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 is so good! Has anyone tried freezing it?
Hi Lauren! I don’t recommend freezing it as it could potentially separate. I’m glad you enjoyed it though! 🙂
This is my favorite recipe for potato soup. So delicious
Has anyone tried to freeze this recipe or started with pre-baked potatoes? I have probably double the already baked potatoes from an event left over and I am trying to find a way to use them up?
Hi Laura! I haven’t personally tried it. I think it could potentially work. I would be a little bit worried they wouldn’t incorporate quite like they should, but if you do try it I would love to know how it goes! 🙂
Hi! Do you have advice for how to make this in a crockpot? Should I wait to add the dairy ingredients? Thank you!!
Hi Sierra! I’m not sure how you would do it in a crockpot since there are a few steps involved that really help develop the flavor of the soup.
So creamy & delicious!! This will definitely be in the menu rotation!!
OMG!! 🤤 This soup recipe is sooooo yummy! I had celery and carrots that needed to be used up. So I added 1 stalk of celery and 1 carrot.
This soup has alot of good flavor.
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed, Jennifer! Thank you so much for trying my recipe and letting me know how it turned out for you!
Can I use red potatoes?
Hi Moni! Red potatoes will work. 🙂
i stumbled upon this recipe 2 years ago and have made it many times.
doubled ingredients is how I prefer mine- a little thick for some but that’s my preference.
I used 6 cups of broth and 4 cups half and half- if it’s too thick, I add a little whole milk.
I use my immersion blender directly in my Dutch oven- works well and less to clean up.
I’m so glad you have been enjoying the recipe, Cynthia! Thank you for sharing, I hope you find more recipes on my website that you love just as much!
Do you still use hvy creamer as well?
Best potato soup ever! Served with with crusty baguettes. My bacon renders a lot of fat so I’ll remove some in the future. Other than that, perfect!!
Love this recipe! I’m not usually much of a soup person but I made this for a work soup-themed potluck and it’s been requested again multiple times for other events! I tend to use less onion (about half of one rather than a whole) and a little more bacon, but that’s just a personal taste preference!
Amazing! Followed recipe exactly. Best potato soup ever!
Made this for a soup party. It was a hit! Creamy and delicious. I’ll be making this again!
We’re so happy it was a hit, Wendy! Enjoy 😊
So so good!!
Fantastic and so easy to make.
I made this very close to the recipe. It is a very rich flavor and is perfect for these cool weather days.
This turned out so yummy!