This hearty Potato Soup recipe is warm and comforting. We love eating baked potato soup loaded with cheese, bacon, and chives.
We often make soup for dinner during the cooler months and enjoy it with salad and bread on the side.
Loaded potato soup is a restaurant favorite, so we made this recipe so that we can enjoy it at home as well! It’s a flexible recipe where you can add a little of this or that and make substitutions depending on what you have on hand.
Here’s Everything You Need To Make Our Potato Soup Recipe
Baked Potato Soup Ingredients
This classic recipe uses simple ingredients that come together to make a comforting dish the whole family will enjoy.
- Bacon: You’ll need eight slices of fried bacon, and remember to reserve the bacon grease.
- Oil: We used a combination of bacon grease and butter. If you don’t have any reserved bacon grease, substitute it with an equal amount of olive oil or vegetable oil.
- Veggies: We added diced onion, carrots, and celery, as well as cubed potatoes.
- Flour: The all-purpose flour helps thicken the soup. You can skip this ingredient if you prefer thinner soup since the potatoes also thicken it.
- Liquids: We used chicken broth and whole milk to thin the soup and provide flavor.
- Seasoning: Kosher salt and coarse ground black pepper are the only added seasonings. You can add hot sauce if you want a little heat in the soup.
- Garnish: Top the soup with shredded cheddar cheese, bacon crumbles, and sliced chives.
How To Make Loaded Potato Soup
- Saute: Start by sauteing the onions, carrots, and celery in butter and bacon grease. Add the flour, salt, and pepper.
- Liquids: Stir in the chicken broth and whole milk until the flour dissolves.
- Cook: Add bacon crumbles and cubed potatoes and bring it to a boil. Cook until the potatoes are tender.
- Toppings: We like to put the toppings in small bowls and let each person add their own toppings to their bowls of soup.
Other Things You Can Add
- Veggie: Reduce the number of potatoes to one pound and add 2 cups of cut-up veggies. You could add corn, peas, broccoli, or cauliflower.
- Cheese: Once the potatoes are tender, add 16 ounces of American cheese and stir until melted.
- Ham: You can add a cup of diced ham to this soup with or without the bacon crumbles.
- Beans: Beans are a great addition! You can find our Potato Bacon Soup with Beans recipe here.
- Toppings: Other popular topping ideas include French fried onions, sour cream, spicy chicken, taco meat, and saltine crackers.
Leftovers
Allow the potato soup to cool, transfer it to airtight containers, and store it in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Reheat it in the microwave or on the stovetop. Although you can freeze it for up to two months, the potatoes may become mushy, so for the best results, we recommend enjoying this soup right away.
Frequently Asked Questions About This Potato Soup Recipe
The cubed potatoes will thicken the soup as they cook, and we added flour to the roux as an additional thickener.
You can add onion powder, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, paprika, parsley, or hot sauce.
To make it in a slow cooker, skip sauteing the veggies and leave the butter, bacon grease, and flour out. Add the remaining soup ingredients to a slow cooker. Cover and cook for 3-4 hours on high or 5-6 hours on low until the potatoes are tender.
Want more soup recipes? Try these next:
- Our homemade Chicken Noodle Soup recipe is a family favorite! It’s full of flavor with tender chicken and veggies.
- Creamy Corn Chowder is a comforting soup that can be made any time of the year!
- Here’s an Italian Sausage Soup recipe with noodles, spinach, and plenty of flavors!
- This easy Chili Recipe was passed down from my mom! It’s simple enough for a quick weeknight meal.
Potato Soup
Ingredients
- 8 slices bacon
- 2 tablespoon bacon grease
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 1/2 cup diced onion
- 1/2 cup diced carrots
- 1/2 cup diced celery
- 4 tablespoon flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 1/2 lbs potatoes diced (about 3 1/2 cups)
- 4 oz cup shredded cheddar cheese about 1/2 cup
- 1 tablespoon sliced chives
Instructions
- Cook and crumble the bacon, reserving two tablespoons of bacon grease.
- Heat the bacon grease and butter in a large pot over medium temperature. Add the diced onions, chopped carrots, and chopped celery. Saute for 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in the flour, salt, and black pepper. Cook while stirring for 2 minutes.
- Pour in the chicken broth and whole milk. Stir until the flour is dissolved.
- Add half of the crumbled bacon (reserve the remaining bacon for garnish) and the diced potatoes. Bring the soup to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 12-15 minutes until the potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally.
- Top with shredded cheddar cheese, reserved crumbled bacon and sliced chives.
Faith says
I’ve made this a few times now. It is SO good! I used canned potatoes, cubed, to save time.