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!
did vegetarian broth and white cheddar with white pepper …cam out awesome everyone loved it!
I used substituted:
– 2 cups of chicken broth and 4 cups of unsweetened oat milk (no cream or sour cream)
– gluten-free flour
– red onion (instead of yellow, no garlic)
WOW…delicious! Will try your corn chowder next! Thanks! 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Danielle! 🙂
DEELISH! This is a great, easy to follow recipe! (I omitted the chili.) I was able to use lactose-free milk and lactose-free cream so that everyone in my family could enjoy it. I used a combination of regular bacon and two thick slices of double smoked bacon and it was perfect! A big hit in our family. This recipe is a keeper – thank you!
I’m so glad to hear this, Hazel! Thank you so much for trying my recipe and for letting me know how it turned out for you, I appreciate it! 🙂
I forgot to buy chicken stock
Great soup great comfort food
This recipe is a family favorite. We substituted either left over spiral ham with brown sugar / honey glaze or a thick slice of deli honey or maple ham for the bacon.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Kriss! I love the sound of a nice piece of ham in there. 🙂
This soup was delicious even without sour cream or heavy cream. Used regular chili powder. Topped with green onions and shredded cheddar. Perfect potato soup!
Recipe was easy to follow and had helpful notes! Soup had great consistency, but lacked flavor; def needs salt, pepper, and a little more chili powder! Otherwise, fantastic!
As a person who doesn’t necessarily “enjoy” cooking & doesn’t cook regularly, I found this recipe relatively easy to follow and make. It was delicious and I added left over ham and corn. We topped our bowls with cheese, crumbled bacon, and chives. Extra sour cream on top wasn’t necessary. It was creamy enough. I tend to try and not over salt/pepper anything I make, that way individuals can season to their liking. I’ll definitely make this again.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Kim! 🙂
I have been using your potato soup recipe for about 2 years now and it is THE BEST! I change it up once in awhile with ham or lots of extra cheese and it always turns out great. My 75 yr old dad says it’s the best potato soup he’s ever had! 5+ stars!!
I’m so glad everyone enjoys it so much, Michelle! 🙂
Omg my tastebuds are on fire I love this
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Maria! 🙂
I’ve been making your potato soup for the last year & it’s always a hit! I’m making it again right now! I follow the recipe exactly & serve with a bread. Thanks for sharing this!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Brittany! 🙂
This was delicious! I used 18% cream instead of the milk. Always extra garlic and extra cheese! And I used maple bacon! Thank you for this recipe!! So yummy!
Just made this soup, incredible.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Carla! 🙂
Fantastic recipe! My high school girls ask for it a lot! Is it possible to freeze a batch?
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Kendra! I haven’t tried freezing it but I would be worried about some separation occurring during freezing.
This is the best potato soup recipe!! My son even said it was the best soup I ever made. I didn’t have ancho chili powder, so I used smoked paprika instead, but just a little, not as much as the recipe called for with the chili powder. I topped it with chopped green onions and a little shredded cheese.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Liz! I lovveee smoked paprika. 🙂
This soup was delicious. I added some left over turkey and cajun seasoning. So yummy!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Sarah! 🙂
I used shredded hash browns and did not need to purée. I also substituted chili powder & red pepper for the ancho chili powder. We absolutely love this soup and will save it as a favorite!!
I’m so glad everyone enjoys it so much, Lori! 🙂
Wow I made it today. I love it. It’s delicious and creamy. I have enjoyed it.
Thanks for the recipe
This is one of my all-time favorite recipes! I’ve made this probably 30 times now and I’ve always followed it to the letter (minus the ancho). But last time I made it, I decided to halve the bacon and cut up some ham and toss it in, and WOW. Even better!!! My hubs always complains that this soup isn’t filling enough (I don’t get it personally), but once the ham was in there, he was super satisfied, so that’s a plus.
That is so awesome! I’m so glad everyone enjoys it so much! 🙂
So great to know. I made this before and it was fantastic but now I have leftover ham from yesterday and was wondering how it would be in here.
Hi Kelly! I haven’t tried it myself but I know others have added ham and loved it. 🙂