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!
Hands down the best potato soup recipe. It’s our go to and we make it a million times during the cold months of the year.
Thanks for coming back to leave a review! We are so happy our recipe is a staple for your family 🙂
I made this soup pretty close to exact recipe. (I blended 3/4 of soup. (I used a few more potatoes, a bit more cheese, extra bacon, and green onions as toppers)
Hands down the best soup ever. I can’t believe how great it tasted. Everyone loved it. I will keep the recipe. It took me about 2 hours start to finish. But so worth it.
We’re so happy you enjoyed it so much, Kathy! 😊
I’m picky with handing out a five star rating and this recipe is amazing!! Me and my wife both quite enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much, Chad! We are so happy it was a winner for you 🙂
Delicious! I used beef bone broth because that’s all I had. the soup was very tasty and comforting
We are so happy you enjoyed it, Carly! Thanks for the review 🩷
Our favorite potato soup. We use this recipe every single time.
This is now my go to potato soup recipe. It is the perfect soup for cold rainy winter days. My picky 13 year old loves it and believe me that says a lot..lol
We are so happy you both love it so much, Priscilla! Thanks for coming back to leave a comment 🙂
I have to agree. Or my picky 14 year old would agree.
I never can get the ratio right but tonight was perfect. My main change is to add more bacon, then add more again And drain half the grease.
This is soooooo good.
We are so happy it’s a hit for you and your family too! 🙂
Is using red potatoes okay?
Yes! Enjoy 🙂
Delicious!!! Will definitely make again.of coyote had to make changes to it in order to fit my personal needs. I used skim milk (no whole milk and no cream) and I used unsalted chicken broth. I did use the salt amount in the recipe. So my version was lower in fat and sodium. This soup is so creamy and flavorful. Enough salt from the bacon and salt in recipe. Did you ever read the label on premade soups…enough fat and sodium to give you a heart attack. This recipe is definitely a keeper for me. Enjoy all
Glad you enjoyed it, Jane! 🥰
This will make you a potato soup lover! Perfection
Absolutely easy ! Snd img so good made it this afternoon for my hubby and he loves it to! He told me not to lose that recipe lol
Thank you
😂 Love that! Thanks for the review, Trisha!
I didn’t have any ancho chili powder so I used cayenne pepper. It gave it a nice, gentle kick that really elevated the flavor. The recipe was easy to follow and delicious. We ended up using an immersion blender to make it smooth, and the green onions, cheddar, and bacon (we added at the end when serving) gave it some good texture. Thanks so much for the delicious recipe!
So glad you enjoyed this one, Susie! 🩷
Yummy 😋
What can I use instead of bacon fat or can I just skip that step all together?
You could use a butter instead of the bacon, but you won’t get the bacon flavor.
Any suggestions for making in a crockpot?
Hi Shelby! We think it would be fine to keep the soup warm in a crockpot, but we don’t recommend making it in one.
How can I make the soup thicker?
It should continue to thicken as it simmers and then even more as it cools. If needed, you could always try adding a little cornstarch. Others have added potato flakes or instant potatoes as well. Hope that helps 😊
My favorite soup of all! I simply go right by the recipe and it is DELICIOUS every time.
Thanks so much, Shirley! We appreciate the review 🥰
Delicious flavor, very creamy texture. The only change I made was to use smoked paprika instead of ancho chili powder because I was out.
We are so happy you enjoyed it, Miriam! Great idea to use the smoked paprika in a pinch 🙂
My daughter has Celiac Disease and I’m wondering if anyone has tried making this gluten free using a potato or corn starch in place of flour?
Hi Sean! You can use a gluten free flour or some corn starch instead. You won’t need as much if you use corn starch though.