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!
This soup is so good. It’s a staple in our house. I’m curious as to how much a serving is as I’m trying to stay in a calorie deficit and want to make sure I am measuring accordingly
Hi Heather! A serving is about 1.5 cups. 🙂
Best soup ever!
To make less calories, I would leave out the sour cream and cream. I also added corn. So good!
We’re so happy you enjoyed ☺️
Best Potato Soup indeed! Absolutely loved it! I forgot the sour cream, but put a little bit of shredded cheese at the end and my husband and I loved it!
We’re so glad it was a hit for you both, Beate! ☺️
Does this soup keep well to use for leftovers the next day?
Absolutely! Enjoy 🥰
Yes is keeps quite well. In fact it will increase in flavor so it will be even better the next day. Just pop it on the stove again and enjoy.
Excellent and easy to make.
Amazing soup. Glad I made it for a work function.
haven’t made it yet. wanted to know what are “gold” potatoes and can you use russets? thank you.
Hi Alex! Gold potatoes are simply another variety, just like russet or red. Russets will work just fine here too 😊 Enjoy!
I like the Yukon or gold better than russets. They hold their shape better. Best recipe I’ve ever used. Although, I didn’t try the ancho. And I added some diced celery.
We’re so happy you enjoyed it Lucille!
I couldn’t find “gold” potatoes either. I found some that were called yellow potatoes and it came out bombbbbb
I usually wing it when I make potato soup. Try to make it the way my mom made it. Results weren’t always great since I didn’t have an actual recipe to follow. Thought I would give this a try! It was excellent. I did not add the heavy cream though-trying to cut the fat content. Just used whole milk. Fresh herbs make the difference. This will be my go-to recipe from here on out. Thanks!
Thanks for giving our recipe a try, Linda! We’re so happy it was a hit for you 😊
Absolutely the best I’ve used!!! Normally, I make it according to the directions as written. Today, I need to feed 15 people how do I adjust the recipe for that many?
Hi Todd! We’re so happy you love the recipe. You’ll need to triple everything to feed 15 people 😊
I made this tonight. Holy cow! So so good! Best potato soup I’ve ever had! Followed the recipe exactly except didn’t have the ancho chili powder. My family is sick so decided to stick with the milder regular chili powder. Will definitely make it with the ancho next time! So delicious!!
Hands down best soup I make!! Always follow the recipe and it’s always perfect! I’ve been making this recipe for years and it’s highly requested by my family and never disappoints 😋
AMAZING!!!! First time ever making potato soup, I love soups, especially potato, always been nervous to try that one though. Grew up with my mom’s and this is just as good, which is the highest compliment since I could eat my mom’s every day for a year and never get tired of it. I only had regular chili powder, but added a pinch of cayenne pepper with it like called for and it was perfect!! Saved to my favorites folder and absolutely will be making this again.
Made this tonight it’s off the chain. I made it with a minor change with the ingredients I had on hand. The changes were 1 cup of butter milk with 1 cup of milk instead of 2 cups of milk and 1/4 tsp Chipotle chili powder to replace the Ancho powder.
I made it for a friend and she couldn’t get enough of it.
Thanks for sharing this awesome recipe.
I made this precisely according to the recipe, and I wouldn’t change a thing! I can’t stay out of this soup! I’m glad I bought McCormick’s Ancho chili powder for this, as it is pure ancho without any added spices. This soup was perfection!
We’re so happy it was a hit, Linda! The ancho really does make a difference ❤️
I was on a quest to find the creaminess, tastiest, most lit potato soup and this recipe is hands down the best. I think its use of gold potatoes is what really makes it, so don’t sub them out for another variety.
I didn’t have and couldn’t find ancho chile powder, so I made my own substitution: I combined 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes with 1/2 teaspoon (it may have been one whole teaspoon, I honesly can’t recall) of regular chili powder, and wow, the result of that small amount of red pepper flakes and chili powder was perfecto. I’ve never put red pepper in potato soup before, but now I will forever be doing that. It made it fire – not in the sense of “this is way too spicy/too much heat” kind of fire, but chef’s kiss perfect kind of fire. So, if you don’t have ancho, try what I did – don’t leave it out altogether – you’ll be missing out!
When it comes to making it hella creamy, I used an immersion blender and blended about four cups of the soup, which was about 1/3 of the soup, because I like a lot of potatoes, but it was still creamy af.
All in all, this was a reasonably easy recipe; fairly quick to make with a short list of ingredients that as a whole, really make this recipe worth keeping and making again and again.
First attempt, it was delicious. Only adjustment I had to make was extra milk, we don’t like it too thick!!
So glad you enjoyed, Deborah! Thanks for the review 🥰
I’ve tried SEVERAL different potato soup recipes…even Rachael Ray’s. And they’ve all been…..ok. Tried this one tonight and it was easily the best I’ve made yet. My 12 year old son ended up having 3 full bowls! I followed recipe and it was spot on. Only thing I did different (and I highly recommend you try) is that I soaked the potato skins in water while I prepped the soup, dried them fully, and fried them up all nice and crispy and served them on top of the soup. Great extra flavor and texture! Thanks!
Yum–love that idea! We’re so glad everyone enjoyed the soup, Jayson 😊
Guys at work wanted potato soup. Found this recipe and it was amazing!!! Cooked it down in one pot, then transferred to a crock pot to take in. I got Hugs and Thanks for a great soup. Thank you so much!
PS. I made exactly as recipe called for and I would not change a thing.
We’re so happy it was a hit, Jennifer! Thanks for coming back to leave a review ❤️
After reading all the reviews, I made minor adjustments, including the addition of 2 cups chopped ham leftover from Easter dinner. All three of us LOVED IT, especially my daughter who doesn’t like soups or potatoes unless they are french frues. I couldn’t belive she had two full servings. Thank you for an amazing recipe I will make over and over!