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.
Denise
The best homemade soup I have eaten
Cristina
What if I don’t have milk?
Sam
Hi Cristina! You will need some other sort of substitute.
Kerrie
I followed the recipe as is and it was great. The only alteration I made was to use goat cheese instead of cheddar. Total flavor enhancer and would suggest you try it. Not stringy like cheddar and with a smooth taste.
Julie
This soup is scrumptious! I made it today without bacon and it was still awesome. I’ve made it several times and sometimes run into a sticky pot bottom (dairy and too much heat on my part trying to hurry it up) so today I tried a different step. I diced potatoes very small and simmered them in the chicken stock FIRST for about 20 minutes. Then followed your directions and added the hot stock and potatoes already par cooked potatoes – it went together beautifully AND no stuck soup on bottom of my pot. Thanks for an awesome recipe (PS I also used high protein milk to increase protein)
Rene Rios
Add a little chicken bouillon to enhance the flavor…two pinches should do the trick
Geebs
Made this tonight for the first time. I halved it (for just the two of us), and it is delicious!!!! Loved the sour cream addition-added that bit of tang.
Thanks for the great recipe.
Courtney
Yum! Can you make this in a crock pot?
Jody
I have made it on the stove and used crockpot on keep warm. Never made it in crockpot though.
mel s.
made this for the first time tonight and my kids absolutely inhaled it. we crushed the entire pot in one meal. best potato soup recipe ever.
Ruthanne L
Made this for dinner tonight. Would not change a thing, it was so perfect on a cold winter night
Chery
Hi Sam!
Just finished my first time with this delicious potato soup. My son and husband loved it and we finished it off! Whoops! The only issue I had was that it looked kind of curdled. I used what I had which was 2% reduced fat milk. It was so yummy, but just looked curdled. Just wondered what you thought.
Sam
Hi Chery! Unfortunately a thinner milk will sometimes curdle. I’m glad you still enjoyed it. 🙂
Amanda
I just made this and this might just be the BEST pot of potato soup that I have ever made!!! Absolutely perfect!!!! I used my old fashioned potato masher right in the pot instead of an immersion blender and it worked perfectly. Oh my gosh this is delicious!!!
Rachel
This was outstanding – my husband made this tonight and it was by far the best potato soup I’ve had. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Vicky
I didn’t have to emulsify my potatoes as they kind of cooked down on their own. But this was truly delicious! Made this for dinner last night and normally my husband won’t eat leftovers. He woke up this morning asking for some for lunch and then repeated how much he liked this. Thank you for a delicious recipe!
Sam
I’m so happy to hear this Vicky! Thank you so much for trying my recipe!
Angel
This looks delicious! I can’t wait to make. Would this freeze well?
Sam
Hi Angel! There’s a chance it will separate so I don’t recommend freezing it. 🙁
Shelby Williamson
Can this be made the day before
Sam
Sure thing! 🙂
Rich
Followed recipe exactly.. my first soup make… was amazing! Gave leftovers to my neighbor, who now salutes me when he sees me!
Jeanette B Gilder
I received so many rave reviews with this recipe! I made it exactly to the recipe but doubled it. Delicious!
Scott
Followed the instructions to a T. The potatoes ended up burning to the bottom of pot and ruined the whole meal. Would highly recommend just simmering at until the potatoes are done.
Sam
Hi Scott! Unfortunately, this is a kitchen issue. Your heat was turned up too high and the pot wasn’t checked enough. If you mind the pot and the heat a bit more closely you won’t run into this issue. Boiling is recommended. Don’t turn your heat up too high, either, or at least if you do make sure you stir it frequently. I hope that helps!
Kathy
I’m confused this that person actually insinuating that your recipe made their soup burn? BTW it’s the best potato soup I’ve ever eaten!
Sam
I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Kathy!