This is the BEST Loaded Potato Soup recipe you’re going to find! It’s creamy perfection in a comforting bowl, loaded with sour cream, bacon, cheese and chives. Bonus: it only takes 30 minutes to make!
Why You’ll Love This Loaded Potato Soup Recipe
When dreaming of comforting dishes, our minds always go to soup – especially this particular loaded potato soup recipe. Why? It’s got the key ingredients for a cozy, filling bowl of cheesy and carb-y goodness! After all, how could anyone go wrong with cheese, bacon, and sour cream? Here’s why you’ll love it as much as we do!
- Cozy Comfort Food: This baked potato soup is perfect for when it’s nice and chilly outside, or you’re sick, or any other time you need a little extra love. Once you make it though, we’re sure you’ll be finding all kinds of reasons to whip up a pot of this seriously satisfying soup.
- Kid Friendly: One of the best things about this loaded potato soup recipe is that it’s craved by everyone. All of the ingredients are simple and picky-eater friendly. We haven’t met a single person who doesn’t love it, and that’s including a very picky six-year-old!
- Ready in Under 30 Minutes: The key to making this soup quickly is to dice your potatoes into small chunks. The smaller the potatoes are diced, the faster the soup will cook! The longest part of making this potato soup is boiling the potatoes until soft.
What You’ll Need
You’ll only need a handful of ingredients to make this easy baked potato soup. Here’s a quick overview. Be sure to scroll down to the recipe card for exact amounts.
- Bacon: You can also use turkey bacon if you prefer.
- Veggies: We’ll be using sweet onions, shallots, fresh garlic, and potatoes.
- Flour
- Chicken Broth: You can substitute with veggie broth if you’d like.
- Evaporated Milk: You can use heavy cream in place of evaporated milk and the final dish will be about the same flavor-wise. Do not sub in regular milk as it won’t make the soup nearly as creamy.
- Salt and Pepper
- Sour Cream: You can substitute full fat plain greek yogurt for a similar tang.
- Cheese: We love the flavor of sharp cheddar in this loaded potato soup!
How to Make Potato Soup
It’s hard to believe easy soup recipes can have this much flavor, but our loaded potato soup lives up to the hype! With just a few steps and 30 minutes, you’ll have a rich and creamy dinner on the table. Check out the recipe card for detailed directions.
- Cook Bacon: Cook your bacon until it’s rendered and nice and crispy. Remove the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels, but keep the grease in the pot.
- Make the Base: Add onions and shallots to the hot grease and cook them for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and stir until it smells amazing. Then, add in the flour and cook it for 2-3 minutes. It should have a nice golden color and smell a little nutty. Slowly pour in the stock followed by the evaporated milk, potatoes, salt and pepper. Give everything a nice stir.
- Cook: Bring the pot to a low boil, then lower to a simmer and cook with the lid on for about 10-15 minutes. You’ll know you’re done when the potatoes are fork tender.
- Blend: Once the potatoes are soft, remove the pot from heat and use an immersion blender to puree most of the soup. We like to leave some chunks of potatoes, but you can also puree it completely smooth. If you do not have an immersion blender, then carefully pour portions of the soup into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Return pureed soup to the pot after blending.
- Finish and Serve: Once the soup is blended the way you like, add the shredded cheese and sour cream. Stir to combine. Serve the soup warm with bacon on top and any other topping you’d like!
Tips for Best Results
Loaded potato soup is part of our collection of easy soup recipes. Even so, we have a few tips, tricks, and variation ideas to give you the best bowl of soup every time.
- Why Evaporated Milk: This is a major secret ingredient alert! Evaporated milk is shelf-stable milk from which about 60 percent of the water has been removed. If you substitute evaporated milk for regular milk in a recipe, it will be richer and creamier. So, by using evaporated milk in your baked potato soup, it will be much creamier!
- Potatoes: We recommend using waxy yellow or Yukon gold potatoes. Yellow/gold potatoes are a medium-starch potato and contain more moisture than a higher starch potato (like russets). This makes them a great choice for soups because they they don’t fall apart as easily. They also do a great job of thickening the soup when blended!
