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!
Yum…this will be in our dinner rotation.
Omg!!! We just tried this and it’s the best we have ever made!!! Ty for sharing your recipe with us! This recipe is our go-to soup
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Catherine! 🙂
Best potato soup recipe EVER.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Jill! 🙂
im thirteen and have made this twice so far, its so good!!! i have my mom and my two sisters, they all love it. first time i made it my mom was superrr sick and i substituted the milk with more heavy cream. she drank a lot of broth and eventually was able to eat the potatoes, she liked it a lot!!! it made her feel better 😀
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Annie! I hope your mom gets better soon! 🙂
I first made this for my girlfriend months ago, we fell in love with it and make it quite often. She’s now my fiancé and im making it for her birthday dinner tonight!!! Loveee this recipe. I recommend it 100%%%
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Kavan! 🙂
I have made this twice, first time we just gave it a shot, second time was by request!. Excellent!!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Greg! 🙂
Delicious! I didn’t have any Ancho so I used Chipotle. Definitely going to save this recipe to make it again ♡
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Adrienne! 🙂
Soooo creamy and delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Simone! 🙂
Can I use regular chili powder?
Sure thing! 🙂
I made this 3 weeks ago followed the recipe, it was a big hit in my house, making it again tonight per my families request.
Love it!
Can you freeze it?
Hi Elizabeth! I would be concerned about the soup separating while freezing. 🙁
I freeze mine. It does separate a bit but after a couple minutes in the microwave it comes back together with a good stir.
You can freeze it. To avoid the soup breaking, thaw it gradually in the fridge.
I freeze it and do not experience separating. With creamy soups, it is essential that you do not boil the soup with the sour cream and creams. I fully cook everything and then turn the heat all the way down and add the cream ingredients.
I have 2 teenage picky eaters, and this was a HIT. This is a win and will make again. I didn’t have ancho chili but used chili powder and they loved it!!
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Lindsay! 🙂
Hands down the best potato soup I’ve made! Will use this again and again!
This recipe is amazing! But other than me dividing it into 6 servings and measuring each on to make sure they’re equal….. how big is a serving? How many cups or ounces?
Thank you!!
Hi Matt! A serving is about 1.5 cups. 🙂
Thank you, Sam!!
fun to make easy and simple
I’ve made this once and it was awesome! Family loved it! Can this be doubled? I’d like to make for a crowd.
Thank you.
Hi Christine! As long as your pot can hold all of the soup you can double it. 🙂
Made this for the first time tonight. SOOOOO GOOOOD!!! Hubby and I both enjoyed it very much. I didn’t have ancho chili powder so I used regular (probably would be just as good if I had used a little more of that.) Thank you for sharing. Will definitely be making again; I saved the recipe.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