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’m so glad I tried this recipe. All my life, (69 years) I have used my mamas recipe for potatoe soup but I’ve been really interested in cooking new things so I tried this recipe. Boy!! I’m glad I did! I have to admit, it’s better than mamas recipe. I hope when I meet her at the pearly gates she forgives me for saying g this recipe is better than hers😉. My husband has mentioned several times in the past month how delicious it was so I’m putting it in the menu this week-)
I do have to say I did not put in the ancho. We don’t use a lot of spice here in our food so it was omitted
I made it as written. Delicious
This is now the only potato soup we make and it’s ruined all restaurant potato soup for us. We use more potatoes (3 lb) and a full pound of bacon (half in the soup, half for topping). We also added a 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne for a little heat and omitted the sour cream. It’s delicious!!! We eat until we’re stuffed and only have a little for leftovers. Thank you for making this our family favorite!
This is Absolutly Delicious Sam. 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍.
can I make this in crock pot?
Hi Sheila! There are a lot of steps involved so I’m not sure how it would be done in a crock pot. 🙁
I am making this recipe in a crockpot today and expect it to be delicious. I did all steps up through 5 in a pot on the stove then transferred to a preheated crock pot for step 6. We are in and out of the house all weekend for soccer BUT I wanted a homemade potato soup. Not quite a review of the finished product but I wanted to at least share I think it can be done. Thank you for the recipe Sam!
Sooo Good Sam . 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Sam , as you were making this soup I was cooking right along with you. Smells so good , and tastes so good. I’m having this soup for dinner. Thank-You for Yur recipe. 👍🙋♀️ .
Can I put this all together the night before to put on the burner when I get home? Or crockpot on low while at work? It’s says I’ve already asked but I’ve not commented before so hopefully this posts
Hi Sue! You could make it the day in advance. I probably wouldn’t let it sit in a crock pot all day. It will continue to thicken as it sits there. I would probably make it the night before and then just put it in a pot to rewarm it the next day. 🙂
Can this be made in the crockpot?
Hi Nicole! It’s not really going to work due to the different steps.
Love this recipe! My husband asks for whenever he’s feeling under the weather. It is such a comforting soup!
hands down great
turned out delicious!!! will be enjoying it all work week!!
I made this soup. I boiled the potatoes only in the chicken stock THEN I added the cream. I was nervous to scald it. It tastes great, very similar to Outback Steakhouse. I used Beef bacon as we only eat Halal. It tastes like pork bacon so no difference there. Love this soup!
I made this soup tonight since the weather has turned chilly. This is THE BEST recipe. Thank you, I will be making this again!
We tried this recipe last night. Excellent!
I’ve been making this potato soup ever since my husband told me no one can make better potato soup than his grandma. It’s been two and a half years and he’s never said that since! Thank you for the recipe, you helped me win over grandma 👵🏼:) 10/10 beat potato soup I’ve ever made and eaten.
Can you omit the bacon without changing the texture?
Hi Chelsea! The bacon won’t change the texture, but will change the flavor greatly.
I made this potato soup last year and couldn’t wait to make it again this fall. IT is delicious and one of few recipes that are so true to the ingredients. I do not vary at ALL. THANK you so much!