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.
Nick b
I added chicken. went for a chicken cordon blue soup. I needed tips on boiling potatoes in milk. so I followed the recipe added chicken and sweet red peppers for color. no need to blend half the soup if you have some leftover mashed potatoes in the fridge
Olivia
I’m vegetarian and a novice in the kitchen can I make this meal with vegetable broth instead of chicken?
Sam
Hi Olivia! Vegetable broth will change the flavor a little bit, but it will work. 🙂
Kellie
I’ve been making this soup for my son for years. He just left to go back to college and sent him with a quart. We all love it.
Vicki
Absolutely delicious! I’m going to make every soup in your cozy soups series!
Kellye
Making this tonight! Looks and already smells amazing! Question on the written recipe compared to the video. In the video you mentioned that after we boil the potatoes for about 10 minutes (until tender), we reduce heat to simmer for about 30 minutes after that. You then stated we need puree about half, return to pot, and simmer for 15 minutes. In the written recipe, it doesn’t say anything about simmering for that 30 minutes. Can you clarify how this should be done? I will follow written recipe for tonight, but wanted to know for future reference. Thank you!!
Sam
Hi Kellye! Sorry for the confusion! Really, either way will work. I usually eat it right away, but the simmering will help develop the flavor a bit more. 🙂
Cassie q
I love this recipe. Been making it for my family for awhile now. We are doing a soup lunch potluck at work and I want to make it. Not sure if I can double up the recipe and if it will still taste as good.
Sam
I’m so glad everyone has enjoyed it so much! As long as you have a pot big enough to hold everything you shouldn’t have any issues doubling this. 🙂
Kevin V
Amazing! Absolutely perfect and my kids couldn’t stop eating it! I used heavy whipping cream and cayenne pepper instead of the ancho and it was still outstanding!
Kirsten
Best soup ever!
Sandi Goodwin
Just made it! Added celery and carrots. I just used my potato masher directly in the pot! Waiting for it to cool a bit!
Jeannine LaLonde
2cnd time I‘ve made this soup! It is absolutely delicious!
Tanya
Love it❤ I melted some cheese in the soup instead of adding it on top. Great recipe. I will make this again👌 Thank you
Susan Ogle
Absolutely delicious! I’ve been making potato soup using another recipe for years. Ran across this one and thought I’d give it a try. So glad I did! Throwing the old recipe away!🥔❤️
Helen
I love this recipe. Every time I make it and share it I’m asked for the recipe. I do add a bit more seasoning to the soup. I absolutely love the ancho chili powder, and I now use it frequently in other dishes when I want depth of flavor without too much heat!
Lauren
Can you cook this in a slow cooker?
Sam
Hi Lauren! It’s going to be quite difficult to make it in a slow cooker as there are a few important steps that you would have to skip with a slow cooker. You can make it and then keep it warm in the slow cooker if you’d like. 🙂
John Tucker
i love this potato soup. I do make a few changes. I don’t add flour nor milk to mine but instead substitute 1 quart of heavy cream. everything else and the steps to make are exactly tge same. Thanks for sharing.
Misty
When replacing the flour and milk with the quart of heavy cream, is the full of sour cream still used?
Jim martin
Amazing
Angela Rose
This is the best potato soup I’ve ever had. The next time I make it, I will leave the bacon out & add it to the top as a garnish so it stays crunchy. DELICIOUS‼️
Dee Hall
yummy