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.
Chelsea
Delicious indeed – so glad I found this I have had potato soup and its too milky usually this was perfect and yes I only blended half the batch. Yummy I will add to the rotation for sure. Happy hearty and full of flavor
Sarah
Delicious! This recipe made me look like a good cook! It’s perfectly creamy and flavorful. I already have plans to make it again!
Veronica Martin
Perfect!
Cheryl
Can this be frozen for later use?
Sam Merritt
Hi Cheryl! I don’t recommend freezing it as it could potentially separate.
MacKenzie
is there any way to make this gluten free? what can I replace the flour with to make it gluten free? 😊 thank you in advance!!
Sam Merritt
Hi MacKenzie! You could probably try a 1:1 gluten free flour. 🙂
Patty
Absolutely delicious. Made as directed
Roxie
I never leave recipe reviews (I know I’m sorry!), but WOW. I have made this soup three times now and it’s hands down the best potato soup I’ve ever tasted. You nailed it on the spices and ingredients. We LOVE Ancho chili powder, which is what drew me to this recipe. So I do add 2 full teaspoons, it gives it the perfect kick for my hubby and I. The only other difference is I use the Orrington Farms broth base chicken flavor to make the required broth. Those premade broths lack flavor complexity. Thank y so much for sharing such a wonderful Fall and Winter soup recipe!
Sam Merritt
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review, Roxie! I’m so glad you enjoyed the soup so much. 🙂
Tom
Excellent recipe. Very creamy and enjoyed by the whole family.
Chanda
So good! I followed the recipe as is and I was given a 10/10 from all the little people in the house!
Susan
I ended up making a lot of changes, but the soup tasted very good. I’d never made potato soup before. I was afraid I hadn’t put in enough potatoes, so I added carrot, celery, and mushrooms, which I roasted first. Then the spice that I thought was paprika was actually curry, but it didn’t really change the flavor of the soup. I added paprika the next day, but I’m not sure if that changed the flavor either (but it did change the color of the soup). It was very hearty and tasted great. I’ll definitely make it again and keep experimenting.
Ann Mendelson
My friend gave me this recipe as I had never made potato soup. It was a bit more trouble to fix than I prefer, but worth it. Very, very good!! There’s just my husband and I, so wondering if I can freeze this soup?
Sam Merritt
I’m so glad it was such a hit! I don’t recommend freezing it as it could separate when frozen. 🙁
Lana
Can you make this in a crockpot?
Sam Merritt
Hi Lana! There are multiple steps in this recipe which don’t make it a prime candidate for the crockpot. 🙁
Misty
literally my favorite soup recipe ever !
Lorel Krueger
Has anyone tried it with ham?
Sam Merritt
I know others have added ham with success. 🙂
Goubeaux Sue
Amazing! Added a bit more bacon (because that’s the only way to get the kids to eat anything!) and they ate every drop! Love this recipe!