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This creamy, cheesy potato soup is the ultimate comfort food. It can be prepared and on the table in about 35 minutes. Serve with crusty bread and a salad for a complete dinner everyone will love.
Featured with this Recipe
I often refer to this cheesy potato soup recipe as loaded potato soup because the flavors remind me of eating a baked potato or mashed potatoes with all of my favorite potato toppings. Think cheese, bacon, and scallions with a creamy savory sauce. It is the ultimate comfort food on cold winter nights when I want to feel cozy and wrapped up in a hug.
I save this soup recipe for busy days because it takes 35 minutes to prepare but it tastes like it has been simmering for hours. I love potatoes in any form, but this soup is one of my favorites.
How to Make Cheesy Potato Soup
You know you are going to love a soup when the first ingredient is bacon. Am I right? Add onions, potatoes, cheese, half and half, and some seasonings, and you’ll have a rich, creamy soup on the dinner table in no time.
- Cook bacon – Cook bacon and cut it into ½” pieces. Place bacon pieces in a large saucepan or Dutch oven and cook over medium-high heat until bacon is crispy. Carefully remove the bacon from the pot and place it on a paper towel to drain. Set aside. Pour off most of the grease from the pot but leave about 3 to 4 tablespoons of the grease in the pot. Do not wipe clean.
- Saute – Add diced onion to the pot and sauté until onions become soft and clear.
- Simmer – Sprinkle flour over the onions and stir well to combine. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 3 minutes.
- Whisk – Slowly add chicken broth, whisking constantly with a large whisk to make a slurry. Bring to a boil.
- Prepare potatoes – Peel and cut potatoes into 1″ cubes. Add diced potatoes to the pot and reduce to medium heat. Simmer potatoes for 10-12 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender, stirring often.
- Blend – Add half and half and stir until well combined. If you don’t have half and half, you can use 1 cup milk and 1 cup heavy cream. Carefully place half of the soup in a blender, immersion blender, or food processor and blend until smooth. Be careful not to overfill the blender. You may want to do this in batches.
- Combine – Add the blended mixture back to the soup pot and stir in shredded cheese and cooked bacon. Add salt and pepper to taste. If not serving right away, pour the soup into a slow cooker to keep warm until ready to serve.
- Load it up – Place in individual bowls and garnish with additional shredded cheese, sour cream, and/or chopped green onion.
Cheesy Potato Soup Variations
You can make this soup extra hearty with all kinds of other ingredients. Add in more meats, vegetables, or even flavor to make it your way. These options are endless!
- Meat – Try cooking and slicing ham, chicken, or sausage into the soup.
- Veggies – Use fresh or frozen corn, celery, broccoli, carrots, zucchini, or peas for more of a vegetarian soup.
- Herbs – Try garlic, chives, parsley, or oregano for added flavor.
- Spicy – Give it a kick of heat by adding chiles, red pepper flakes, or even sriracha to the soup.
- Cream cheese – Make it like Panera Bread and add 8 ounces of cream cheese to your soup. It makes it extra creamy!
- Butter – A tablespoon of butter adds richness and gives the soup a smooth buttery texture.
Tips for the Best Cheesy Potato Soup
Make this cheesy potato soup flawless with these helpful tips! They are simple to use and will take this soup to the next level. Your friends and family will be raving about your cheesy potato soup!
Picking the Right Potatoes – Choose the right potatoes like russet potatoes or Yukon gold potatoes. They both have a creamy texture to them.
Cutting – When cutting or adding vegetables or meat try to cut in uniform to have even cooking throughout the process.
Sauteing – If you plan to add more veggies, make sure to saute them with the onions.
Roux – Make a roux by mixing flour with the butter or broth. This will be a thick and smooth mixture that is raw to the taste. Make sure not to burn it or brown it too much.
Add Liquids Slowly – When adding in the liquid make sure to do it slowly and carefully while you are stirring the soup at the same time. This will give the soup a consistent creamy texture that is smooth while cooking.
Quality cheese – Choose a good quality block cheese that you can hand shred. The cheese will melt properly and evenly if it is hand-shredded. Prepackaged shredded cheese has a coating on it that doesn’t melt as well into the soup.
“The best comfort food! It’s so tasty and comes out so creamy! Love it!”
-Suzy
Frequently Asked Questions
For this recipe, we use flour as a thickener, but cornstarch can also be used to thicken.
For an extra creamy texture, buttery Yukon golds are the absolute best for this potato soup recipe. But, if you don’t have any on hand, red potatoes or Idaho russets will do just fine.
