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.
Marilyn
Made this potato soup tonight. SO good. I too used half and half instead of cream and it was plenty thick. I left out the pepper. Thanks for sharing such a delicious recipe!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Marilyn! 🙂
Melanie Januszewski
I just made this soup holy moly it is excellent. My family is dunking crusty bread in it. I can’t wait to share this at work. Thanks Melane J.
Sam
I’m so glad to hear that it was such a hit, Melanie! Thank you so much for commenting, I appreciate it 🙂
Ronald L Krueger
I just made this. Absolute heaven.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Sierra
This was delicious! The only 2 things I did different were I used ground chipotle chili pepper instead of ancho and I used half & half for all the milk. I made bread bowls for this soup. It was a huge hit with the whole family. My favorite comfort food. Thank you!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Sierra! 🙂
Michelle
This recipe was so easy to follow and the soup came out perfect. Loved it so much this definitely be a regular dinner option for my family.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Michelle! 🙂
Bessie
Going to try to make this tonight for my family, it’s chilly out and this will be a perfect meal. I’m sure it will be delicious and it seems like a great simple reciepe 🙂
Sam
I hope everyone loves it! 🙂
Katie
How does it come out without the heavy cream? Have everything but that, and we got hit with a big snow storm so cant run to store, but I really want to try this soup.
Sam
Hi Katie! I haven’t tried it myself, but it will probably just be a little bit thinner. 🙂
Patty Darby
Simply delicious. One of the best soups I’ve ever made.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Patty! 🙂
Jules
My go-to soup recipe. I make a batch and a half and feed the neighborhood!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoys it so much! That is so kind of you to share with everyone. 🙂
Terry
The best soup ever.I do blend any in the mixer i used more bacon an i left out chilli powder.I loved the recipe their were no left overs..
Ashley
This is a top notch reciepe. AMAZING! I do add 1/2 a cube of Knorr Vegetable bouillon, really does make a difference.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoy it so much, Ashley! I’ll have to give it a try sometime. 🙂
Price Debi
Awesome!!!!!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Price! I am glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
L. Holly
Loved , loved,loved it, I have made it three times & each time it gets better. Thanks for sharing.
Sugar Spun Run
That is so wonderful to hear! Thank you so much for trying my recipe. I am glad it has become a favorite of yours. 🙂
Shirl
This potato soup is delicious!!! I had never made potato soup and the recipe was easy to follow and simple, making it again today and serving it with grilled ham sandwiches 😋
Sugar Spun Run
So glad that you enjoyed it! 🙂
Lisset
Sooo goood
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it, Lisset! 🙂
Vicky Osborne
Made this tonight but didn’t use chicken broth. Still delicious
Theresa
Thanks so much, made it for dinner, huge hit!
Pat
One word: Delicious! Made some to have for dinner tonight and mom decided she would try a little bit at lunch time. Well you can guess how that went, she ended up with a bowl full and said she is looking forward to dinner. She said it has a flavor she really likes a lot. Must be the Ancho Chili. 😊
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Pat! 🙂