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!
O man this was delicious. Added diced mushrooms/ paprika/ Italian herbs and 4 different cheeses. Used low sodium bacon. Made my own cream with 3/4 cold milk and 1/4 stick unsalted butter. Made the recipe as prescribed. Just going to blend out fully for my wife who has dysphasia.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂
I followed your recipe exactly except I am allergic to chili peppers, so I used 2 tsp of Cavender’s Greek seasoning instead of the ancho chili powder. This was absolutely delicious! This will be my potato soup recipe from now on.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Kelly! 🙂
If I can’t get ancho chili powder, what do you recommend?
Hi Laura! Just regular chili powder will work. Enjoy!
I made this and added sharp cheddar cheese and a block of sour cream. So good!
I’m so glad you enjoyed, Kimberly! Thank you for trying my recipe! 🙂
Hello. Curious if I could use russet potatoes instead of Yukon? Any thoughts – otherwise recipe looks great to try. Thank you
Hi Lisa! Russet potatoes would be totally fine, this is how my mom usually makes it. Enjoy! 🙂
Awesome Soup my family Love it!
I just made this. Excellent!!
I don’t have and neither do my grocery stores due to the storm. What can i substitute the heavy cream with? Would milk work and how so?
Hi Taylor! Milk will work your soup will just be a bit thinner. I would probably use a little bit less as well.
Made this recently, had to force myself to slow down when eating it. Soo good!! Followed the recipe but did add a little more garlic and sour cream. One thing I can highly recommend is we used a bacon that we got from Safeway called hempler’s uncured Black Forest bacon. Very distinct and complimented it perfectly. Thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Brian! 🙂
Hello on the creamy Potato soup it indicates 480 is this each serving of so how much.
Thank you
Hi Maria! A serving here is about 1.5 cups. 🙂
I’m obsessed with this soup! It’s so creamy and rich and full of so much flavor. Comfort food at its finest.
I’m so glad you enjoy it so much, Bonnie! 🙂
Would you recommend using cream cheese instead of sour cream if I don’t have sour cream?
Hi Whitney! A few other people have commented that they have done this with success!
Thank you for sharing this recipe. I mad it last night. I added a package of small ham chunks. It is the best potato soup I’ve ever had. AMAZING!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Brian! 🙂
Made this today for lunch and dinner. So good. I had 2 percent milk Lactaid because I forgot it was suppose to be whole milk. I used more Strauss heavy cream to make up for the lack of heaviness to the milk I had. I added more salt and pepper to taste and more ancho. Came out sooo good but you already know that 🙂 thanks for the recipe will make it for super bowl next year I think.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂
So easy and good
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Pam! 🙂
Hi! Can I do this in the slow cooker? 🙂
It can be a little difficult to do in the slow cooker due to the various steps that are required but I know others have done it with success. 🙂
Awesome recipe!! Added a bit more bacon. Will definitely make again!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Trish! My husband always wants me to add more bacon. 🙂
Thank you for sharing this recipe. My fiancé is obsessed with potato soup and he loved it. It was simple to make and made a good size portion.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Melissa! 🙂