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!
Yallllll, slap your mama good soup, right here! What’s not to love?? My husband doesn’t like hot liquid so he “doesn’t like soup,” or so he used to say.
Can you do this recipe in the crockpot?
With all of the different steps and adding things at different times I’m not sure how to advise on how to do it in a crockpot.
I doubled the recipe and once all together, transferred it to a slow cooker for the flavors to marry. Absolutely perfect. Best potato soup I’ve ever had.
Made this tonight! As a pregnant woman who has had a hard time finding things that don’t make me want to hurl, this was AMAZING! I felt life being poured back into me, a bit dramatic, but seriously, MAKE THIS. Thank you so much for this amazing recipe, we will be making this on the regular for the rest of eternity. I added a few veggies just because we had them in the fridge which made me feel better about the amount of cheese and bacon I added on top.
Delicious!!! Everyone in my house loved it.
Most excellent potato soup. I really did not believe all the 5 star reviews until I made it. 5 plus stars for this excellent soup. You have to try it to believe it.
This is AMAZING. My 12 yo son and I made this just now and wow! oh, so good.
thank you. This is a keeper. All 6 of us love it.
Can this soup be frozen, to eat another time?
Hi Jason! I don’t recommend freezing it as it could potentially separate.
It is simmering now smells and tastes amazing. Can’t wait for family to get home for dinner.
We hope everyone loves it, Jacob! Enjoy ❤️
Turned out amazing! I just used my potato masher in the pot so I wouldn’t have to clean my blender. Topped it with bacon and sharp cheddar cheese.
My soup is simmering now and we can’t wait!! It smells so good!
We hope you love it, Icey! ❤️
Awesome! First time making a potato soup, and it was super easy and tastes great!
I will say a note, if you don’t have golden potatoes par boil them first otherwise it takes far longer to cook the suckers, also a generous dash of worchestershire sauce in place of chili powder ( I can’t have it) doesn’t go amiss at all.. Otherwise 10 thumbs up my super picky daughter loves it.
We’re happy you were able to make the soup to your liking, Andi! It’s one of our favorites, and yes, even picky eaters like it! Enjoy ❤️
Just chowed it down in Clovis, NM. Unbelievably delish!!
Hi Suzie! We’re so happy you liked the soup so much. Thank you for your five star rating ❤️
Best potato soup I have ever had.
We’re so happy you loved it, Terri! Thanks so much for your five star review ❤️
What’s the serving size?
Hi Tiffany! A serving is about 1.5 cups. Enjoy!
I decided since it was so cold today I was going to make this soup. It is delicious. Thank you so much
We’re so happy you liked it so much, Kris! It’s the perfect soup for colder weather 🙂 Enjoy and stay warm!
Why do you add flour at that point in the recipe?
Hi Madisen! We create a roux with the flour to thicken the soup. Hope that helps! 🙂
I’m vegetarian so I made it with veggie stock and no bacon. It’s very good even without the meat! Nice and creamy and perfect for fall nights
Wonderful! We’re so happy you were able to enjoy it, Hannah 🙂
I haven’t tried it yet but I will very soon ,,, I like all the ingredients and .I’m sure it will be great, the reviews prove it !