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.
Erica
So fantastic!!! It now i need to make it gluten free…do you think substituting the flour with a gluten free one will be ok?
Sam
Hi Erica! I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure how it would work. Let me know how it goes if you try it. 🙂
Jaye
Erica, just use potato or corn starch instead of flour. Use 2 Tablespoons potato(or corn) starch mixed with 1/4Cup water. Add this mixture o the final 15-min simmer.
suebee
my adult son usually nods if he likes what I’ve cooked but this one he said “mom this is really good!”
I didn’t have any ancho chili powder, so I used a teaspoon of smoked paprika instead, and it was the most scrumptious potato soup I have ever made. So grateful for this recipe. Thank you!
Dyondra
I’ve made this about ten times this winter. Everything as is but I never put the salt & it’s been perfect. I really love it!
Wanda
Best Potato Soup I’ve ever eaten, hands down.
Carrie
Love this recipe. I usually add some carrots and a pinch of cayenne and crushed red peppers for just a little kick. Yum!
Carolyn M Sipe
I just followed this and made as you were and it is delicious. Thank you.
Cate
Can this be made in a crock pot?
Sam
Hi Cate! There are lots of steps involved here so I’m not sure how it would work in a crock pot. 🙁
Care
Best potato soup! Just made for my family and my husband said we could sell this to people! Perfect for a cold weather day!
Stephanie
This has been a staple in my house since I first discovered it. Hands down the best and easiest potato soup I’ve ever had. Immediate, extended family, and friends go nuts for it.
Aimee
The only potato soup recipe you will ever need!! Seriously the best!
Michelle
So good and easy to make. Thank you.
Caryn Falcone
Just wanted to say Thank You for the warning about salt.I have never made soup with store bought broth.Keep it on hand for when I need a1/4 or 1/2 cup,but wanted that soup the minute I read the recipe so store bought broth was all I had available.Didn’t add any salt and it was perfect.Used the blue and white box broth.Since I salt as go all I had to stop myself at least 4 or 5 times.So Happy I did ,it would have been inedible with salt added.Served with big green salad and Crusty Italian bread.Absolutely Fabulous!
Zulma
easy and so yummy!
Stephanie
Just finished this recipe and wow!! It’s amazing! I did not have ancho chili so I used California chili and turned out just as delicious.
Cindy Gauvreau
Cindy G.
This soup was delicious. I just added a can of creamed corn to it as well.