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!
I love the recipe and that you gave weights for the onion and potatoes. Very helpful!
My husband and I both loved this. I used diced ham instead of bacon because I had it on hand.
What I didn’t love was having to constantly hit “jump to recipe” every time I turned my back. I don’t need ads and videos when I’m trying to cook.
We really enjoyed this. I added a sprinkle of paprika and dry parsley for color. The sour cream was a new touch for me. Loved it!
can u substitute reg chili power instead the kind in the recipe?
Hi Crystal! That will work fine. If you have smoked paprika, add a pinch of that too 😊
Can this be frozen? Anything I should omit (like the heavy cream) until reheating? Thanks!
Hi Makayla! We typically don’t recommend freezing this soup because the creamy ingredients tend to separate as it thaws. If you experiment with omitting ingredients and freezing, please let us know how it goes for you!
took me back to 50’s when mom made it – thank you
So glad you enjoyed it, Sandra 🩷
I had never made potato soup before and it’s a tradition I grew up with on Halloween for my Mom to cook. This recipe was delicious however leaving the bacon grease all in made the soup taste very bacon greasy. I added more cream to even out the favor the next day and it helped a bit. Any ideas to help?
Oh no! How much grease did you have left in the pot? We recommend removing all but about 2 tablespoons (just enough to cook the onions and add some flavor). If you had more, that could have been the issue. If not, you can always reduce the amount even further and use some olive oil instead.
I didn’t do the bacon at the beginning and instead used real bacon bits (like what you put in salad) later on in the recipe. Tastes AMAZING
High-end restaurant quality delicious, and crazy fast! I used whole milk instead of heavy cream. Threw in some sauteed and chopped Bella mushrooms at the end. Also used non-fat Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. Still super super rich and delicious! A new favorite!
Yum! We’re so happy you enjoyed it, Heidi 🥰
can u substitute reg chili power instead the kind in the recipe?
It will just change the flavor a little bit. 🙂
Have you ever left the skins on the gold potatoes? I use them for mash potatoes and have left the skin on as the skins are thinner than the larger brands like Idaho. The skin adds vitamins and fiber not to mention saves time! Anyone else do this?
Hi Susan! I have not left the skins on the potatoes. Let me know how it goes! 🙂
Hi! Just wondering if Idaho potatoes will work for this recipe?? I accidentally bought a 5 lbs bag of those instead of gold potatoes 🤦♀️
Hi Kristi! They will work here. 🙂
Absolutely! I’ve used both golden and russet or Idaho potatoes just fine 🙂
Recipe was great and easy to follow! I left out the chili powder and added 1/4 tsp mustard powder and white pepper.
So good so good so good. I left out the sour cream in the name of lactose intolerance, but it’s delicious without it. I’m sharing with friends. Thanks!
Thank you for trying my recipe, Susan! I’m so happy you enjoyed it so much!!
We did not blend anything, added a tablespoon of cornstarch and everyone loved it.
Really easy and really tasty! Definitely worth making
The best recipe and one of my favorite page to follow on Pinterest
Video says boiled til potatoes are done, the simmer for 30 minutes and the cook another 15 after adding bacon at the end. actual directions do not say simmer for 30? So I just wanted clarification.
This recipe is fabulous. I am eating my soup, with extra bacon, next to the fire.