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!
Hello, I was wanting to make this for 12 people. The serving says 6 people. I’m wondering if I could just double the recipe, or if you would recommend to make two separate batches.
Hi Craig! As long as your pot is big enough to hold all of the soup you can certainly double it without issue. 🙂
My daughter needs to be dairy free so could I use almond milk instead of the heavy cream? Thanks.
Hi Cathy! You can use almond milk. Your soup will just be a bit thinner. 🙂
This turned out great. It was my first time making it.
This was my 1st time making Potato Soup. Your recipe is amazing & not a complicated recipe at all! Will definitely be making it again, thank you so much for sharing!
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Corina! 🙂
Is it ok to use a purple onion?
Hi Shelby! That will work fine. 🙂
Had such a good flavor! But then, because of the potatoes not being cooked and the milk already having been added, it burned. My mother said you should never add the milk until the potatoes are done. Did no one else have this soup burn and stick at the bottom?
So glad you enjoyed the flavor! It sounds like the heat must have been up too high and perhaps wasn’t stirred enough. There is no need to wait until the potatoes are done to add the milk 🙂
This was absolutely perfect for these cold winter days. Only difference was I added some diced carrots with the potatoes.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Albert! 🙂
Recommendation for gluten free. I don’t care to use the gluten free flour as it does have a different taste and seems gritty. Do you have are recommendation?
You could try cornstarch instead, but I don’t think you’ll need quite as much. 🙂
arrowroot powder
Hi, I have 10% half and half I need to use up, can that be substituted for the heavy cream, perhaps with a bit more butter?
Hi Dave! You can use the half and half. Your soup won’t be quite as thick but it will work. 🙂
Can I use evap milk?
I haven’t used it myself, but I don’t think it would be a problem. 🙂
This was the BEST potato soup I’ve ever made! Such a great recipe!!
Made this tonight for the first time. It was very good however mine was also darker. I noticed my pan was burning the grease from the bacon and there wasn’t as much grease. Does it matter what kind of bacon you use? I’m not as concerned about the color. Also couldn’t find that chili powder. Will keep looking. My 2 year old loved it!
Hi Jen! I typically use whatever is on sale as long as it isn’t turkey bacon. I’m glad everyone enjoyed it. 🙂
Wondering what I can use instead of Chicken broth. My daughter is vegetarian, so no chicken broth.
Hi Theresa! You can use vegetable broth. 🙂
This recipe was easy to follow and the soup was so good. My son who is such a picky eater loved this. Thanks, Sam!
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Yana! 🙂
Excellent Recipe! Family loved it
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Cathy! 🙂
Excellent, was a huge hit with my family.