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.
Sara
Hello! We have done this recipe many times in the past and have loved it! I was wondering if the gold potatoes can be subbed with russet potatoes?
Sam Merritt
Hi Sara! Gold potatoes can work here. 🙂
Kimberley Nunnally
This soup is so flavorful and delicious. I made it without the ancho chili but it still tasted amazing.
Liz
It’s awesome, my favorite potato soup recipe. I just use water and chicken bouillon instead of chicken broth.
Jackie
Can you make it without sour cream?
Sam Merritt
Hi Jackie! While you can omit the sour cream, I don’t recommend it as it adds a great depth of flavor. 🙂
Patty McNerney
Wow, your recipe out did mine! Fantastic soup!!
Erin Allen
I just finished a bowl of this wonderful potato soup. I made it just as written, using an immersion blender and topped with bacon and cheddar cheese. It’s a creamy, dreamy soup perfect for cold autumn evenings like this. It would be great with homemade garlicky croutons! I wish I had made some, but that’s an idea for anyone reading this.
Shawn Wynne
Can this soup be frozen?
Sam Merritt
Hi Shawn! I don’t recommend it as it has potential to separate when frozen. 🙁
Linds
My favorite soup! I’ve just followed your recipe for the second time and it’s incredible. Will be my go to from now on 🙂
Dianne
This is the second time I’ve made this receipt and it’s. amazing. Not to mention I’m now the best cook in the house. . Thank you… This will definitely be the soup to cook and share with family members while carving pumpkins. It’s a hit.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Sounds like the perfect October day! Enjoy, Dianne 🙂
Lisa Wellenstein
Potato Soup That Could Start a Cult
⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
I had never eaten potato soup before — let alone made it — but I found myself staring down a mountain of potatoes like I was about to enter a starchy showdown. I needed a recipe that would put a serious dent in my spud surplus, and that’s when I stumbled upon this gem.
Let me tell you: I was not prepared for how good this would be. Rich? Check. Creamy? Double check. Hearty enough to feed a small army, a large family, or one very determined soup enthusiast with Tupperware? Absolutely.
Now, full disclosure: the prep time said 30 minutes, but unless you’re a trained ninja with a potato peeler, give yourself some wiggle room. And I may have gone rogue with the potato chunks — I like them big enough to qualify as furniture — so the cook time stretched a bit too. But honestly? Totally worth it. This soup is a warm hug in a bowl, and I’ll be making it again the next time my pantry starts looking like a potato convention.
Dee
This is my goto potato soup. Thank you for sharing.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We love hearing that, Dee! Enjoy 🩷
c
soup was delicious. I surely make it again!!
Mr Smithers
Very good soup. Easy to make. Didn’t have ancho but substituted smoked paprika and cayenne. Perfect for a cozy fall night in. Will be a regular in the rotation!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Vicky
The best potato soup! I will definitely make this again!
Carol Dye
Do you really add milk and cream then boil? Doesn’t that make them curdle?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Carol! Yes, and you shouldn’t have any issues with the milk curdling 🙂
Amanda Weatherby
I have made this for the last 2 years🧡🍜
It’s amazing!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
So glad to hear that, Amanda! 🩷
Mary Kendall
I made this soup tonight and my grandkids loved it!! I will be making it again.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Wonderful! Thanks for trying our recipe, Mary 🙂
Ellie
Could I turn this into a creamy potato hamburger soup? Are there substitutions I should make?
Sam Merritt
Hi Ellie! I haven’t personally tried it, but I suppose it could be done. 🙂
Shellie Johnson
I used Bechemel sauce in place of heavy cream , flour, milk and butter and worked great 🙂