When we say this soup is loaded, we mean it’s stuffed with all those delicious fixings you normally pile on top of a baked potato: cheese, crispy bacon, vibrant green onions, sour cream, more cheese. You know, the works! This potato soup is wonderfully versatile that way. You can add as much or as little of these toppings as you like.
Read Next: 35+ Easy Lunch Ideas
How to Store Soup Properly
Unfortunately, this cheesy potato soup does not freeze well but can be stored in an airtight container for four to five days. It is a great meal prep to have all week or enjoy it as a family dinner. This cheesy potato soup is a family favorite year round!
- Storage – Place the cooled-down potato cheese soup into an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for four to five days.
- Reheating – When ready to reheat, place the soup in a microwaveable bowl or on the stovetop. Warm it up slowly until it reaches a desired temperature to enjoy.
More Soup Recipes with Potato
Being from Idaho, comforting potato recipes are our love language. We have several potato soup classics for you to try. One of our favorites is Loaded Baked Potato Soup, which is made with leftover baked potatoes.
Cheesy Potato Soup
Video
Ingredients
- 6-8 slices bacon
- 1 medium onion diced
- 4 tablespoons flour
- 2 quarts chicken broth (8 cups)
- 10 Yukon gold potatoes
- 2 cups half and half
- 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese shredded
- kosher salt to taste
- ground black pepper to taste
- shredded cheese for garnish, optional
- sour cream optional
- green onion for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Cook bacon and cut it into ½" pieces. Place bacon pieces in a large saucepan or Dutch oven and cook over medium-high heat until bacon is crispy.
- Carefully remove the bacon from the pot and place it on a paper towel to drain. Set aside. Pour off most of the grease from the pot but leave about 3 to 4 tablespoons of the grease in the pot. Do not wipe clean.
- Add diced onion to the pot and sauté until onions become soft and clear.
- Sprinkle flour over the onions and stir well to combine. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 3 minutes.
- Slowly add chicken broth, whisking constantly with a large whisk to make a slurry. Bring to a boil.
- Peel and cut potatoes into 1" cubes. Add diced potatoes to the pot and reduce to medium heat. Simmer potatoes for 10 to 12 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender, stirring often.
- Add half and half and stir until well combined.
- Carefully place half of the soup in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Be careful not to overfill the blender. You may want to do this in batches.
- Add the blended mixture back to the soup pot and stir in shredded cheese and cooked bacon. Add salt and pepper to taste. If not serving right away, pour the soup into a slow cooker to keep warm until ready to serve.
- Place in individual bowls and garnish with additional shredded cheese, sour cream, and/or chopped green onion.
Notes
- This soup will stay in the fridge for up to a week.
- Tastes best when re-heated over the stove.
- Do not freeze.
This was so good! The whole family loved it. Thanks!
This was very tasty! This was one of the better potato soup recipes I have tried. Both my picky 6 and 9 year old actually ate it without much fuss which is definitely saying something. It also was pretty easy. I added a bit of celery, and carrots which blended up well, and added garlic and additional seasoning. It does make a ton though, so we will be enjoying it all weekend.
Do you blend only half the soup?? In step 8
I like some chunks of potatoe.
Yes, you only blend half so you are left with some potato chunks.
It doesn’t say when to add the bacon back in.
It says in step 9 to add it in with the cheddar cheese.
My first homemade soup, besides chilli. It was absolutely delicious. Seems it always takes me about twice as long to make most recipes I try, but I suppose that will reduce the next time I make this. Definitely a family favorite for soup day. Thank you for sharing it.
Easy and super tasty
Easy and tasty
I am diabetic and need to know the serving size. It says 10 serings, but not size of serving.
I appreciate the nutrional facts.
We don’t have exact serving size measurements. It is hard to determine exact serving sizes with homemade recipes.
It was good as is and the next time I made it I made changes that made it more of a loaded baked potato cross cheeseburger soup. Just added lean ground beef and a little rosemary and parsley. It was great.
Super easy and delicious. I used Velveeta cheese for a smoother texture.
Just made this! So yummy! Thank you for sharing😊
This is the ultimate comfort food for fall and winter. I have had a craving for some really great LBP soup…..and this hit the spot!! Seriously good and soooo easy to put together. Just make it!!! It is a keeper and will be in my regular rotation!! Thanks for sharing!
I use heavy whipping cream and not the half and half. I also use ham and not the bacon. I made the soup bowls out of the frozen bread dough only because I can no longer find bread soup bowls at my grocery stores. The family absolutely loves this Sunday dinner.
The best comfort food! It’s so tasty and comes out so creamy! Love it!
Such a great potato soup!! One of my favorites!