The Ultimate Creamy Potato Soup
This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read my disclosure policy.
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).
]
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!
this is the best potato soup I’ve ever had.
I have used this recipe several times and it’s excellent. My family loves it.
We’re so glad you and your family love it, Darlene 😄
I only had regular chili powder, but hands down the best potato soup I’ve ever had. My husband raved about how fantastic it was!
I can’t wait to try it with the ancho chili powder.
We’re so glad you enjoyed the soup, Jill! Thank you for trying our recipe 😁
This is hands down BEST recipe I’ve ever made of potato soup!!!
I made this tonight for supper and it’s so delicious! I really like the 1 pot part too. I will be making again. Thank you😊
O M G!!!!!! Mad this for my wife and she said it was the best potato soup she’s ever had.
How many bowls does this make? It says 1 serving??
Hi Sarah! For future reference, I typically have this information right above the video. The one at the very bottom is nutritional info. 🙂 This will make about 8 servings (3.5qts of soup). Enjoy! 🙂
It says makes 8 servings. The 1 serving is the nutritional info per serving.
It’s my first time making this soup. Am I crazy or does the written recipe not match the video? The video says to cook for 30 mins after boil? But the written recipe doesn’t say that??
Hi Carrie! I actually just refilmed the video. While you can cook for an additional 30 minutes, it’s not mandatory and the new video will reflect that 🙂
Oh My Goodness!!! Best and easiest recipe ever.
Great way to use up russet potatoes purchased for the holidays (bought too many!). Sooo tasty. Only changes that I made were to add almost a brick of cream cheese and substitute cayenne for ancho (didn’t have that one on hand). I also added a bit more salt. Yum, yum, yum!
Could I do the separate cooking steps but then add to the crockpot for the final cook?
Hi Rylee! After you have boiled and pureed the soup you could certainly transfer it to a crock pot to keep it warm. 🙂
Hi, do you think I can make this without sour cream? I don’t currently have any in my home but I don’t wants to make it and realize I need that sour cream. TIA!
Hi Crystal! You can omit the sour cream, but it does add quite a depth of flavor to the soup. Enjoy! 🙂
The best I’ve ever tested!
iIn the top part it says heavy cream, but later it says sour crean. Can you clarify, please?
Hi Sheri! Both heavy cream and sour cream are needed in this recipe, they are both listed in the ingredients and in the proper places in the instructions 🙂
can you put i. the frig and how long can you keep it
Hi Lorri! This will be good in an air tight container in the refrigerator for several days. 🙂
Sheri, reread step 6 ☺️
This came out so fire!!! I followed recipe as written. To serve i just sprinkled w bacon and slices of Tallegio cheese. 10/10 would def make it again
If you don’t have milk, can you use more heavy cream and chicken broth?
Hi Melissa! Milk will work here, but you will need less since it is thinner than heavy cream. 🙂
OMG delicious and im an old cook love it!
just finished making this delicious potato soup did biy every detail..didn’t want to mess this recipe up as I didn’t but I added something I added a smoked flavor Gouda cheese and it made a awesome smoke taste for flavor on top of the chives bacon and sour cream best soup ever thank you for your recipe.always “prymetyme” from Colorado…
Easy recipe and tastes great. Great soup for a cold and rainy day/night.
Just made. I leave the potato peels on and just immersion blend them into the soup, because they have lots of vitamins and minerals and also I leave out a bowl of french fried onion rings for topping yummmm
Yours outperformed mine, thank you.
So good! Comfort. Filling. This is a make again! Thank you!Beverli