Description
This Ultimate Potato Soup recipe is a creamy, comforting dish made with crispy bacon, golden potatoes, and a blend of milk and cream for richness. It features tender potato chunks with a smooth, velvety base, gently spiced with ancho chili powder, and topped with cheddar cheese, chives, and more bacon for perfect indulgence.
Ingredients
Scale
Soup Base
- 6 strips uncooked bacon, cut into small pieces
- 3 tablespoons butter (unsalted or salted)
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped (about 1.5 cup/200g)
- 3 large garlic cloves, minced
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour (42g)
- 2 ½ lbs gold potatoes, peeled and diced into pieces no larger than 1 inch (about 6 large potatoes/1.15kg)
- 4 cups chicken broth (945ml)
- 2 cups milk (475ml)
- ⅔ cup heavy cream (155ml)
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon ground pepper
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon ancho chili powder
Finishing Ingredients
- ⅔ cup sour cream (160g)
- Shredded cheddar cheese (optional for topping)
- Chives (optional for topping)
- Additional sour cream (optional for topping)
- Additional cooked bacon (optional for topping)
Instructions
- Cook Bacon: Place the bacon pieces in a large Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat and cook until bacon is crisp and browned. Remove bacon pieces and set aside, leaving the bacon fat in the pot.
- Sauté Onions: Add butter and chopped onion to the pot with bacon fat and cook over medium heat until onions are tender, about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add Garlic: Stir in minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Make Roux: Sprinkle the all-purpose flour over the onion and garlic mixture, stirring constantly until smooth and fully incorporated, using a whisk if needed.
- Add Potatoes and Liquids: Add diced potatoes along with chicken broth, milk, heavy cream, salt, pepper, and ancho chili powder to the pot. Stir well to combine.
- Cook Potatoes: Bring the soup to a boil, then cook until potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork, about 10 minutes.
- Puree Half Soup: Reduce the heat to simmer. Carefully remove about half of the soup (about 5 cups) and puree it until smooth in a blender or with an immersion blender. Return the pureed soup to the pot.
- Finish Soup: Stir in the sour cream and the reserved crispy bacon pieces. Allow the soup to simmer gently for 15 minutes to blend flavors.
- Serve: Ladle the soup into bowls and top with additional sour cream, cooked bacon, shredded cheddar cheese, and chives if desired. Enjoy your ultimate potato soup!
Notes
- Start with 1 ½ teaspoons of salt but adjust to taste depending on your broth’s saltiness.
- If unfamiliar with ancho chili powder, begin with ¼ teaspoon and increase after tasting for desired warmth.
- For a fully creamy texture, puree all of the soup in batches instead of just half.
- Use an immersion blender for easier and safer pureeing directly in the pot.
- Using gold potatoes keeps the soup creamy while maintaining some chunkiness.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 320 kcal
- Sugar: 4 g
- Sodium: 600 mg
- Fat: 22 g
- Saturated Fat: 12 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 8 g
- Trans Fat: 0.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 20 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 8 g
- Cholesterol: 65 mg
