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!
Hey Sam I was just wonderig what i could sub for the heavy cream?
Hi Jen! You could use milk, but I would start with less as it’s going to be a little bit thinner and add more as needed. 🙂
Believe the hype! This IS The Ultimate Creamy Potato Soup recipe. Super easy. Don’t have an immersion blender and don’t feel like putting half in a regular blender? Use the lowest setting on your regular handheld mixer for 15-20 seconds. (Watch out for steam & hot soup splatter.) Also, regular chili powder makes a tasty substitution for the ancho. Yum.
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Cardyn! 🙂
My family loves potato soup and we have tried many recipes. This one is defiantly a keeper! We have made this twice now and doubled it both times so that my husband and I could both take some for lunch during the week.
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Liz! 🙂
I agree with others that this is the best potato soup I’ve ever had. Thank you!!
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Kristi! 🙂
I added about a cup of celery, a teaspoon of thyme, and some worchestershire and Tabasco, which I add to pretty much all of my cream based soups.
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Steve! 🙂
Could I make it early in the day and keep warm in crock pot?
Hi Julie! That should work just fine! Enjoy! 🙂
loved this soup!
It was so delicious! I timed it perfectly! It has been snowing since last night!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Jenetta! 🙂
Hi I was looking at this recipe and it looks so yummy but can I substitute the ancho chili powder with something else?
Hi Elizabeth! If you have regular chili powder that will work here. 🙂
About to make this for the first time. Sounds good. Will can milk be the same as heavy cream? I do have heavy whipping cream, would that be ok to use as well? All other questions were answered thru the other comments. Thanks
Hi Jay! Use the heavy whipping cream for the heavy cream. Enjoy! 🙂
Looks delicious!
Will this freeze well?
I would like to bring it as a freezer meal to a new momma.
Hi Kara! Unfortunately this soup has a tendency to separate when frozen so it’s not the best option. 🙁
Made this soup last week (BEST POTATO SOUP EVER!) Froze the leftovers and had them for dinner last night. It did separate a little, but was fine after I stirred it up while reheating it on the stove. Still super delicious! Making it AGAIN this weekend 😃
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Delicious! My young men loved it, very rich and creamy!! Best potato soup I have ever made
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Angela! 🙂
If I don’t have half and half can I use something else?
Hi Julie! There is no need for half and half in this soup. 🙂
How many people will this serve? I need to fix supper for 6.
Hi Neisha! It should make about 6 servings, however, that depends on how big your bowls are or how much each person takes. You may want to increase the recipe just to be safe. 🙂
Thank you. First time for me making potato soup it is a home run for sure 👍 Ps I did add a couple of things lol to my taste.
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Toby! 🙂