Loaded baked potatoes are amazing, but you can’t cozy up and warm your hands on it like you can with a big bowl of soup! So let’s turn that baked potato and all of its delicious toppings into a thick and creamy, warm and cozy, delicious and filling bowl of Potato Soup to get us through the last couple of months of winter. This potato soup recipe has all the usual fixins like bacon, sour cream, cheddar cheese, and green onion all piled into a thick and velvety potato soup base. Soooo cozy!
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Potato Soup is an absolute must-make for cooler weather. It’s a recipe that anyone can make, and should be in your arsenal when craving a super easy comfort food recipe. This is a recipe I find myself making time and time again, and it’s always as good as the first time I tasted it. Readers agree, giving it a 5 star rating!
Ingredients
The ingredients for potato soup are very similar to a loaded baked potato or mashed potatoes, but the ingredients are mixed until they form a rich and creamy soup. Here’s what you’ll need to make this decadent potato soup:
- Bacon: Bacon gives the potato soup a deliciously smoky flavor, a rich mouthfeel, and a little bit of extra salt to help the other flavors pop.
- Onion & Garlic: Every great soup starts with onion and garlic for a deep savory base.
- Butter & Flour: Butter and flour combine to create a “roux” which thickens the soup and gives it that rich, silky texture.
- Chicken Broth & Milk: A combination of milk and broth ensures that the soup is creamy AND full of deep flavor.
- Potatoes: The star of the show, potatoes give the soup body while keeping the price low.
- Seasoning: We use a simple mix of smoked paprika, cayenne, salt, and pepper to season the soup.
- Sour Cream: To add even MORE rich creaminess to the soup, we add sour cream which also helps thicken the soup just a little bit more.
- Cheddar Cheese: Cheese gives the soup just a little bit more of a flavor punch.
- Green Onions: A much-needed pop of fresh flavor adds an incredible top note to every bowl.
What Kind of Potatoes Are Best for Soup?
I chose to use russet potatoes for this potato soup recipe for a few reasons. They mash easily and are a bit starchier than other potato varieties, which helps make a nice thick soup. Yukon Gold, which are slightly starchy and slightly waxy and hold their shape better, so they are a good option if you like your soup to be more on the chunky-soupy side rather than thick and velvety.
Looking for a Sweet Potato Soup? Check out my Creamy Sweet Potato Soup.
Optional add-ins
I love recipes that allow for fun add-ins or toppings, and this loaded potato soup recipe is definitely one of them! Here are a few other ingredients that you can add, if you have them on hand:
- Hot sauce
- Ranch seasoning
- Sweet corn
- Italian sausage
- Cauliflower (see my Cheesy Cauliflower and Potato Soup)
- Garlic herb seasoning
- Everything But the Bagel seasoning
- A drizzle of BBQ sauce over each bowl
- Sometimes I also love to serve with tortilla chips
Loaded Potato Soup Recipe
Servings 6 1.5 cups eachIngredients
- 4 oz. bacon ($1.37)
- 1 yellow onion, diced ($0.32)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced ($0.32)
- 3 Tbsp butter ($0.33)
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour ($0.03)
- 2 cups chicken broth ($0.26)
- 2 cups whole milk ($0.40)
- 2 lbs. russet potatoes, peeled & diced ($1.20)
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper ($0.02)
- 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste) ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp freshly cracked black pepper ($0.02)
- 1/2 cup sour cream ($0.37)
- 4 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded ($1.15)
- 3 green onions, sliced ($0.30)
Instructions
- Add the bacon to a large soup pot and cook over medium heat until brown and crispy. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon to a clean bowl or plate, leaving the bacon grease in the pot.
- While the bacon is cooking, dice the onion and mince the garlic. Add the onion and garlic to the pot after the bacon has been removed and cook over medium heat in the bacon grease until the onions are soft and translucent.
- Add the butter and flour to the pot and continue to stir and cook over medium heat for about two minutes to form a roux.
- Add the chicken broth and milk to the pot and whisk to dissolve all of the flour and butter.
- Add the diced potatoes to the pot, cover, and turn the heat up to medium-high to bring the broth up to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to medium-low and let the potatoes simmer for 15 minutes, or until they are very tender (easily pierced with a fork).
- Use a potato masher or immersion blender to mash the potatoes until the soup is to your desired thickness.
- Season the soup with smoked paprika, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Once seasoned, stir in the sour cream.
- Serve the soup hot and top each bowl with the crumbled bacon, sliced green onions, and cheddar cheese.
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Equipment
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How to Make – Step by step
This potato soup recipe starts with BACON! Cook ¼ lb. of bacon in a soup pot over medium heat until brown and crispy. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to a clean bowl or plate and leave the bacon grease in the pot.
While the bacon is cooking, dice one yellow onion and mince four cloves of garlic. Add them to the pot after removing the bacon and continue to sauté over medium heat in the bacon grease until the onions are soft and translucent.
