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.
Julie
This is sooo good! Everyone loved it!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Julie! 🙂
Sunny
This potato soup was delicious! I used chipotle chili powder and it was very good. I just took a potato masher and mashed the potatoes!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Sunny! 🙂
Sara
So rich and cream. So delicious on this cold night!!!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Sara! 🙂
Angela
Rainy day, what a delicious addition to make my day great. Thanks for sharing.
BTW – used my potato masher to break up some of the potatoes still in thre pot instead of blender. It worked effectively without issue.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Angela! 🙂
Angela
Ever made this in a crockpot? Going to make this on the stove tonight but wanted to ask as well. 🙂 thank you!
Sam
Hi Angela! I have not made it in a crock pot myself but I believe other commenters have if you want to search through the comments (the search function on your browser should find it quickly) I believe a few of them tell you how they have done it. 🙂
Angela Reyes
Made this tonight per the instructions you gave and it was a H-I-T!! Definitely saving this recipe!! Thank you for sharing dear! Happy Holidays 🎄
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoeyd it so much! 🙂
Kara
This is a great recipe! I didn’t have the ancho chili powder so I just used some regular chili powder. I also used mixed baby potatoes unpeeled. I ended up mixing some cheese into the soup at the end instead of adding to individual bowls. Definitely a recipe I’ll be making again!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Kara! 🙂
Tyler
What if you don’t eat bacon? Is there a substitute or do you just leave it out?
Sam
Hi Tyler! Just start with 2 extra tablespoons of butter. 🙂
Randy
My wife and I have made 3 double batches of this potato soup to take to sick family and friends, everyone loved it
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Randy! 🙂
Jackie Young
This was a super-duper excellent potato soup! I added finely chopped celery with the onion step and added a couple carrots with the potatoes.
Of course, I always use coarsely chopped onion and garlic when I brown my bacon for any soup and used home made stock.
I garnished it with fresh baked croutons and cheddar.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Jackie! 🙂
SAMMI
Sam, this soup is wonderful! Have you ever frozen it?
Sam
I have tried it and it separated so I don’t recommend it.
Angelique Williams
This is a Keeper– OUTSTANDING!! Followed recipe exactly, and used the Ancho Chili powder which I have used for other recipes and it truly does give it depth. I also used the immersion blender and it was PERFECT. thanks for sharing this. It replaced my old stand by potato soup recipe!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Angelique! 🙂
lissy
I work in EMS, and I made this for my coworkers today after running calls all day. Huge hit among everyone! I added a touch more bacon because bacon is amazing and mixed a bunch of cheese into the soup before the final simmer. 10/10, will be making again!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Traci
I am WOW-ed! My family is WOW’ed! This soup is SOOO good! I actually used baby potatoes but did not peel them. I did not have ancho chili powder either, so I used Harissa paste. Otherwise I followed the recipe as-is. Thank you for helping me look like I know what I’m doing! 🙂
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Traci! 🙂
Sharon
This is the 2nd time I’ve made this delicious soup!! I will never use another recipe!!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Sharon! 🙂
Melissa
Can you use any type of potato?
Sam
Hi Melissa! I prefer gold potatoes but several people have reported using many different varieties. 🙂
Tricia
It was DELICIOUS!!!! So rich, creamy and flavorful!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Tricia! 🙂