So creamy and so hearty, this cheesy, easy potato soup recipe is what we turn to when we need to be warmed up on a cellular level. Old-fashioned potato soup is comfort food at its very BEST. Our classic potato soup recipe punches up some of the classic flavors that we all crave; salty bacon, heavy cream, and sharp cheddar stirred in at the end ensure that this creamy potato soup is anything but bland. Come in from the cold and warm up from the inside out with a big bowl of thick, creamy potato soup. For more easy, creamy soup ideas, check out our Cream of Mushroom Soup, Cream of Broccoli, Cream of Cauliflower, our silky Garlic Soup or classic Broccoli Cheddar Soup.
Creamy Potato Soup Ingredients
Potatoes: Regular old russet potatoes are the best potatoes for making creamy potato soup. They’re just starchy enough to make the soup super thick and luscious.
Leeks: In place of regular yellow onions, leeks make for a sweet, earthy base for our potato soup recipe. We love how delicate they are, and how they let the creamy, starchy flavor of potatoes shine. Creamy potato soup with leeks was Julia Child’s favorite soup, supposedly, so we’ll just say we’re following her lead.
Bacon: Bacon and potatoes are a match made in food heaven, right? However, if you’re feeding this soup to a vegetarian crowd, you could skip it. Perhaps add a little more butter at the start of the recipe so there’s plenty of richness, and maybe a dash of smoked paprika to give the soup that glorious smoky richness that bacon brings.
Dairy: What makes this soup so creamy? Well, cream! And whole milk, too. Oh, and also butter. Lots of butter!
Fresh garlic: Sharply savory, garlic is a powerful balancing force in this potato soup. It’s a much needed contrast to all that richness.
All-purpose flour: Just a bit of flour to help the soup thicken and give that nice chowder-y texture that you want a really satisfying potato soup to have.
Broth: Veggie or chicken broth would both work well in this soup.
Sharp cheddar cheese. The sharper the better! You only need a little, so if you can spring for something really sharp and salty, your potato soup will be that much more delicious. We choose white cheddar cheese so that the soup is lovely and white, but if you’ve got yellow sharp cheddar, it’ll work fine.
How To Make Potato Soup Thick & Creamy
Different recipes use different tricks to make potato soup thick and creamy. As for us, we use all of the tricks to make sure that this potato soup recipe results in a satisfyingly thick soup that’s almost chowder-like in texture.
Butter + flour. Also known as a roux—a classic technique for thickening soups and sauces. When you sprinkle the flour over the butter in our recipe, it’ll be along with the leeks, but the viscous magic will happen nonetheless.
Heavy cream. Always a sure fire way to get that absolutely rich texture we really crave from cream of potato soup.
Cheese. Lots of people simply finish their potato soup with a sprinkling of cheese on top at the very end. Well, we say that’s a missed opportunity! Not only does the cheese melt into the soup and thicken it, but it adds a ton of sharp, salty flavor.
Potato starch + blender. Potatoes are hefty all on their own, of course, and puréeing some of them (but not all) helps to make the cream-laden soup extra dense and hearty. It’s a technique we also use in our Caldo Verde soup recipe.
How To Make Potato Soup
Fry the bacon and set them aside, but leave the bacon fat in the pot. Seriously, leave it there.
Melt the butter into the bacon fat. Have zero regrets! Live a little! Sauté the leeks and garlic in that butter-bacon fat mixture.
Roux time! Stir some flour into the mix and let it cook for just a minute.
Add potatoes, broth, milk and heavy cream.
Bring to a boil, then simmer until the potatoes are cooked.
Use an immersion blender to purée about half of the soup. We leave some un-blended for texture — you can decide what level of creaminess feels right to you.
Add the bacon, cheese, salt and pepper.
Serve!
How To Serve Creamy Potato Soup
Serve it as a hearty, easy favorite at your next game day party, and make it more fun and even more loaded by adding more toppings! More bacon, extra cheese, a little hot sauce — you get the idea.
In our dreams, we drink this straight from a hollowed out loaf of Sourdough Bread.
Serve this creamy potato soup as a first course for a celebrational meal, maybe before classic recipes like our Baked Pork Chop and Asparagus Sheet Pan Dinner or Steak Bites.
Or, serve it with some delicious and simple vegetables on the side like Broccolini or a Roasted Beet Salad with Chèvre Green Goddess Dressing.
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