Creamy and Chunky Loaded Baked Potato Soup Recipe
Nothing says comfort food better than a hot bowl of soup on a cold day. In the winter months I love making delicious soups to warm up and fill up! And this hearty loaded potato soup fits the bill perfectly. It has so much flavor and is full of potato chunks while still having a creamy soup base. This easy potato soup recipe is homemade and doesn’t use any cream of chicken soup or other condensed bases. It’s perfect for beginners and will have you coming back for seconds every time. Using basic vegetables and pantry items, you can make this simple potato soup for dinner or lunch with plenty of leftovers. Let me show you how. Full recipe card below.
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What is Potato Soup?
Potato soup is a very common dish served in many restaurants across America as well as canned versions in the grocery store. As the name suggests, the main component in potato soup is potatoes. Frequently potato soup is a combination of chunks of potatoes with a creamy base often made with a mixture of milk, heavy cream, vegetable or chicken stock, or chicken or vegetable broth. Some versions may contain other vegetables like carrots, celery, or leeks. Often times potato soup is thickened with cream cheese or sharp cheddar cheese.
While this chunky potato soup uses some shredded cheese, this is not a potato cheese soup where cheese is the dominant ingredient, the potatoes are.
What Are the Best Potatoes for Soup
I like to use a combination of different types of potatoes, but this really boils down to personal preference. Let me explain the difference between the most common types.
First there are russet potatoes. These are high in starch and will definitely help thicken the soup. Russet potatoes are also known as Idaho potatoes and are relatively bland in flavor. These potatoes are most commonly used as baked potatoes.
Red potatoes are a firmer potato with a waxy texture and contain less starch than russets. These potatoes keep their shape well and are often used for potato salad. They have a slightly sweeter taste but not like a sweet potato.
Yukon gold potatoes tend to be a little smaller than russets and have more flavor. These potatoes contain less starch than russets but still contain more than others which makes them the all purpose potato. They have a buttery smooth texture and a slightly earthy flavor.
Sweet potatoes are known for their sweet taste and usually orange color. But did you know there are white sweet potatoes? These are actually my favorite potato! Orange sweet potatoes are very sweet, orange in color, and tend to be stringy when cooked. White sweet potatoes look more like a russet but have a sweet and creamier texture.
Ingredients
This simple potato soup uses common vegetables and pantry items you probably already have stocked and only requires a few simple steps to make a hearty bowl of soup.
Potatoes – Because different types of potatoes have different flavors and levels of starch, I prefer to use a mix of different potatoes. For this recipe I use a combination of three russets, three Yukon golds, and one white sweet potato. The russets bring the starch but are very bland so I pair them with Yukon gold which have a smoother texture and richer flavor. The sweet potato adds a bit of sweetness and additional flavor. If you choose to use all russet potatoes you may end up with a bland potato soup unless you add a lot of extra cheese, butter, and cream.
Chicken Broth – The base of this soup uses a combination of broth and cream. I use the low sodium chicken broth so keep that in mind when salting the soup. I used chicken broth because I buy it in bulk and always have it on hand, but you can also use vegetable if you are looking for a vegetarian option. You can also substitute broth for stock, but you may have to add more salt and pepper to the finished soup since stock usually contains no added seasonings.
Milk/Heavy Cream – For this recipe I used 2% milk and heavy cream to achieve a creamy base. I didn’t want the base to be too thick so I used more milk than cream. You can use all half and half or whole milk for similar results though. I don’t recommend skim milk because it is just too thin and not creamy enough. I have not tested non-dairy milk substitutes like coconut milk and almond milk.
Onion – I chose to use a yellow onion here since it gets cooked down. Yellow onions are best for cooked dishes since they stand up to heat better and they become sweeter the longer they cook which is perfect for soups. You can also use a white onion or a sweet Vidalia onion. The white onion will have a sharper flavor than the yellow and a Vidalia will be sweeter. I do not recommend using a red onion because they are really best used in raw dishes or for pickling. They have a much spicier and sharp flavor.
Celery – This is the perfect ingredient to add flavor and body to soups. A few stalks goes a long way to enhance complex flavors developed in soups.
Garlic – When I cook I almost always use jarred garlic because it’s easy and keeps a long time in the fridge. In this recipe I used jarred garlic but you can definitely use fresh if you prefer. The conversion is a 1:1 ratio of tsp to garlic cloves. This recipe calls for 1 tsp minced garlic so you would use 1 clove of garlic. If you want to use garlic powder instead, you will only need 1/8 tsp for this recipe.
Worcestershire Sauce – The ingredient no one can pronounce correctly, haha! This potent sauce will add quite a bit of umami flavor with sweet, salty, and sour all at once.
