
We’re so happy it was a hit for your family, Dave! Enjoy 🥰
Has anyone used vegetable broth instead of chicken broth?
That will work just fine 😊
Amazing! My whole family loved it.
Thanks so much for the review, Maddie! ❤️
Love, love, love! It was delicious and my husband thought so too. Thank you:)
Making it for lunch today, it’s almost done can’t wait to try it. My taste tests say it’s going to be so yummy.
I switched over to this recipe mid-another recipe, and this turned out great!
Thanks for response! Vegetable broth instead of chicken broth is great too. Made for a friend who will eat nothing that contains chicken.
I made this soup for supper tonight and it was delicious so full of flavour. It was a hit with my hubby and son. I will be making it again.
Do I have to blend it at all?
It definitely adds a nice creaminess and texture but if you don’t want to blend it you don’t have to. 🙂
I make this all the time for me and my roommates it’s their favorite. I personally don’t measure i use half an onion and 4 cloves of garlic. It is a favorite they ask me to make it all the time! i also use a whole pack of bacon. I personally do not like bacon all that much so I tale some for myself before adding the bacon but they love it with extra!
OMG…So good!!! I have loved potato soup since “forever”. Lol
I had leftover parsley potatoes from a dinner earlier this week. Found your recipe and BAM…I started as your instructions. I always “pepper” my bacon when I cook it. I had 2 ears of cooked corn from another dinner and sautéed with the onions. WOW. Thank you so much for your recipe. It’s a keeper 😊
I love every recipe of yours that I’ve tried, and I can’t wait to try this. Will skim milk work? Thank you!
Hi Marie! I am so thrilled that you have been enjoying the recipes! Skim milk will work instead of the whole milk, just keep in mind that the soup will not be quite as thick/creamy. I hope that helps!
I made it for supper tonight – have you tried putting it in the crock pot to finish it?
Hi Vicki! You can definitely keep the soup warm in the crock pot after preparing it. Hope that helps!
This recipe sounds amazing and I’ll be making it this afternoon. Do you have any advice on freezing leftovers?
I love to make big batches when I cook, my pre-made meals in the freezer are a life saver when hubby and I work late.
💛
Hi Heather! I don’t really advise freezing it as it can separate when frozen. I know other commenters have done it and enjoyed it, but I worry about the separation occurring. 🙁
My neighbor made this soup and brought me some because I was not feeling well. My goodness. The best potatoe soup I have even eaten! This recipe is a keeper!
You have a sweet neighbor, Marcy! We hope you feel better soon ❤️
Can you tell me what the difference in Gold potatoes and yellow potatoes would make in this recipe. Sometimes we don’t have gold potatoes available where I live.
Hi Marcy! Gold potatoes are our personal preference, but russets will work too 😊
OMG this is the best potato soup I have ever made or eaten!! The recipe is perfect as is!!!
We made it today and can’t wait to have it for dinner with a salad tonight. YUMMMM
First time making potato soup and can’t believe how easily this came together! I had a few pounds of potatoes left over from Thanksgiving and needed a quick way to use them up. My milk had just expired so all I had on hand was heavy cream, which I diluted 50% with water as a substitute (1 cup heavy cream to 1 cup water), and I didn’t have ancho so I used red pepper flakes. I’ll make this again and be sure I have the correct ingredients on hand. No changes needed, this was a hit!
We’re glad you enjoyed it, even with the modifications! Thanks for trying our recipe ❤️