Next, add 3 Tbsp butter and 3 Tbsp flour to the onions and garlic. Continue to cook and stir over medium heat for about two minutes. The butter and flour will form a roux that helps thicken the soup.
While the onions are sautéing, peel and dice 2 lbs. russet potatoes into ½-inch cubes. The smaller the cubes, the faster they’ll cook.
Add 2 cups chicken broth and 2 cups whole milk to the pot. Whisk to dissolve all the flour and butter, then add the diced potatoes.
Simmer the potatoes in the soup for about 15 minutes, or until they are VERY soft. The total time needed will depend on the size of your potato cubes, but you need to let them simmer until they’re easily pierced with a fork so that they’ll be easily mashable.
Use a potato masher or immersion blender to partially mash the potatoes or until the soup is to your desired thickness (some like it chunky, some like it smooth!).
Then it’s time to add some more seasoning. I added ½ tsp smoked paprika, ¼ tsp cayenne pepper, ½ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp freshly cracked pepper.
And lastly, to make the soup extra creamy and extra baked-potato-like, stir in ½ cup sour cream.
Slice three green onions and shred about 4oz. of cheddar cheese. Add the green onion, cheese, and crispy bacon to each bowl (or to the pot if you want to make a nice presentation for the dinner table).
Delish!
Bacon in my neighborhood in New York City is now $14.00 a pound!!!
even after having it for three days in a row, we were disappointed when it was all gone
Has anyone ever used cream cheese instead of sour cream?
Yes and it’s delicious! I have made it a few times already and use 2 tbsp to 4 tbsp of cream cheese.
Hello Beth. Thank for a perfect potato soup. Comforting and I had all the ingredients!! I followed your recipe and the second day I added some chopped, cooked broccoli that needed to be used. Still very wintery where I’m at so excellent supper choice.
This was so delicious! I had it with some baguette slices and it was amazing. I mixed in the bacon, cheese, and scallions instead of serving it with them on top and I thought it was delicious and decadent.
**With a gluten-free adjustment!** I was expecting generic baked potato flavor, in liquid form, and boy was I wrong. Such a satisfying dish!
A few adjustments I made: I cooked the bacon whole and crumbled later, used 3 T. gluten-free flour blend (BRM) instead of the 1/4 cup all-purpose (I find a 1-to-1 swap for a roux is a bad idea due to the xanthan gum, which turns it all into a paste), and I cut the cayenne in half for a bit more of a “comfort” soup, but I’m sure I’d have liked it with more kick too.
Amazing. I went running back for seconds.
This was delicious. I followed the recipe exactly and it came out great.
Hi Beth!
Is there a type of gluten free flour you would recommend for this? I’ve often found that any type of GF flour with rice in it never works out well in soups. Possibly almond flour? Thanks!
Hi! Unfortunately, I have zero experience using gluten-free flours, so I’m not sure what type would work for this recipe. :(
Your best bet would be to thicken with a cornstarch or arrowroot starch slurry at the end rather than to start with the roux.
I LOVE this recipe, so easy and delicious. I find it harder to reheat with the sour cream in it, so I just plop a dollop of sour cream in the middle of a hot bowl of soup, with the toppings, it looks fancy
This is going on the menu soon! Honestly I might just skip the roux and use more potato. The husband ran out to get potatoes last night. I needed 2lbs, it would’ve been fine and great if he chose a 5lb bag. He came home with a 10lb bag!
I have a 5lb bag of russets I got free at the grocery store last week, and was just baffled as to what to do with them, other than mashed potatoes. You have SAVED ME! This will be great in my Souper Cubes for a week’s worth of lunches!
One of the easiest and cheapest soup recipes known. Also fast. Beth, your version is particularly tasty. We ate delicious creamy potato soup at least once a week during the lockdown months of spring 2020 when my supermarket shelves were nearly empty during my twice monthly visits except for produce and dairy–8 lb bags of smaller and imperfect russets were only $2.79. My version is very similar except I don’t thicken with flour–just more potato, and if the finished soup is a little thin, instant potato flakes. And hooray for Better Than Bouillon–for which discovery I totally credit you! I also like to use a larger proportion of diced onion, possibly 6-8 oz onion to 1 lb potato. Like you, I prefer adding milk and not cream, and always save the bacon fat to saute the onion and garlic–with no butter in a roux, the fat calories are less an issue. Like you, I use a hand masher to get a more textured soup. It’s also a way to use up leftover baked, roasted, or mashed potatoes. Baffles me why anyone would ever order this simple and delicious favorite at a restaurant.
Trying this tonight- can’t wait!! Love all your recipes so much, they have always come out perfect!
Even better when you bake or roast the potatoes first!
Looks great! You have a small typo that could confuse some like it did me… “washable” instead of “mashable.” :)
Ha! Thank you for catching that! 😅