Ultimate Loaded Baked Potato Soup Recipe (With Video!)

There’s a good reason why potato soup has always been a family favorite. It’s the ultimate comfort food, especially during the cold winter months. With simple ingredients and a touch of love, this creamy potato soup will surely earn rave reviews at the dinner table. Let’s dive into some common questions and tips for making the best potato soup!

Why Use Sour Cream and Green Onions?

Sour cream adds a rich, tangy flavor that complements the creamy base of the soup. Green onions not only give a burst of color but also a slight crunch and fresh taste. They’re one of our favorite toppings and elevate the soup’s flavor profile.

Chicken Broth or Vegetable Broth?

While chicken broth is the classic choice for a creamy loaded baked potato soup, vegetable broth is a fantastic vegetarian alternative. Both options provide a robust soup base that enhances the overall taste.

Choosing Your Potatoes: Russet vs. Yukon Golds vs. Red Potatoes

A lot of recipes vary in their potato preference. Russet potatoes are starchy and break down well, perfect for a creamy texture. Yukon gold potatoes are buttery, and red potatoes hold their shape after cooking. Depending on whether you want your soup smooth or with chunks of potatoes, choose accordingly.

Cream Choices: Heavy Cream, Whole Milk, or Cream Cheese?

Heavy cream provides a rich creamy base, while whole milk lightens the soup a little bit. For a cheesy potato soup, incorporating cream cheese is a popular recipe choice.

Tools to Perfect Your Soup’s Texture: Potato Masher or Immersion Blender?

If you want a soup with a chunkier consistency, a potato masher is your best friend. For a smoother, creamy soup, an immersion blender will do the trick. Adjust according to your family’s preference.

Slow Cooker vs. Dutch Oven: Which is Better?

While a dutch oven on medium heat is classic for making this comfort food recipe, a slow cooker or crockpot potato soup method allows for a “set it and forget it” approach. Both yield delicious soup results.

Bacon: Crisp and Cooked Right

Frying bacon in a large skillet until it’s crispy is essential. Why? Because bacon grease is a key ingredient in our loaded potato soup recipe. Those crispy bacon bits? They’re the perfect garnish.

Storing and Freezing Your Soup: Keep it Fresh and Extend its Life!

An airtight container is your go-to for storing any leftover baked potato soup in the refrigerator. This ensures the soup remains fresh and delicious for the next day.

But what if you’ve made a large batch and want to enjoy it later? Freezing is an excellent option! Here’s how:

1. Cooling the Soup: Before freezing, allow your creamy loaded baked potato soup to cool completely to room temperature.
2. Portioning: Divide the soup into meal-sized portions. This makes it easier to thaw only what you’ll eat.
3. Container Choice: Use freezer-safe containers or heavy-duty freezer bags. Remember to leave about an inch of space at the top of containers as the soup will expand when frozen.
4. Label and Date: Always label your containers or bags with the date and contents. This will help you keep track and ensure you consume the soup within 2-3 months for optimal flavor.
5. Thawing: When you’re ready to enjoy, transfer your soup from the freezer to the refrigerator for 24 hours to thaw gradually. For a quicker method, you can use the defrost setting on your microwave.
6. Reheating: Once thawed, pour the soup into a large soup pot and heat on medium-low to medium heat, stirring occasionally until heated through. If the soup’s consistency changes a bit after freezing, you can restore its creamy texture with a little bit of whole milk or cream while reheating.

Remember, while freezing is a great way to extend the soup’s life, it’s best enjoyed fresh for the ultimate comfort food experience. But on a cold day, pulling out a batch of frozen potato soup and warming it up can be just as delightful!

Spicing it Up: Garlic Salt and Black Pepper

Don’t forget to season your soup. A pinch of garlic salt and black pepper can significantly enhance the soup’s taste. Remember to do a taste test and adjust accordingly.

Serving Suggestions: Make it a Main Course

This comforting soup, with its creamy base and chunks of potatoes, is hearty enough to be a main course. Pair it with a side salad, and you’ve got a complete meal that the whole family will love. It is seriously one of the best soups out there!

The obvious starting point is potatoes. You will need a good amount of them. I use most of a 5 lb bag. If you like the potato skins, leave them on, but I prefer them peeled. Dice them up into fairly large chunks, around 3/4 inch or so. Place them in a large pot covered in water. The water should reach about half an inch above the potatoes. Set them to boil.

Note: You could use leftover baked potatoes for this, but I find they become overcooked and mushy, so I like boiling raw potatoes.

Next, you need to create a mirepoix with onion, celery and carrots. I use around 2 large carrots, 2 celery stalks and 1 large, sweet onion, each diced into very small pieces. You can add other veggies if you like, but those are the ones I prefer.

