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.
Kirk
I just made the potato soup it is delicious
Can u substitute heavy cream with something else a little less expensive
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed it, Kirk! As far as heavy cream, you can substitute milk, however, it will not be as creamy. 🙂
Josh Rasdal
Best potato soup I’ve had in a long time 🔥👍🏼
Sam
I’m so happy you enjoyed, Josh! Thank you for commenting!
Desiree
How long does soup stay good for in refrigerator!?
Sam
I would recommend enjoying within 4 days.
Kacie
This soup is amazing and creamy with the pureed soup added. Sooo good! My husband loves it and I’ve made it several times now.
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed the soup, Kacie! 🙂
Kim
This soup was a huge hit with my family. It was creamy and so full of flavour. Even my pickiest gobbled it right up!
Sam
I’m so happy to hear this! Thank you for commenting, Kim!
Sarah
I’ve only made potato soup one other time and it was not good. My husband said he wanted potato soup so I searched for a recipe and I found yours first. I read through the ingredients first and thought they sounded perfect for us. Then I watched your video and it sold me. I made your recipe -added a couple more strips of bacon because we are meat lovers – and it turned out AMAZING. I’ve added it to my favorites. Easy to follow, flavorful, thick and delicious. Thank you for sharing your recipe. My family loved it. I will make it again and share it with my friends.
Sam
I am so happy to hear this, Sarah!! Thank you so much for letting me know how it turned out for you, I appreciate it! 🙂
Eva Solis
First time making the soup and it came out delicious.. Thank you Sam
Sam
You’re very welcome, Eva! I’m so glad you enjoyed!
Patricia Villarreal
First I want to thank you for making a video with Thorough instructions On how to make potato soup. I’m visual so your video helped me out a lot. My potato soup turned out delicious! Thanks again!!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you found the video helpful and that you enjoyed the soup, Patricia. Thank you for trying my recipe! 🙂
sally
Thank you for ALL of the fabulous recipes, your website has become my favorite of all time and you have made my family love my cooking! You are so appreciated for sharing all your secrets and simply awesome and delicious dishes!!!!!
Sam
You’re so sweet, Sally! Thank you for commenting and for trusting my recipes <3
Sarah
I made this last night and it was so delicious! I’m not a huge bacon fan but my husband is and I was worried the soup would have too much of a bacon flavor with using the grease but it wasn’t overpowering at all and it was so good. For other potato soups I usually just use a potato masher to smooth it out some and that is what I planned to do here but it was already so thick and creamy I decided not to. We topped with the bacon, cheese and scallions. I will definitely be making again!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so happy that your family enjoyed it and that the bacon was not too overpowering for your taste buds, Sarah! Thank you for trying my recipe and for commenting. 🙂
Amanda
So I actually don’t like bacon at all (I know, I know, I’m crazy). But my mom can’t really have it because of heart disease and she doesn’t really like bacon in her potato soup anyways.
What can I use to substitute the bacon fat/grease? Just butter or would something else work better?
Sam
Butter will work here. 🙂
Emily
I made this for a family competition for the first time last weekend! It was so delicious, thanks for sharing your recipe 🙂
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that it was such a hit, Emily! Thank you for trying my recipe and for commenting. 🙂
Brie
Made this for the first time today, and my son ate 3 bowls of it! I actually turned the burner off for a moment to mash the potatoes directly in the Dutch oven. So delicious, your recipe has been shared with friends already! Thank you!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so happy to hear that the soup was such a hit, Brie! Thank you for trying my recipe and for sharing it with others. 🙂
Charlotte
This is the absolute perfect comfort food! It was there big warm hug we needed this weekend. We shared with the neighbors and they came by later to demand the recipe! Thanks for sharing!!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so happy that you enjoyed it, Charlotte, and so did your neighbor! This is one of my personal favorite comfort foods too. Thanks for trying my recipe. 🙂
Sharon
Best every potato soup!!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed, Sharon!
Tracy Schaffer
Thanks! I made it today and it was wonderful. I halved it because I live alone but was able to share and put some in the freezer. I also added mushrooms. I pureed half.
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you for trying my recipe, Tracy! I am so glad that you enjoyed it! 🙂
Jennie
Great recipe! Thank you!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed it, Jennie! Thank you so much for trying my recipe. 🙂