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.
Devin
Would this recipe be able to be converted to cooking in an Instant Pot?
Sam
Hi Devin! I think it could be done in an instant pot. You would want to follow the same instructions and change the settings on your instant pot as need be. Let me know how it goes. 🙂
Jules
This soup is literally the best potato soup I have ever eaten, let alone ever made. The recipe is quick and easy (minus the potato chopping, but that comes with any potato soup!) The ancho chili pepper seasoning was news to me, but makes for an outstanding flavor. I wish I could give 10 stars! Thank you!
Rebecca
I used kale it and also used cardamom, nutmeg and cumin ! Yummy!
Alliea
My soup was good but did not look good!! I think I should have cooked the bacon in a separate place and then maybe pour the fat in or just not used it…? It had black specks all in it 😢
Sam
Hi Alliea! The black specs could have come from the bacon being slightly over-cooked. It’s not the worst thing though. The flavor is the important part. 🙂
Alicia
Is there a substitution I can use instead of All Purpose Flour?
Sam
Hi Alicia! Cornstarch could work here. 🙂
Carolyn
This is one of the best potato soup recipes I’ve ever made. Everyone I have made it for has loved it. It’s definitely a family favorite. It is the only recipe I will use.
Lisa
Made this soup last night for the first time and it was ridiculous! So creamy, full of flavor! I was nervous because I’ve never made potato soup but it came out perfect! Thank you!!
Pauline
I made your potato bacon soup for a Church soup tasting fundraiser and it sold out immediately! Everyone loved it!
Bethany
Made this for dinner tonight, we all loved it! Would this soup work at all as a freezer meal or do you only recommend it fresh?
Sam
Hi Bethany! It has a tendency to separate when frozen so I don’t recommend it. 🙁
David
Just a question, either in cups or ML, what is the size of one serving? Love the recipe. I’ve made it many times, but never measured how much it yielded. Thx!
Sam
Hi David! A serving here is about 1.5c. 🙂
Nichole
Could you use russet potatoes instead with the same results?
Sam
Others have done so with success. 🙂
Nicole
Is a 5qt Dutch oven large enough for this recipe?
Sam
Hi Nicole! My pot is 5.5 quarts so I think you will be ok. You’ll need to be a little more careful in the boiling stage or when stirring it, but it should work for you. 🙂
Susan Runnings
This was my first time making potato soup, and it turned out so fantastic!! Everyone raved and went back for more! Very rich, creamy and incredibly yummy. I don’t really like potato soup, but this one changed my mind! 🥄
David Bartel
This recipe reminded me of an old recipe from the BH&G cookbook for fish stew. Some changes, but just add white fish.
Laura
I used Sriracha instead of the ancho chili powder and subbed reg sour cream for light and it was amazing.
Lee
Very good. Easy to follow recipe. I added cream cheese instead of the milk and heavy cream. I added carrots and celery with the onion.
Tova
This soup is so rich and creamy. So satisfying! Thank you!