Take an entire package of bacon (whatever type you prefer), 12 – 16 oz and chop it into 1 inch pieces. Place them into a large frying pan and begin to fry them up. Once they have rendered their fat and are just to the crispy stage, remove the cooked bacon from the pan with a slotted spoon, and place them on a paper towel-lined plate.

Leaving the bacon grease in the pan, add a stick of butter and melt it together over medium-low heat. Once the butter has melted, add in all of your veggies to the pan. Fry them up until they are tender.

Next, sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of corn flour (you an also use all-purpose flour if you prefer) on the veggies and stir it in until it disappears. Then, add 2 cups of heavy cream, and stir that in as well. The corn flour and cream should mix together and thicken up. Simmer for a few minutes, stirring constantly so it doesn’t get lumpy or burn. The heat should be very low at this point.

By now, your diced potatoes should be fork tender in their pot, and the water should be JUST at the top of the potatoes. If not, remove some of the potato water so that the line of water is even with the top of the potatoes.

Take your pan of veggies and cream and dump it into the pot of potatoes and water. Stir the whole thing together. The cream and corn flour will mix with the potato starch in the water and thicken nicely while also cutting the heaviness of the cream. Give the mixture a few minutes over low heat, stirring often to help break up some of the potatoes. You want them to soften and break apart a bit for the best texture in the soup.

You can even use a potato masher or immersion blender if you prefer.

Once you are satisfied, remove the pot from heat and add in a heaping helping of cheddar cheese, stirring it in to melt it.

And finally, crumble in your bacon from earlier, adding it to the soup for a nice bacon flavor.

You can also save the bacon and/or cheese to add it on top of the soup if you prefer. I like it IN the soup, but others have told me they aren’t a fan of the bacon getting soggy.

The whole thing comes together so quickly. The hardest part is the peeling and cutting of the vegetables, and even that isn’t truly difficult.

With so many variations out there, finding the best potato soup can be daunting. But with our easy baked potato soup recipe, made with sharp cheddar cheese, sweet onions, and garnished with favorite toppings like shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream, you’ve got a winner. It’s a classic soup that never goes out of style and will remain a favorite soup recipe for years to come.

So, the next time you’re in the mood for the ultimate comfort food, remember this loaded potato soup recipe. It’s a timeless classic that brings warmth, love, and delicious flavors to the table. Enjoy!

What’s your favorite winter soup recipe? Or just a  favorite recipe in general!?

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Ultimate Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Yield: 12 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

This potato soup is absolutely delicious and will fill you up on a cold winter evening.

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Ingredients

• 1 lb bacon, chopped
• 1/2 C butter
• 2 large sweet onions, diced small
• 2 large carrots, diced small
• 2 stalks celery, diced small
• 5 lbs potatoes, cubed
• 2 C cream
• 2 Tbsp corn flour
• 1 C shredded cheddar cheese
• salt and pepper

Instructions

1. In a large pot, place your cubed potatoes and then cover with cold water. Don’t add too much water – just enough to cover the potatoes by about an inch. Set on the stove to boil and cook while you work on the rest of the soup.
2. Chop up the bacon into small pieces and then fry them up in a large skillet. Allow them to get pretty well done, as they will get soggier when added to the soup. Remove the bacon from the pan, leaving the grease.
3. Next, add your butter to the pan to combine with the bacon grease. Throw in your diced veggies to the mix. I generally stick to the classic onions, carrots and celery, but you can add mushrooms or other vegetables if you fancy them. Cook them until very tender. Then turn down the heat to low.
4. Into the pan, sprinkle your corn flour around the cooked veggies and stir until the flour dissolves. Then pour in your cream, stirring again. Continue stirring until you have a nice slurry.
5. Pour your vegetable slurry mixture into the pot of potatoes. Use a long spoon to stir it all together. The water from the potatoes will mix with the slurry and thicken up nicely.
6. Add in your cooked bacon pieces and stir again.
7. Finally, add in your shredded cheddar cheese.
8. Taste the mixture and add salt or pepper until it tastes perfect.

Notes

You CAN leave the bacon and cheese out at the end and just use it to garnish the soup, but I personally prefer to have it all IN the soup. It just tastes amazing.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 620Total Fat: 39gSaturated Fat: 20gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 16gCholesterol: 112mgSodium: 828mgCarbohydrates: 48gFiber: 5gSugar: 7gProtein: 22g

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Katie Reed

Katie Reed is a passionate writer and mother of four vivacious boys from Salt Lake City, Utah. Drawing from her own journey through TTC, pregnancy, and the joys of raising children, she offers a wealth of insight into the world of motherhood. Beyond her heartfelt tales, Katie delights her readers with family-friendly recipes, engaging crafts, and a curated library of printables for both kids and adults. When she’s not penning her experiences, you’ll find her crafting memories with her husband and sons—Dexter, Daniel, Chester, and Wilder.