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.
Sandra
I was wondering if I can use russet potatoes? I have some I need to use up if not I’ll buy some gold
Sam
Hi Sandra! Russet potatoes will work here.
Seasons01
Yes, make them into bigger pieces because they tend to fall apart more. I do this all the time. Once they are soft you can use a potato masher to make them a little smaller if you like.
Sheila
YUMMY 😋!!!!!
Theresa Luck
the very best soup ever. thank you for the recipe.
Kale
It is a fine soup. Not exactly what I was expecting, so I’m quite disappointed. Also to note that if you are planing on blending half of the soup and are specifically using one of those smoothie blenders, be careful. It will explode when you take the top off and it is very very hot. I would recommend waiting for it to cool a bit.
Sam
Hi Kale! I’m sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy the soup. I’m not sure what you mean by the soup will explode though? That is quite concerning that blending it caused it to explode anywhere. That definitely should not happen.
Holly
Usually the “exploding” happens when putting the soup in a blender, closing the lid, blending it, and then trying to take the lid off. Most cooking shows I’ve watched caution people when using a blender and very hot liquids (like soup) to be VERY cautious when taking the lid off.
Candice Franklin
So wonderful my family loved it.
Jenna
Delicious!!
Bridget Etim
BEST potato soup I’ve EVER tasted, including those at restaurants!
jo
this is absolutely delicious!!!
George
Super delicious!! Easy and quick!! Thank you.
Matt V.
Holy cow this was good. I didn’t have ancho chili, but I have a million other spices, so I just did a bit of smoked paprika and a tiiiiny bit of chili powder. Not sure how close it matches up to the OG recipe, but it is literally amazing! Thank you so much.
Paul Hillier
made this recipe a dozen times or more, great every time.
Heather Willsey
How well does this recipe freeze?
Sam
Hi Heather! I would be hesitant to freeze it because it could still separate. 🙂
Sarah
I just made this for dinner tonight. I was amazing and exactly what I was looking for. I didn’t have the ancho chili powder so I used smoked paprika and regular chili powder. I can’t wait to serve this soup to my family and friends! 5 stars
Alicia
Turned out great! Followed recipe as stated
Katrina
it doesnt say when to add the bacon bits, so I’m assuming at the end… but can we put some cheddar cheese as well?
Sam
Hi Katrina! Step 11 has you add the bacon back on top when serving. 🙂
Katrina
thank you! I see it now! and I must say, this recipe is AMAZING! thank you! my family loved it! ❤️
Evan
I am lactose intolerant so I was going to make this only use lactaid milk, no cream or sour cream. Will it still be good?
Sam
Hi Evan! I am not familiar with the flavor of that particular milk so I can’t say for sure. It won’t have quite the depth of flavor that is intended here.
Ash
My husband is lactose intolerant. I make it with lactaid whole milk, lactose free sour cream ( sometimes I leave it out) and either coconut cream or dairy free heavy whipping cream and it still comes out great! I’ve made it both ways and my family still loves it and can’t tell the difference!