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.
Pattie Phillips
Best Potato soup ever! Give it a try, you won’t be dissapointed.
Scarlet Strong
Absolutely the best potato soup recipe I’ve ever tried. My entire family gobbles it up including my incredibly picky son who never tries anything new. This is a comfort food fav in my household and of course with Super Bowl Sunday coming up my son ask me to make it for his Super Bowl party!!! I did add just a pinch of oregano it’s something my mom and gran added to every recipe they ever made they said it helps to bring out all the flavors not sure if it made a huge difference but we love it!!! Thanks for sharing your recipe with my family!
Tom
my wife has to be gluten-free. So I used 1 pouch of Idaho instant potatoes instead of flour. Very good, but I’ll use more potatoes next time to add texture.
Beth
Can I leave the peels on the potatoes? Have you ever done that by chance?
Sam
Hi Beth! If you’re using thin-skinned gold potatoes as written you should be fine to leave the peel on. The soup may look a bit “dirtier” because the flecks of peel won’t completely be blended, but personally it wouldn’t bother me too much. If you were substituting a different potato like a russet I would not leave the peel on.
Melissa Williams
Hello can this recipe be done in a crockpot?
Sam
Hi Melissa! I’m not sure how it would be done in the crockpot. There are lots of steps that need to be done that you would have to skip if doing in a crockpot. These steps really help develop the flavor.
Jeanie Cook
Delicious!
Similar to a recipe I use but that added chili powder adds a extra boost of flavor!!
Thank you!!
Because I get lazy at times, I’ll use a 30-32oz bag of Frozen Shredded Hashbrowns.
I also like to saute carrots & celery with the onions. (I use frozen chopped onions, again, when I’m feeling lazy).
Thanks Again!!
Kenneth Ray
I have made this and it is great. Just wondering if red potatoes will work because can’t always find the Yukon golds,
Mary
This is a great recipe! I would certainly make this again.
Heather
Delicious! Did do the mirepoix instead of just onions. I adjust thickness with more chicken broth or water. Served this as a comfort food at a potluck with the fixings and made several times at home. Everyone loves it!
Teresa McCulloch
This recipe makes the BEST Potatoe Soup, ever!! The keyword for this recipe is “Creamy”!!
RandallP
Very tasty. I would recommend adding the reserved bacon pieces until serving time rather than prior to simmering. That way they will still be crispy and not soft. But otherwise this is a restaurant quality recipe.
Katie
Good basic recipe. Do not puree half of the potatoes as recipe calls for. Ends up being a creamy soup with no substance. I also added a lot more pepper and chili seasoning so it had more flavor. Potatoes are pretty bland on their own.
Sam
Hi Katie! It’s meant to be a creamier soup, glad you found something that works for you but I do recommend pureeing half of the soup to anyone else reading.
Molly
Super yummy!!!
Adriana Pettett
This was by far the best potato soup my husband and I ever had. We are definitely going to make it again, but this time with friends over. Beyond delicious!!
Kelly
Great recipe! I did save half the bacon grease to make a sort of rue with the flour. That avoided any lumps. Really good flavor.