Chives – I used these to flavor the soup and to garnish. Chives add a ton of flavor and make for a pretty presentation. You can also use green onions as they have a similar taste.
Cheddar Cheese – As I mentioned above, this is not a cheesy potato soup but I do use a little bit of cheese to add some extra flavor. You are welcome to use extra cheese if you prefer. I think a bolder cheese like sharp cheddar works best here, but you can use any cheese you want.
Bacon Bits – Would this really be loaded potato soup without bacon? I rest my case. I used real bacon bits but you can use imitation bacon bits or fresh crispy bacon if you prefer.
Butter – I used butter to coat the pan and add flavor to the onion, celery, and garlic while I sautéed them. You can use real butter or margarine here or even olive oil.
Salt & Pepper – Like all dishes a little salt and pepper goes a long way with the flavor.
Mixing Options
I recommend using a high powered blender for this recipe to get a nice rich and creamy texture. I used my Ninja Foodi blender and it worked great. You can also use an immersion blender or a food processor, but you may not get that velvety soup texture.
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Creamy and Chunky Loaded Baked Potato Soup Recipe
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 9 cups of soup 1x
Description
Soup season is here! Ditch the condensed can and make your own chunky and creamy loaded baked potato soup. With only a few simple ingredients you can have a bowl of homemade potato soup full of hearty potato chunks with a creamy soup base. This is my favorite comfort food perfect for chilly nights or snowy days, it will fill you up.
Ingredients
- 3 Russet Potatoes diced and peeled
- 3 Yukon Gold Potatoes diced and peeled
- 1 White Sweet Potato diced and peeled
- 2 tbsp Unsalted Butter
- 1 tsp Minced Garlic
- 1/2 Yellow Onion Diced
- 4 Celery Stalks divided
- 14.5 oz Low Sodium Chicken Broth (1can)
- 1 1/2 cup Milk divided
- 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Pepper
- 3 tbsp Bacon Bits
- 1 tbsp Chives copped
- 1/4 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Instructions
- Fill a large stock pot with water and bring to a boil.
- While water heats up, wash all the potatoes, peel, and dice into 1 inch pieces.
- Once water is boiling, add all the potatoes to the boiling water and cook for 15-20 minutes until tender.
- Dice onion and three of the four celery stalks. Cut one of the celery stalks into four smaller pieces and set this one aside. To speed up the chopping process I use this slicer.
- In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat.
- Reduce to medium low heat and add diced onion, garlic, and three of the diced celery stalks. Season with the salt and pepper and sauté until the onions and celery soften. About 5 minutes. Be careful not to burn the garlic or it will taste bitter. Remove from heat.
- Once the potatoes are cooked, drain and add half of the potatoes to a blender. You will blend half the potatoes and leave half of them chunky.
- Add half the chicken broth, half of the milk, half of the heavy cream, and one celery stalk to the blender with the potatoes and blend until smooth.
- Add the blended mixture to the pot with the onions and celery. Tip: To get all potato residue out of the blender, add remaining chicken broth to the blender and shake with the lid on. Then pour into the pot with the rest of the mixture.
- Add remaining milk, heavy cream, Worcestershire sauce, bacon bits, and chives to the pot and heat over medium low heat.
- Slowly stir in the cheese until it is fully combined.
- Add the remaining potato chunks to the pot and cook for about 5 minutes or until soup is hot. Do not boil.
- Garnish with additional chives, bacon bits, cheese, and a dollop of sour cream.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Notes
To achieve a creamy and chunky potato soup, you will blend half the potatoes and leave half of them as chunks.
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 30
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: American
How to Reheat
If you have leftover potato soup you have a few options for reheating. I personally think reheating in the microwave works just fine. It is the quickest and easiest method. Microwave in 40 second intervals in a microwave safe bowl stirring in between until soup is hot all the way through. I recommend covering with a paper towel so the soup doesn’t splatter in the microwave.
You can also reheat leftovers the next day on the stove top. Just add the soup to a pot and heat over medium heat until the soup is hot, but do not boil.
If you are looking to multi task your leftover dinner prep work, transfer soup to the slow cooker or crockpot and heat it up on the lowest setting while you finish up other household chores.
When to Make Loaded Baked Potato Soup
This easy soup is pure comfort food, perfect for chilly winter nights, an easy lunch or dinner, or the perfect pair with a half a sandwich or crusty French bread. No matter when you decide to make it, it will definitely become one of your favorite soup recipes the whole family will love!
Looking for more tasty soup recipes? Try my easy slow cooker taco soup with Rotel, creamy tomato basil soup recipe, sweet and smoky corn soup or my butternut squash bisque recipe.
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