š„ Creamy Loaded Baked Potato Soup
Thick, Cheesy & Loaded with Comfort
DOOZY DELISH | SOUPTEMBERā¢
There are soups you eat because youāre hungry. Then there are soups that make you seriously consider canceling whatever you were supposed to do for the rest of the evening.
Loaded Baked Potato Soup is the second kind.
Creamy potatoes, sharp cheddar cheese, crispy bacon, sour cream, and green onions come together in one ridiculously comforting bowl. It has everything you love about a loaded baked potato, except somebody had the good sense to turn the whole thing into soup.
And since this is Souptemberā¢, we’re not interested in thin, sad potato water pretending to be dinner. This one is thick, rich, hearty, and absolutely loaded.
Welcome to bowl #2. š²
š Soup Season Is Here
September occupies that strange little stretch of the calendar when summer hasn’t completely surrendered, but fall is already knocking on the door.
The mornings get cooler. The days get shorter. Football is back. Hoodies start migrating out of closets. And suddenly a big pot of homemade soup sounds considerably more appealing than it did when it was 92 degrees outside.
That’s what Souptemberā¢ is all about.
Throughout September, DOOZY DELISH is celebrating some of our favorite soups, chowders, stews, and other bowls of comfort.
After kicking things off with Broccoli Cheddar Soup, we’re going straight for one of the heavy hitters.
Loaded. Baked. Potato. Soup.
Let’s make something awesome.
š What You’ll Need
For the soup
- 6 slices thick-cut bacon
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- Ā¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2Ā½ pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into roughly Ā½-inch cubes
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- Ā½ teaspoon black pepper
- Ā½ teaspoon garlic powder
- Ā½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1Ā½ cups freshly shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- Ā½ cup sour cream
For loading it up
- Reserved crispy bacon
- Extra shredded cheddar
- Sour cream
- Sliced green onions or chives
- Freshly cracked black pepper
Serves: about 6
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 35ā40 minutes
Total time: about 1 hour
š² Let’s Make Some Soup
1. Get that bacon crispy
Add the bacon to a large Dutch oven or heavy soup pot and cook over medium heat until crispy.
Transfer the bacon to a paper-towel-lined plate and crumble or chop it once cool enough to handle.
Leave about 2 tablespoons of bacon drippings in the pot.
Yes, we’re cooking the soup in bacon drippings.
Souptemberā¢ isn’t here to judge your life choices.
2. Build the flavor
Add the butter and diced onion to the pot.
Cook over medium heat for about 4ā5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft and translucent.
Add the garlic and cook for another 30ā60 seconds, just until fragrant.
Don’t burn the garlic. Burnt garlic has ruined enough perfectly innocent dinners.
3. Make it creamy
Sprinkle the flour over the onions and stir continuously for about 1 minute.
Slowly pour in the chicken broth while whisking or stirring so the flour incorporates smoothly.
Add the milk and heavy cream and stir well.
4. Bring in the potatoes
Add the cubed potatoes, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.
Bring the soup to a gentle simmer.
Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for approximately 15ā20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are fork-tender.
Avoid a hard boil once the dairy is in. Gentle heat gives you a smoother, creamier soup.
5. Here’s the trick š„
Once the potatoes are tender, use a potato masher to lightly mash some of the potatoes directly in the pot.
Don’t obliterate them.
You want to mash enough potato to naturally thicken the soup while leaving plenty of soft potato chunks behind.
This is what gives you that thick, hearty texture without turning dinner into potato purƩe.
6. Make it cheesy
Turn the heat to low.
Add the shredded cheddar a handful at a time, stirring until melted before adding more.
Then stir in the sour cream.
Taste and adjust the salt and pepper as needed.
Finally, stir about half of the cooked bacon into the soup and save the rest for topping.
At this point, things have become fairly serious.
š§ Load That Bowl
Ladle the hot soup into bowls and pile on:
Cheddar. Bacon. Sour cream. Green onions. Black pepper.
This isn’t the moment for restraint.
The toppings aren’t merely decoration. They’re what transform creamy potato soup into Loaded Baked Potato Soup.
Serve it with crusty bread, warm rolls, garlic bread, or a simple salad if you’d like to maintain the illusion that we’re being responsible adults.
š« The Doozy Tip: Shred Your Own Cheese
That bag of pre-shredded cheddar is convenient, but freshly shredded cheese melts much better.
Packaged shredded cheese is generally coated with anti-caking ingredients that help prevent the shreds from sticking together. Unfortunately, those coatings can also make your cheese sauce less smooth.
Grab a block of sharp cheddar and shred it yourself.
A couple of extra minutes. Much better soup.
Wicked little upgrade.
š„ Want It Even Better?
A few easy ways to make this soup your own:
Extra Thick: Mash a little more of the potato.
Extra Cheesy: Increase the cheddar to 2 cups.
Extra Bacon: I’m not going to explain how to accomplish this. I have faith in you.
Little Kick: Add a pinch of cayenne or a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce.
Smokier: Try smoked cheddar for part of the regular cheddar.
More Texture: Leave the potato skins on some of the potatoes after scrubbing them thoroughly.
š„” Leftovers Are Your Friend
Store leftover soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for about 3ā4 days.
When reheating, use low heat on the stovetop and stir frequently. The soup will thicken considerably in the refrigerator, so add a splash of milk or broth until it reaches the consistency you want.
I don’t love freezing creamy potato soup. Potatoes and dairy can both change texture after freezing and thawing.
Besides, this is Loaded Baked Potato Soup.
The probability of having enough left over to freeze seems optimistic.
ā The Awesome Meterā¢
Comfort: š«š«š«š«š«
Difficulty: Easy
Weeknight Worthy: Absolutely
Leftover Potential: Excellent
Cold-Weather Awesomeness: Off the charts
THE VERDICT: AWESOME.
Creamy without being soupy, cheesy without completely overwhelming the potatoes, and loaded with enough bacon and toppings to make every spoonful interesting.
This is exactly what Souptemberā¢ is supposed to taste like.
š² A Bowl of Awesome Awaits…
Summer gets plenty of attention.
But eventually the nights get cooler, the leaves start changing, and your dinner deserves an upgrade from whatever you’ve been throwing on the grill since June.
That’s when the soup pot comes out.
Broccoli Cheddar started our Souptemberā¢ journey. Loaded Baked Potato just turned up the comfort level.
And we’re only getting started.
Good food. Cozy nights. Big bowls.
That’s September done right.
Make Life Awesome.ā¢
DOOZYDOO | DOOZY DELISH
SOUPTEMBERā¢ | A Bowl of Awesome Awaits… š²
