Creamy Potato Soup

    Creamy Potato Soup is the ultimate comfort food. Its velvety, creamy base features blended potatoes, tender potato bites, onions, and garlic, all topped with crispy bacon! It’s the perfect meal to cozy up with on a cold day.

    Overhead shot of a bowl of creamy potato soup with cheese, chives and bacon on top.

    Reasons You’ll Love This Recipe

    • Super Simple: This creamy potato soup is so easy to make. It can be ready in less than an hour. Perfect for busy weeknights!
    • Comfort Food: Is anything more comforting than a nice warm bowl of creamy potato soup? Add your favorite toppings to make everyone happy!
    • Versatile: This soup is good anytime but the perfect dish to serve on a cold day. Your family will love it served with some sourdough bread and Caesar salad.

    Creamy Potato Soup Ingredients

    This soup is super simple to put together. You only need a few basic ingredients, and dinner is served. You should have most of these items already in your kitchen. Scroll to the bottom of the post for exact measurements.

    • Bacon: I feel like this is my secret ingredient. You’ll cook up the bacon and use the super flavorful drippings to cook the onions and make a roux to thicken the soup.
    • Onion: Adds savory and a slight sweet flavor.
    • Garlic: Give me all the garlic! You can measure this with your heart!
    • Unsalted Butter: Provides a smooth creaminess for the base of the roux
    • All Purpose Flour: Helps thicken the soup.
    • Chicken Broth: The flavorful base for the soup.
    • Half-and-Half: Adds a creamy consistency that is the perfect complement to the texture of the blended potatoes.
    • Russet Potatoes: I like using russet potatoes because they hold up their shape and don’t get all mushy.
    • Salt and Black Pepper: Enhances the flavors in the recipe.
    Overhead shot of labeled ingredients.

    Easy Potato Soup Recipe

    This recipe is super easy and yummy! You’ll want to make creamy potato soup all season long. Follow my instructions below for the best results.

    1. Cook Bacon: Heat a large pot over medium-high heat and cook the diced bacon until fully cooked. (It can be crispy or soft, depending on preference.) Remove the bacon from the pot and then set aside.
    2. Cook Onion: Remove all but one tablespoon of bacon grease from the pot. Add the onion, and cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Add in the garlic and cook for just 1 minute.
    3. Whisk: Melt the butter in the pot with the onion and garlic, and whisk in the flour to create a paste (roux).
    4. Slowly add and Whisk: Slowly whisk in the chicken broth, about ½ cup at a time, while whisking continuously to keep a smooth consistency.
    5. Simmer: Mix in the half-and-half, potatoes, salt, and pepper. Bring the soup to a gentle boil, reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the potatoes are tender. Stirring occasionally to prevent them from sticking to the bottom, about 25-30 minutes.
    6. Blend: Remove half of the soup from the pot and blend it with a regular or an immersion blender until smooth.
    7. Stir and Serve: Add the blended soup back to the pot along with the cooked bacon. Simmer for another few minutes and stir to incorporate the bacon. Remove the soup from the heat and serve fresh!
    Angle shot of bacon cooking in a large pot.
    Angle shot of onions and garlic cooking in a large pot.
    Angle shot of someone whisking four into the melted butter in the pot.
    Angle shot of someone pouring in chicken broth into the roux.
    Angle shot of someone pouring the half and half into the soup mixture.
    Side shot of half the soup mixture blended in a glass bowl with an immersion blender.
    Close up shot of the creamy potato soup covered in crispy bacon bits.

    Potato Soup Tips and Variations

    My mom made this creamy potato soup for us for Sunday dinner a few weeks back. It was so delicious and creamy. We LOVED it! Here are some tips for making sure it suites your taste.

    • Making the Roux: When adding the liquid to the butter and flour paste, I slowly add about ½  cup at a time. Make sure you whisk continually until that amount of liquid has been incorporated. Adding liquid in too quickly will break the sauce, which means the paste won’t combine with the liquid.
    • Customizable: What I love about this simple soup is how customizable it is—you can easily make it your own! Add extra bacon, cubed ham, more veggies, or even melt in some cheese when you add the bacon back to the pot.
    • Topping Ideas: You can serve this with so many different toppings. Think about what you would put on a baked potato. Bacon, sharp cheddar cheese, green onions or chives, sour cream, parsley, chicken for protein, jalapenos for heat, and whatever else you like!
    Close up shot of a ladle full of creamy potato soup over the pot full of soup.

    How to Store Leftover Soup

    This creamy potato soup makes great leftovers. All the flavors have time to meld, and it’s even better the next day!

    • Refrigerate: Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days. 
    • Freeze: I don’t recommend freezing this soup. Dairy-based soups can separate once frozen, but you can store it in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 months if the separation doesn’t bother you. 
    • Reheating: Reheat soup on the stove on low heat to prevent scalding or in the microwave. 
    Overhead shot of a bowl of creamy potato soup with a spoon sopping a bit out of it.

    More Potato Soup Recipes to Try