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.
Andy
The best potato soup you will ever find.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Andy! 🙂
Krystal
Absolutely amazing!!!! Thank you 🙂
KK
I literally want to take a bath in this soup WOW
Cristy
My husband is NOT a soup guy. I’ve made this recipe twice in the past few months and he ate as much or more than I did. This morning he bought the ingredients for this soup and asked me to make it again because we all love it. I double the recipe and add a few extra potatoes for thickness. It’s so delicious!
Sam
So happy to hear you made a soup convert out of him, Cristy! Thanks for letting me know how they turned out for you! 🙂
Michael Henry
I made the soup vegan, subbing the chicken broth for vegetable broth and used vegan bacon, butter, sour cream, oat milk and vegan half and half. Topped with vegan sour cream, vegan cheddar, and vegan bacon. I also didn’t have the ancho chili powder so I used regular chili powder. It turned out rich and creamy and tastes awesome!
Sam
Thank you so much for letting me know how it turned out and sharing your substitutions, Michael! I appreciate it 🙂
Joan
I made this recipe this past week. My family loved it. All I can say is yum yum. The best loaded potato soup I’ve ever tasted. I will make again and again. Thanks for the recipe.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Joan! 🙂
Robert Lastiwka
I wouldn’t change a thing. Absolutely fabulous soup.
Susie
My husband made this for dinner tonight and it was absolutely delicious!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it, Susie! 🙂
Mette Nelson
First time making this and I forgot to buy the chicken broth. I added water instead and used a little more heavy cream and spices. It was absolutely amazing and I will make it again. My only question is, can I freeze this or eat within a few days?
Sam
Hi Mette! I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much! I don’t recommend freezing it as it has a tendency to separate. You can eat it for a few days though. 🙂
Mara
I made this last night and tried your suggestions for avoiding milk. My MIL is allergic to milk and wheat. Instead of flour I made a mixture of water and cornstarch, and added that in with the heavy whipping cream and gluten free chicken broth. Figured that would help as a thickener.
Anyway it was delicious, definitely a recipe I’ll use again. Thank you!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Mara! Thanks for your feedback using your substitutions. 🙂
Jennifer
On this rainy, chilly day, I find myself craving a hearty bowl of potato soup. I am rather particular about what I consider to be the perfect consistency and flavor of any potato soup! I haven’t found a recipe (until now) that I would absolutely try more than once. Oh my goodness!! This recipe is, hands down, the best potato soup recipe I have ever put into my mouth! I really enjoyed the flavor a 1/4 tsp of chili powder added. Thank you!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Jennifer! 🙂
Sandy
Can I make it the day before and put it in the fridge to warm the next day?
Sam
Yup! Enjoy!
Jennifer
I make a double batch and freeze in quart size bags and take out to heat up whenever i’m in the mood for potato soup, it keeps very well in the fridge or freezer.
Elizabeth
Delicious! So happy I found this recipe and your blog, Sam. I’m obsessed with making soup and am pretty particular about what gets made more than once, but this will be my go- to potato soup recipe from here on. The ingredients are simple pantry items, it comes together easily, your directions are well written and helpful, and the results beyond yummy. Thanks for sharing!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Elizabeth! 🙂
Kelly R
Would redskin potatoes be ok?
Sam
Hi Kelly! That will work fine. 🙂
Connie Murphy
can I put real bacon bits in the soup while it’s cooking?
Sam
Sure if you’d like to. 🙂
Kisha N.
I made this for a friend’s grandmother who is starting radiation and can’t have chunks of food, I puréed the whole pot. It’s so good, the ancho chile powder is truly a game changer, best potato soup I’ve ever made. Thank you!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it! I wish your friend’s grandmother a speedy recovery. 🙂