Creamy Potato Soup with Bacon & Cheddar
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Thick, creamy, and loaded with flavor, this potato soup recipe is pure comfort in a bowl. Topped with crispy bacon and melty Cheddar, it’s everything you love about a loaded baked potato—just in soup form!
Photo by Johnny Miller (Clarkson Potter, 2021)
This easy potato soup recipe from my second cookbook is so creamy and comforting, it practically wraps you up in a big hug. My kids say it tastes just like a baked potato with all the fixings, thanks to addition of butter, sour cream, cheese, and crispy bacon. Whether you need a quick weeknight dinner or a cozy meal to warm you up, this creamy potato soup recipe will hit the spot. Pair it with a light salad, and dinner is done!
What You’ll Need To Make Potato Soup
- Bacon: Adds a smoky, savory flavor to the soup and provides savory crispy bits for topping. To make it easier to work with, stick it in the freezer to firm up for 15 minutes before cutting.
- Yellow Onion And Garlic: The flavorful, aromatic base for the soup.
- All-Purpose Flour: Thickens the soup, giving it a creamy consistency.
- Chicken Broth: Forms the flavorful liquid base of the soup.
- Russet Potatoes: These starchy potatoes create a silky, creamy texture when blended.
- Dried Thyme: Infuses the soup with earthy flavor.
- Sour Cream: Adds a tangy creaminess that balances the richness of the soup.
- Butter: Brings a velvety richness to the finished soup.
- Fresh Chives: Brightens the soup with a mild onion flavor and a pop of color.
- Shredded Cheddar Cheese: Adds a melty, savory finish to each bowl.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-By-Step Instructions
n a large pot over medium heat, cook the bacon until it’s nice and crispy, 8 to 10 minutes. Keep an eye on it—bacon can go from perfectly crisp to overdone fast! Once it’s done, use a slotted spoon to transfer it to a paper towel-lined plate to drain, but don’t ditch all that flavorful bacon fat—leave about 2 tablespoons in the pot to give the soup extra richness.
Add the onion and garlic to the pot and cook, stirring often, until soft, about 5 minutes. Be careful not to let the garlic brown—if it starts to darken too quickly, just turn the heat down a notch.
Sprinkle in the flour and stir for about 30 seconds, until it’s fully dissolved. This helps thicken the soup and gets rid of any raw flour taste. It might look a little pasty at first, but don’t worry—it’ll smooth out once you add the liquids. Pour in the chicken broth, scraping up any browned bits.
Add the potatoes, salt, pepper, and thyme. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 20 to 25 minutes.
Blend the soup until smooth using an immersion blender (or a regular blender, in batches). Stir in the sour cream and butter until fully incorporated. Give the soup a taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.
If you’re making it ahead, the soup can be refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for longer storage—just wait to add the bacon, chives, and cheese until serving so they stay fresh and crisp. When reheating, you may need to stir in a splash of broth or milk to bring back its creamy texture.
Video Tutorial
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Creamy Potato Soup
Ingredients
- 6 slices (8oz/227g) thick-cut bacon, cut into ½-inch (13-mm) pieces
- 1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped
- 4 large cloves garlic, smashed and peeled (see note)
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 3 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch (2.5-cm) cubes
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 cup sour cream
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
- 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
Instructions
- In a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat, cook the bacon, stirring frequently, until crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside. Pour off and discard all but about 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat.
- Return the pot to the stove over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Do not brown; reduce the heat if necessary. Add the flour and stir until dissolved, about 30 seconds.
- Pour in the chicken broth, stirring with a wooden spoon to scrape any brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Carefully add the potatoes, along with the salt, pepper, and thyme, and bring to a boil again. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until the potatoes are very tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
- Off the heat, use an immersion blender to purée the soup until completely smooth. (Alternatively, cool the soup slightly, then puree in a blender in batches. Be sure to leave the center hole in the lid, and cover with a kitchen towel, to allow the steam to escape.) Add the sour cream and butter and whisk by hand until the butter is melted and the sour cream is incorporated. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with the chives, cheese, and reserved bacon.
Notes
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Hi Jen, I just made this soup for dinner today and followed the recipe exactly. The finished product was extremely thick…very good, but VERY thick. Could I maybe cut back a bit on the amount of potatoes? I have added both chicken stock and milk to thin it out a bit, and the flavor is still wonderful. Just wondering on the amount of potatoes?
Love your recipes, have both of your cookbooks and you are my go to anytime I’m looking for delicious, no-fail recipes. Thanks for making me look like a chef 💕
Hi Gail, thanks for your nice words about the recipes and support of the cookbooks! Sorry you found this to be a little too thick; I’d cut reduce the potatoes to 2 1/2 pounds. 😊
I am grateful for yet another recipe that turned out delicious. I got a box of goat cubes and your site was the first one I check for any recipes online but didn’t find any. Do you happens to have any recipe for goat stew or one where goat cubes can be used?
Thank You
Hi Susan, Glad you enjoyed the soup and I’m flattered that you check my site first for recipes – thanks for your support! I don’t know of any recipes that use goat – I’m sorry! If I come across anything that happens to look worthwhile though, I’ll send it your way.
Thank you for another wonderful recipe. My husband and I loved it, perfect for this extreme cold spell we’re going through. I will definitely be making this again. Your recipes are so well written and easy to follow – I really appreciate that.
Could you do this in instant pot
Hi John, I don’t have experience with an instant pot so I can’t tell you confidently whether or not this would work in one, and if it does, how it would need to be adapted. I’m sorry!
Such a simple but incredibly flavourable soup. We absolutely love it and will make it again and freeze for our winter rotation.
I don’t eat meat, so started with butter instead of bacon (and didn’t add it later). At the end I added a hunk of Cabozola that needed to be used. It’s a delicious and elegant soup! Should have saved it for Valentine’s Day, but since it’s a snow day, wanted to make a soup that we could easily heat tonight if the power goes out.
WOW Jenn! This is an epic recipe. I have made a potato leek soup for years but this was exactly what you said. A baked potato soup! The only change I made was I used gruyere instead of cheddar. I love your blog and books and follow you closely.
Chef Randolph
Can you make it gluten free with corn starch?
Hi Susi, you can use gluten-free flour in place of the all purpose flour. If you’d like to use cornstarch, it requires a bit of a different method. Right before you purée the soup, make a “slurry” by combining 2 tablespoons cornstarch with 2 tablespoons cold water; mix until completely smooth. Whisk half of the slurry into the soup and bring to a gentle boil on the stovetop and simmer until it has thickened and any starchy taste has been cooked away. If you want it thicker, add the remaining slurry and repeat.
Oh my goodness, I could not get enough of this soup! I’ve made mediocre baked potato soups before, so it took me a while to try this recipe. This one is deeply flavorful and so satisfying. You should give it a chance!
Can I freeze this soup? Sounds wonderful but there’s just the 2 of us.
Thanks, Estelle
Sure – I’d prepare it up to the point right before you add the sour cream and butter. You can add those when you thaw and reheat the soup.
Hi Jenn,
This recipe is fantastic! Love it. I added the butter and sour cream before I gave thought to freezing it. Can I still freeze it?
😳. Thanks,
Char M
Hi Char, so glad you liked it! I’ve never frozen it with the sour cream and not sure how it will impact the texture when you thaw it, but to avoid letting leftovers go to waste, it’s definitely worth a try. Please LMK how it is once you reheat it.