The Ultimate Creamy Potato Soup
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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 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!
Made this twice and was so good! I didn’t have Ancho Chili Powder and had to substitute. So I used regular Chili Powder, Cayenne, and Smoked Paprika. My family is a huge fan!!!
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Kim! 🙂
Just made it for a family get together, my husband, myself and 6 year old grandson is the only one who has tasted it yet, and we all three love it. So easy to make also.
I am so glad everyone loved it, Robin! 🙂
Hi! I’m making this for about 8 people. Would all of the directions be the same if I double the recipe? Do you think it would be okay to do it one big pot? Sorry, I’m a cooking newbie.
Hi Spencer! Yes all of the instructions will be the same and it should do fine in a very large pot. Good luck! I hope everyone loves it. 🙂
Hey I want to make this in the crockpot. How do I go about doing it that way?
Hi Ashley! Since there are many different steps (cooking the bacon, making the roux) it could be a little difficult to make in the crock pot. It would be fine to keep it warm in the crock pot once completed.
Seriously best potato soup recipe I’ve ever made. My family loved it so much I had to make it two days in a row!
I’m so happy everyone enjoyed, Ciera! Thank you so much for commenting! 🙂
This is a very nice and creamy soup!! I made some modifications to make it easier.
1) Because it’s so creamy, Ham is a nice addition to the soup.
2) I omitted the sour cream and cheese, because I was making it for the next day for a crockpot church potluck. I wasn’t sure how the sour cream would do in a crockpot, so I thought it best to just eliminate the sour cream and cheese.
3) I didn’t have an immersion tool and I didn’t want to purée anything in the blender.
So what I did, while the bacon was cooking, I boiled my cubed potatoes in water.
Then drained and let the potatoes cool off. I continued on with the bacon grease and following the recipe with onions and etc. I continued with the recipe, except for the part of adding potatoes to the pot with stock, milk, and cream. Note, I added the potatoes last to the pot, after the stock, milk and cream was added to the pot.
4)) What I did, was took 3/4 of the cooked potatoes and put them in a separate bowl and mashed them with a potato masher and then put them into the pot with the remaining cooked unmashed potatoes. I had no problem with the soup thickening.
It’s a nice alternative if you want to skip the blended and purée part. I like a hearty soup and the texture consistency was perfect for me. I cooked it just until it thickened, because I was serving it the next day in crockpot.
Thank you. this recipe is a keeper!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Melissa! 🙂
Made this tonight for Halloween. IT WAS TOTALLY a Hit! My family ( And Many of our neighbors!). LOVED IT!! I’m going to make it again to take to Work because I’ll be a HERO! It’s WONDERFUL! Thank You!!
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Karen! 🙂
Do you buy your garlic minced already? Or do you mince it yourself?
Hi Bri! I typically mince it myself. 🙂
Me & my Nana make this often
We it for Halloween 🎃👻
We give you a great job 😊🥰🥳
Thank you so much! I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Lisa! 🙂
So good! Loved it w the ancho chili. Best I’ve made and so easy! Will be making this a lot throughout the winter.
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Theresa! 🙂
I love love this soup!!!!
I am so glad you enjoy it so much, Diana! 🙂
Delicious, thank you for sharing!
You’re welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
First time making potato soup, and I am a beginner in making homemade meals! Very easy and delicious!
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Arynn! 🙂
I dont have and ancho powder
Oh my goodness, so good. I didn’t have ancho powder. I have to find it. It was great nonetheless. Thank you for sharing. About to dig in.
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Hi Rita! You could use regular chili powder instead. I just like the extra flavor the ancho chili powder adds. 🙂
I have never made potato soup and saw all the great reviews of this recipe & OMG!! It turned out amazing. Thank you for this recipe , I will continue using it !!
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Marie! 🙂