- Lighten Up: Baked potato soup is an easy dish to make your own. Not feeling heavy bacon and sour cream? Sub in some turkey bacon and greek yogurt!
- Add Some Veggies: We love broccoli or cauliflower florets in this soup. If you have the time, roast them first and then add at the end as a garnish.
- Don’t Forget the Toppings: The freshly chopped green onions or chives, crispy bacon and cheddar cheese take a good bowl of baked potato soup to an amazing bowl of baked potato soup. Don’t skip them!
What to Serve With Baked Potato Soup
When serving baked potato soup, don’t be shy! Throw on as many toppings as you want. We recommend the following: green onions, cheddar cheese, sour cream, and an abundance of bacon. The more, the merrier! After all, when is too much bacon ever a bad idea? We love serving a hot bowl with a piece – or two! – of crusty garlic bread. And if you’re looking for a well-rounded meal, add a fresh salad! Any side or caesar salad would be great, but if you’re feeling a little more adventurous, try our arugula salad with fried goat cheese, cherry tomato caprese salad, or creamy broccoli salad!
How to Store and Reheat Leftovers
Loaded potato soup is very forgiving and is just as delicious served fresh or the next day. Here’s how to handle your leftovers.
- Refrigerate: Store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- Reheat: You can reheat baked potato soup in the microwave or on the stove. Either way, you may need to add a little extra milk while doing so. Sometimes, the soup will thicken a little too much overnight and it needs the extra liquid to get back to the right texture.
- Freeze: You can freeze leftovers up to 3 months. We like to freeze loaded potato soup in a freezer safe bag and lay it flat for easy storage. Let it thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
More Easy Soup Recipes
Potato Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 slices of bacon, chopped
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 2 shallots, diced
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 4 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 2 cans, 24 oz evaporated milk
- 3 pounds of potatoes, peeled and diced to 1 inch size cubes
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
optional toppings
- extra bacon
- cheddar cheese
- chives/green onions
- sour cream
Instructions
- Add the bacon to a large dutch oven or stock pot and cook over medium-high heat until the bacon is crispy. Remove the bacon to a plate lined with a paper towels and set aside, leaving the grease in the pot.
- Add the onion and shallot to pot and cook until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook for an additional 30 seconds.
- Stir in the flour and cook for about 2-3 minutes, until a light golden color.
- Slowly pour in the chicken stock, string to combine with the flour mixture. Add the evaporated milk, potatoes, salt and pepper. Stir to combine.
- Bring the pot to a low boil, lower to a simmer and place lid onto pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are softened and fork tender. If potatoes are finely diced, the potatoes should be tender in about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Once potatoes are soft, remove pot from heat and use an immersion blender to puree most of the soup. I like to leave some chunks of potatoes, but you can also puree it completely smooth.
- If you do not have an immersion blender, then carefully pour portions of the soup into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Return pureed soup to the pot after blending.
- Once soup is to the desired texture, add in the shredded cheese and sour cream and stir to combine.
- Serve soup warm with bacon on top and any additional toppings of your choice!
I loved the one pot aspect of this soup. My family loved this soup and flavor… even my picky kids!
Making this soup now. Smells wonderful and looks delicious! No way it takes only 30 minutes to make though! Maybe I’m just slow lol
My whole family has been sick so I was looking for an easy comfort food to make. This recipe came up in a search for potato soup, and it was the best! Thanks for sharing! Yum.
Making this tonight, can leftovers be frozen?
Yes they can, however, potato soup tends to become grainy when it is thawed. I’d suggest just keeping it in the fridge and having the leftovers in the next few days instead.
We make our soup almost like yours, we also add carrots, celery, and 2 cans of cream of celery soup very thick and rich!! almost forgot real butter 1/2 stick unsalted.
Yum! Yours sounds delicious we will definitely have to try 🙂
Thank you for sharing!
Very good, but a little bland. Next time I’ll add some thyme and oregano, but definitely a soup I will make again!
Saw this on Facebook as an Imgur-style video. Shared it with my husband. He made it, and it was everything I could ever have wished for in a loaded potato soup but didn’t know to hope for. Thank you for the recipe!
So glad you enjoyed it Susan!