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.
Hanna
Best potato soup I’ve get had. I made it for my boyfriend who’s mom is a fantastic cook and he said it was better then hers!!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Hanna! 🙂
Allen L England
It taste awsome I added fresh celery and mushrooms while cooking onion and garlic and cooked down then mixed all together and added small bag carrotts put every thing in crockpot slow cooked then added cream cheese and 5 cups in blender after done it was amazing thanks for recipe
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Allen! 🙂
G Haney
That’s not even the same recipe…
Sheena
Make it step by step from your recipe and it is amazing!! Thank you!! ❤️
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Sheena! 🙂
Justin blaze
Yes for sure!!! I added a block of white sharp cheddar and this is some killer soup!!!!
Robin
Made this yesterday. My husband and I cannot wait for leftovers this evening!!! I never post comments; this recipe was SO with it!
Happy Holidays!!
Sam
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment, Robin! I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much. 🙂
Jorie
Such a good soup! I’m trying to watch the starches, so I subbed rutabaga for the potatoes and it turned out great.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Jorie! I’ve never tried it with rutabaga, it sounds interesting. 🙂
dayla stapleton
Hello-
I have lots of potatoes to use! Does this soup freeze/reheat well? Thank you!
Sam
Hi Dayla! I’m not sure it freezes very well. I’m worried about it separating when it’s frozen. 🙁
Janai
Hi Dayla – if you cook everything but don’t add the milk, it will freeze pretty well. When you defrost the soup, you can heat it and then add the milk at that time. Hope this helps and Happy Thanksgiving!
Kit
So so good! Thanks for the recipe! Also, you look alot like Blake Lively 😍
Sam
Thank you so much, Kit! I have been told that a few times. 🙂
Christin
I followed the recipe exactly minus the ancho chili powder because I didn’t have any. I substituted regular chili powder and some crushed red pepper flakes. It was delicious!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Christin! 🙂
kevin
I made this last weekend and it turned out great. I was wondering though, can I substitute cream cheese for the sour cream or heavy cream? If so, would it be best to add the cream cheese to the blender to avoid curdling?
Sam
Hi Kevin! It sounds good, but I would probably just substitute it for the sour cream. I would just put it right in the soup. 🙂
Danielle Hughes
I’m going to try this tomorrow; can you just use regular chili powder? Can you use smoked paprika?
Sam
Hi Danielle! Those two spices will work just fine. 🙂
Ileta
I really love this recipe! I adjust so I can cook in my slow cooker. I start up with chopped potato in the crock pot with the 4 cups chicken broth. I then fry the onion in bacon grease and butter as directed. I make my bacon gravy out of that which I add to my slow cooker , then cook on low about 6 hours. I take my handheld blender and blend about half the soup with sour cream as directed in this recipe. Delicious! The whole family loves it!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much! Thank you for the feedback using a slow cooker. 🙂
Tinna Warthan
OMG absolute hands down best potato soup I have ever had. I am talking better than any restaurant either.
I used cayenne instead of ancho chili powder, because I did not have any. I also did corn starch instead of flour so it could be gluten free.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Tinna! 🙂
Desiree
Amazing recipe. My whole family loved it, even my picky boys and baby. I forgot the sour cream by accident but it wasn’t missed. I still hear the bowls clinking.
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it, Desiree! 🙂
Kelly Stoner
I love this soup. I added a little cheddar to the soup while it was simmering. It’s just so gourmet. Thanks!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Kelly! 🙂
Pattie
😋 Picky husband loved it as I did.
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it! 🙂
Carrie
Great Great soup. I added celery but that was it no other add on. Creamy after I used blender. Thanks much.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Carrie! 🙂