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.
Judy
Best soup ever! Sooo creamy! I could not fine ancho powder so used cayenne. In place of the milk and cream I use fat free 1/2 & 1/2. I also added roasted chicken bits and it was great. Thank you! PS what is ancho powder?
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Judy! Ancho chili powder is just a different type of chili powder. It adds an extra little bit of flavor. 🙂
Kay
Can I freeze this soup in jars?
I made it for the first time, INSANELY GOOD
Sam
Hi Kay! This soup isn’t the best for freezing. It tends to separate a little bit.
Kathleen
Love this soup! For the vegans out there, it’s super easy to make with almond milk, veggie broth, etc. Super yummy and I added some cheese into the soup before it was all cooked and it was delicious 🙂
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Kathleen! Thank you for the feedback. 🙂
Ashley
This is my family’s favorite recipe. Everyone always has seconds and practical lick their bowls.
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoys it so much, Ashley! 🙂
Melanie
Wonderful recipe if you tweak it a bit! I used a whole 12 oz. pack of bacon vs the 6 slices. Secondly the 1-1 1/2 teaspoons of salt is not enough. I included onion and garlic powder and salt to taste, and increased the amount of pepper to a tablespoon or more. It was pretty bland prior to the addition and just seemed to be missing something. With those additions it was phenomenal. Made it 3 weeks ago and again 3 nights ago. It’s a good winter hit for my family.
Paula
Did you use all the bacon grease?
Praise
Omg this was so good and its perfect for the chilly weather<33
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Praise! 🙂
Melissa
Absolutely wonderful. Thank you for this lovely recipe. My boyfriend and I enjoyed it thoroughly!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it, Melissa! 🙂
Bryanna
I made this soup for the first time last week and oh my gosh amazing!!! I was hoping to make again tonight but i only have vegetable broth. Would it be ok to substitute this for the chicken broth?
Sam
Hi Bryanna! That should work just fine. The soup won’t be quite as rich though. 🙂
Nelly
Meant to say *Family
Nelly
Made this for the first time! It was a big hit for my da moly and my toddler loved it! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Nelly! 🙂
Jess S.
Holy moly, this was incredibly delicious! I did not adjust the recipe at all. My 9 year old son ate TWO bowls for dinner! I will definitely make this again and again. Thank you for sharing!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Jess! 🙂
Scarlett
Can this be doubled, leaving the grease in? And by the way, this soup is amazing!!
Sam
That should work just fine. 🙂
MaGee
For Florida it’s a little chilly, so decided to make some soup for the fam bam, they loved it even the two little picky eaters.
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it! 🙂
Drew458
I like the intensity of bacon in this recipe. I’ve made Ree Drummond’s potato soup before, and with double the bacon it’s much better. Her recipe uses cajun spice, which would work in your too, replacing or alongside the ancho powder. Get the good cajun spice – the McCormick glass jar with the green cap, and no salt in the mix.
Thanks also weighing your taters. The best recipes give weights for the ingredients.
Any particular kind of bacon for this one? We’ve switched over to the uncured kind which is much less salty. Also, you could try it with panchetta ($$$). Or go crazy and use Nueske’s ($$$$$). Or plain old smoked fatback.
When I make this kind of soup, I use my immersion blender and just stab it down on the right side of the pot. That way half the mix gets pureed, and I don’t have to ladle anything back and forth.
Sam
I’m glad you enjoyed it! I don’t have a particular kind of bacon I use, typically whatever is on sale at the store. 🙂
Rachel
Hi Sam,
Can you use any type of potato in this recipe?
Sam
Hi Rachel! While I prefer gold potatoes here several people have reported using other potatoes with success. 🙂
Kirk Fuoss
Loved it. Used bacon renderings in the base but diced up a ham steak to add at the end. Loved the addition of the ancho chili powder. Will definitely be adding this to our winter rotation.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Kirk! 🙂