The Ultimate Creamy Potato Soup
This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read my disclosure policy.
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).
]
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!
10
my family loves this recipe. I keep it open on a tab. we have it at least 3 times a month.
I’m so glad you enjoy it so much, Laurie! 🙂
My fiancé hates onions, and even though he knew they were in this soup, he had two bowls! I had to make another pot of this soup two days after I made the first pot, because my family ate it so fast. So good!
I made this potato soup for dinner last night. It is absolutely fabulous! My son loved it as well, and he is a picky eater. I will be making this recipe forever now thank you so much loved it!
i have book marked this recipe, it’s the only potato soup recipe I make now! perfect 👌
I absolutely love this recipe! I made this for dinner last night and now it is my favorite potato soup ! My son loved it as well! Thank you so much I really enjoyed it and I will definitely be making it again
UHHHMAZINGGG recipe, made for my family! So filling! I did 7 small potatoes, subbed the ancho powder for paprika, and did 1 tsp salt instead of 1.5 cause I added 2 more bacon slices to the recipe. Will be making this again, so cozy for the winter season.
love this recipe! I’ve made it multiple times and it’s become a regular dish in our household. the only thing I add is I put carrots into the mix. adds a bit extra veggies and tastes just as good.
My go to potato soup!! Been using this one for a couple years and it’s perfect Everytime!!
Can you use new potatoes and leave skin on
Hi Pat! I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure how it would turn out. There’s a chance it could work, but you could have a good bit of skin in the soup.
Could this be made successfully in a crockpt?
Hi Barbara! I’m not sure how you would do it in the crock pot. There’s several important steps that wouldn’t be possible with a slow cooker. 🙁
I made it in a pot and it is delicious
Delicious! My kids and I love this recipe and will use it from now on. Easy directions and just the right amount of all ingredients made this yummy and fulfilling. Thank you so much. Gigi in Florida
This was the best potato soup I’ve ever made. Thanks for this recipe.I did not puree it at all as it was plenty creamy as is and I love my potatoes.
Enjoyed this recipe! Only had 3 potatoes so I modified the amount of ingredients- I don’t like sour cream, so I left that out altogether. It was perfect for our snowed in day!! Better than Outbacks!! lol
Delicious and easy soup!
Easy to make and super delish!!!
So delicious! I used half n half instead of heavy cream because it was what I had and red potatoes. I also added finely chopped carrots. Loved it!