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!
Delicious winter soup! My Louisiana heritage caused me to add one teaspoon of Old Bay Seasoning for a Creole flair! I’ll most definitely be making this soup again.
The whole time I was making this, I kept thinking “This is too easy. There must be something missing”. It turns out it really is this easy. This is easily one of the best “reward for investment of effort” recipes I’ve made in quite some time.
Thanks!
We’re so happy the recipe was a winner for you, Patrick! Thanks for commenting 😊
Amazing recipe! This was delicious and I can’t wait to make it again.
So glad you enjoyed it, Diana! 🥰
Great recipe ! Everyone enjoyed , super easy !! I made it with half and half because I had it and still came out amazing.
Thank you.
Very good recipe.
This recipe was amazing!! super easy to follow and insanely delicious! I added finely diced carrots and celery plus a half cup of sharp cheddar. Can’t wait to make this again!
We’re so happy it was a hit, April! 😊
Made this tonight, my husband LOVED it! I cooked more bacon just to have more for topping, and we added a couple dashes of paprika instead of the ancho chili powder. I ended up putting 1 cup of cheese in the soup itself, but you can obviously add more to your liking! Was a major hit, will definitely make this again!
made this several times now with a bit of a twist I add Worcestershire sauce chives parsley a pinch of nutmeg and two bay leaves, my family requests this often when it’s cold out, much obliged for the amazing recipe.
Good Afternoon Sam,
I just made your ultimate Potato Soup and it was absolutely delicious!!!!
Easy to make, and smooth and creamy.
It’s a Winner.
Merry Christmas!
Sue
This was a very easy recipe to follow. The soup tastes fabulous.
Mother in Law just made this for dinner. Oh my goodness was it so delicious and amazing. She didn’t add any bacon, chives, chili powder.
It also makes a really easy food to purée for those who are tube fed. My wife said that was amazing even though it was fed her tube. Not sure how she tasted it when it goes directly in her stomach.
I used Cayenne pepper instead of chili powder (because that’s what I had on hand). It was delicious!
This soup is soooo darn good! Family told me, I’ll need to make it more often. Thank you for sharing…
delicious! Everyone in my family love it.
What could I use as a substitute to the ancho chili?
Hi Melissa! You could use regular chili powder and a pinch of smoked paprika 😊
This is my go to potato soup recipe cant get enough of it!