ByYvonne Pratt
Honestly, this is THE best Loaded Potato Soup. We ate it the other night for dinner, and loved it! It is a soup that eats like a meal! All we added was a side salad and voila… dinner! Ready for a delicious, easy soup?
Today let’s talk about budget recipes. I’m teaming up with some of my blogging friends to celebrate BUDGET RECIPE!
WHY THIS IS BLOG WORTHY SOUP
You don’t need to spend a lot to have delicious meals and yummy things to eat.
Soup, even elevated soup, like this one is what I like to call Phesant Food. My great grandmother probably made lots of soup out of what was left in her pantry and root cellar to feed her 13 children.
Not only is soup economical it is delicious! I always say that the flavor of a soup lies in its broth. And that is so true. Loaded Potato Soup has tons of thick beautiful creamy broth!
This soup is healthy-ish, well sorta-ish, and I love it because it is not rocket science! You can add a little more or less of this or that or substitute ingredients too!
And one of the things I love about this soup is it can all be made in one pot. Don’t you love one-pot meals? Easy peasy cleanup!
TIPS FOR PERFECT POTATO SOUP
Here are a few tips to help you make a delicious potato soup…
- use russet potatoes- they are dryer and have a higher starch content which will make this soup thick
- add the carrot for depth of flavor and a little color
- you can add ingredients like celery or even hard chopped boiled eggs to your soup
- I like extra sharp white cheese for this soup but you can use a mix of cheese
- you can add a bit of cream or half and half to the soup to make it extra decadent but honestly, it really doesn’t need it.
- potato soup needs a good amount of salt so layer the salt as you cook
- as this soup sits a day or two it gets even better and thicker
- add additional milk when the soup thickens to give it a consistency you like
- the potatoes in this soup can be left in cubes or mashed a little or emulsified completely smooth
- an old fashioned potato masher works the best for mashing the potatoes because it does not pulverize them but breaks the cubes down (see one HERE)
- if you like a smooth potato soup use an immersion blender (you can see mine HERE)
- I can’t tell you how well it freezes because we ate it for dinner and a couple lunches. However, just from looking over the ingredients, I think it will be fine.
I think using a potato masher makes the soup consistency perfect!
TOPPING OPTIONS
One of the best things you can do when you serve soup is to add a few yummy things to the top of it.
If you add things that are in the soup on top of it, you are giving everyone who eats it a little preview of what to expect. YUM!
And because we eat with our eye it’s also important to add color to soup!
Potato soup is rather “blond”. This soup looks thick and creamy. So it’s important to add a bit of color to the top of it!
Here are some great tasting and looking things to add to the potato soup just before you serve it…
- chopped crispy bacon
- finely chopped herbs like parsley or chives
- grated cheese
- sour cream
- green onion sliced on the diagonal
- croutons
- finely diced hard boiled eggs
- chopped red onion
- Greek yogurt
- oyster crackers
- truffle oil
LET’S GET COOKING
5 from 2 votes
THE BEST LOADED POTATO SOUP
A scrumptious, health-ish, one pot soup that eats like a meal.
Print Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 slices bacon, diced
- 3 TBS bacon fat or olive oil
- 2 medium onions, diced
- 1 large carrot, cleaned and grated on the largest holes of a box grater
- 3 cloves fresh garlic, finely chopped or mashed
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 2 cups warmed whole milk
- 6 cups russet potatoes, diced
- 1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated use block cheese and grate it
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1-2 TBS sea salt
- 1 1/2 tsp black pepper, ground
Instructions
Cook bacon in a large dutch oven on medium heat until crisp. Remove to a paper towel lined plate.
Cook the onions and the grated carrots in the bacon fat on medium-low heat until translucent. Stirring occassionaly. Add 1 tsp salt to the mixture.
Add crushed garlic and stir for 1-2 minutes.
Add the flour and cook it for a couple minutes to get rid of the raw taste. Stir often so it does not stick to the pot.
Stir in chicken stock and milk. Stir to combine the flour.
Add the potatoes and cook on low until the potatoes are very tender. Add 1 tsp salt to the soup.
Turn off the heat and mash the potatoes until it has a consistancy you like.
Stir in the cheese and sour cream until they melt into the soup
Add the bacon bits and stir to combine and add 1 tsp salt to the soup.
Add more salt if needed and the pepper. Stir to combine.
Adjust the thickness of the soup by adding more milk or stock if it is too thick.
Sprinkle topping on the soup and serve hot.
Notes
This is an excellent soup to personalize and add your favorite ingredients.
If you like an Amish style potato soup add 2 stalks of chopped celery to the dutch oven when cooking the onions and carrots and add 2 diced hard boiled eggs when the bacon is added at the end of the recipe.
Add milk or stock to get the consistency you like best.
Add more or less cheese and/or bacon to your liking.
Course: Soup
I hope you will try this truly delicious soup. And keep the ingredients on hand when you don’t know what to make for dinner!
You might like these other delicious soup recipes…
ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP
HEARTY CHICKEN TACO SOUP
PERFECT CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP
SCRUMPTIOUS PORK AND CABBAGE SOUP
Now, please visit my blogging friends and their budget friendly recipes…
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