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!
Oh no, my milk went bad and I still want this!! If I omit the milk, do you think it would be okay with just the heavy cream/broth?
Hi Brianne! The soup could still turn out. It may be a little more rich. If you have half and half you could use that in place of the milk and heavy cream. 🙂
Can I leave out the heavy cream an just use milk?
Hi Michelle! Yes but the soup won’t be as thick.
Delicious but to be honest I was afraid to use the chili powder. Maybe next time!
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Diana! The chili powder just adds an extra depth of flavor. 🙂
I made it today! It turned out fabulous! Will definitely make it again!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Dava! 🙂
Made this tonight and it came out fantastic. The only things I did different was added grated carrots and replaced the chili powder with some hot sauce. Great recipe! Been looking for a good potato soup recipe.
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Carole! 🙂
It was a favorite last winter and we are already making it this year. My boyfriend lovessss it!
I am so glad everyone enjoys it so much, Macy! 🙂
I will be making this today. Does the chili powder make it taste taco’y? I have never heard of chili powder in potato soup. The recipe and comments sound amazing
Hi Patricia! It won’t make it taste “Taco-y.” It just adds an extra depth of flavor. 🙂
Does this freeze well?
While some people have reported freezing it successfully, I generally don’t recommend it as the dairy can separate and the texture could be compromised.
I just made this soup for the first time and it absolutely wonderful, definitely going to become a family favorite 😍
I’m so glad you enjoyed, Dee! Thank you so much for commenting! 🙂
What would you substitute for the ancho chili powder? I’ve got everything to make it but that.
Regular chili powder 🙂
I wonder if you could add cheese to it so it’s a cheesy soup or if it’s best to just top it with cheese
Hi Emily! It’s already quite rich and creamy but I suppose you could, but I personally think it’s best to just top it off 🙂
What a delicious soup for cool fall and winter nights! My partner is gluten-free, so we substituted the all-purpose flour for potato flour. Pureeing half the soup was perfect for us, a great mix of creamy and chunky potato pieces.
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Katherine! 🙂
This was amazing! Creamy and rich.
I’m so glad you enjoyed, Jennifer! Thank you for commenting!
My husband makes this for us all the time and it’s absolutely delicious! We even eat it in the hot summer, it’s that good!
I am so glad you enjoy it so much, Lauren! I always crave it but can’t bring myself to eat hot soup in the summer. That’s a pretty good testament to the soup. 🙂
Has anyone tried freezing this soup ? Is it doable ?
Could I cook this in a crockpot for 6 hours?
Hi Julie! There are a lot of different points you need to add and remove things to this soup so I’m not sure how making it in the crock pot would go.
I am not a soup person but I love this soup! I’ve made it 5 or 6 times already and given out the recipe to several people who tell me how yummy it looks. We’ve done the recipe as is mostly but also tweaked it a few times and it comes out great every time. My husband has even gotten into making bread from scratch so that we have something to dip in it, its definitely a family favorite!
Yay! I’m so happy to hear it was such a hit for you, Jillian! Thank you so much for commenting. Tell your husband to check out my bread bowl recipe, it’s great with this soup! 😉 <3