Did you ever come back from a walk on a snowy winter day and all you wanted was a piping hot soup? Say no more! This creamy potato soup is all you need to warm you up. It’s loaded with crispy bacon and cheddar cheese, you’ll have this on the table in 40 minutes and use just one pot (and your blender).
I just love my smooth, velvety soups all year long. I gravitate more towards this recipe in winter, because it’s hearty, filling and extremely comforting. You should try this Mushroom Cream Soup or Creamy Cauliflower Soup as well.
Ingredients in Potato Soup
Homemade loaded potato soup is easy to make from scratch and uses simple ingredients that you most likely have on hand.
- Bacon: It’s both crispy and salty.
- Potatoes: The star of the recipe.
- Heavy Cream: For that extra creaminess. You could totally skip it because the main base is a roux which gives incredible thickness and consistency.
- Flour, Butter, Stock, Milk: These form a roux, which is the base of the soup.
- Vegetables: Onions and garlic are the best veggies to build amazing flavor. If you want, you can add diced celery and carrots for extra crunch.
- Chili powder: To add that much needed heat.
- Cheddar Cheese: Because it absolutely needs some.
Of course, you could substitute some of the toppings with what you like. For example, you could use mozzarella instead of cheddar and green onions instead of chives. I can’t recommend enough adding hot smoked paprika on top. It gives this creamy potato soup an incredible depth of flavor. The smoke gives everything a cozy and comforting, like you’d be by the fireplace experience.
How to Make Loaded Potato Soup:
This creamy soup is incredibly easy to make and you can enjoy it in 40 minutes or less.
- Cook bacon until crispy and set aside.
- Add onions and butter and saute until soft. Add garlic, cooking until fragrant.
- Whisk in flour, milk, stock and heavy cream until smooth.
- Add diced potatoes, season with salt, black pepper and chili powder and bring to a simmer.
- When the potatoes are done, blend ⅔ of the soup.
- Stir in bacon, bring back to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.
- To serve, top with cheddar cheese, chives, sour cream and bacon.
Try to cut your potatoes into pieces around the same size, so they can cook at the same time. If you want, you could puree the entire soup (without the bacon), but I really like the texture of the chunks of potatoes left out.
To sum it all up, this loaded potato soup is the definition of comfort food and it’s perfect for a weeknight meal.
Easy Loaded Potato Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 strips bacon
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 medium yellow onion diced
- 1 small red onion diced
- 40 g flour all-purpose
- 1 kg potatoes peeled and diced into 2.5 cm pieces
- 1 l chicken or vegetable stock
- 500 ml milk
- 150 ml heavy cream
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper freshly ground
- ½ tsp chili powder
- cheddar cheese for serving, shredded
- chives for serving
- hot smoked paprika for serving
- sour cream for serving
Instructions
- Cook bacon until crisp in a large pot over medium heat. Set aside.
- Add butter and diced onion, cooking for 5-7 minutes or until soft and translucent. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Sprinkle flour and whisk until smooth, about 1 minute.
- Add diced potatoes, milk, chicken or vegetable stock, heavy cream, salt, freshly ground black pepper and chili powder. Stir to combine.
- Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are tender and can be pierced with a fork, about 10-15 minutes. Dice cooked bacon into bite-size pieces.
- Turn off the heat and take ⅔ of the soup to a blender and puree until smooth. Return the pureed soup to the pot and add cooked bacon (reserve some bacon for serving).
- Turn on the heat and bring to a simmer. Let it cook for 15 minutes more.
- When serving, top with shredded cheddar cheese, chopped chives, sour cream, bacon and a pinch of hot smoked paprika.
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