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.
Valerie S
This is the best potato soup recipe I’ve tried in along time! This one will be my #1 go to from this day forward!!!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Valerie! 🙂
Sabrina
Made this soup for dinner tonight while I wanted to take the credit lol… I told the truth and you are famous in my house.. thank you kindly your amazing…
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Sabrina! 🙂
Hannah
This is the best soup ever! So tasty!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Deb
Is it possible to use russet potatoes instead of yellow potatoes?
Sam
Hi Deb! That will work just fine. 🙂
Micah
I am interested in making this soup for a dinner party! With that said I would be making at my home and transporting about an hour to the party location. Do you you think the soup will separate?
Sam
Hi Micah! You shouldn’t have any issue. If there is any separation it will be very light and heating it up and mixing it together will solve that problem. 🙂
Linda
Just made this ultimate potato soup followed recipe to the T. It is delish. Hubby raved over it. Will make again.
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Linda! 🙂
Mel
Hi there! This recipe looks fantastic! I apologize if someone already asked this, I didn’t see it in the comments, but is it okay to use regular chili powder?
Sam
Hi Mel! That will work fine. I just love the flavor of the ancho chili powder. 🙂
Melissa Burns
Any experience freezing leftovers from this recipe? How does it hold up?
Sam
Hi Melissa! I don’t recommend freezing it. It can separate when being frozen.
Laura Lyn
This sounds delicious! My family is not a huge fan of sour cream. I don’t want to omit it – I’ve made other recipes that use sour cream and I’ve been able to ‘sneak’ it by them, I am hoping this will be the same. I’m just wondering – can you ‘taste’ the sour cream?
Sam
Hi Laura! The sour cream adds a nice rich consistency to it and doesn’t add any sour cream flavor. I think you’ll be able to sneak it by them. 😉
Leah H
This was so good! I made it for dinner last night. I accidentally left out the sour cream, but it was still good! I used my immersion blender and that worked great. My husband and usually picky 2 yr old daughter loved it. We liked it so much that I made more for dinner tonight to add to the leftovers so there would be enough for my brother in law as well. Seconds were had and everyone loved it! Thanks for sharing!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Leah! 🙂
Alisa
Made this today for lunch. It lives up to its name Ultimate! It was soooo delicious! The only thing I added was a big pile of cheddar in when I put in the sour cream. You can never have enough cheese right?
Sam
No such thing as too much cheese!! I’m so glad you enjoyed, Alisa, thank you so much for commenting! 🙂
Christa
Can the heavy cream be omitted? I can substitute the milk with lactaid milk but what about the heavy cream?
Sam
It can be but the soup won’t be quite as rich/creamy
Brandy Carter
This is the very best comfort food possible.
It’s also the same recipe I used in my restaurant. Everyday we served this soup we always ran completely out, regardless of how much we made. Most customers also took servings home (for an additional addition to their supper) for their families. That was my ultimate compliment!
Robin Joe
Sam you are lovely 🙂
Donald Thompson
This is my family’s favorite potato soup, a bit of prep and well worth it.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed, Donald! Thank you so much for commenting!
Alyssa Moreno
Im excited to try this recipe, is there an alternative if we dont have an immersion blender?
Sam
Hi Alyssa! Yes, I have notes in the recipe to use a regular blender 🙂
Aryd'ell
I used my mother’s 1960s potato masher, as we are old school and don’t use many electric devices. Worked a treat. Very yummy recipe and perfect for a rainy day!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