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Whether you’re looking for a new go-to soup, or just want to try something different, this Easy Cheesy Loaded Potato Soup recipe is sure to satisfy!
Featured with this Recipe
This warm and comforting bowl of soup has all of your favorite potato toppings like cheese, bacon, and scallions with a creamy savory sauce. It’s perfect for those cold winter nights when you want to feel cozy and wrapped up in a hug. It only takes 35 minutes to prepare, but tastes like it’s been simmering for hours. We love potatoes in any form, but this soup is one of our favorites. Not only is it delicious, but it’s also easy to make!
Ingredients in this Loaded Potato Soup
- Bacon
- Onion
- Flour
- Chicken broth
- Yukon gold potatoes (russet potatoes work too)
- Half and half
- Sharp cheddar cheese
- Kosher salt
- Ground black pepper
- Shredded cheese for garnish, optional
- Sour cream optional
- Green onion for garnish, optional
What Else Can I Add to Potato Soup?
You can make this soup extra hearty with all kinds of other ingredients. We love to add:
- Ham
- Corn
- Celery
- Garlic
- Chives
- Chiles
- Chicken
- Carrots
- Broccoli
- Cream Cheese (Panara Bread adds this to their soup and it’s delicious!)
- Butter
- Zucchini
- Peas
Frequently Asked Questions About this Soup
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.
In small servings, this soup tastes delicious when you reheat it. But we suggest you warm it up on the stove rather than the microwave. The microwave doesn’t heat it evenly and causes the potatoes to taste grainy. We would also recommend you use up leftovers within three days.
Because of the cream in the soup base, this soup doesn’t freeze very well. This is one soup that is absolutely best when served fresh, or reheated within a couple of days. Plus, it’s so delicious that we rarely have leftovers.
Most potato soup recipes are not GF. However, for this recipe, all you need to do is swap out the flour for your favorite gluten-free brand. Everything else stays the same and we promise you won’t even be able to tell the difference.
Read Next: 35+ Easy Lunch Ideas
More Scrumptious Potato Soups
If potato soups are your love language, we have several comforting classics for you to try. One of our favorites is Loaded Baked Potato Soup, which is made with actual BAKED potatoes. So yummy!
How to Make Cheesy Loaded Potato Soup
Easy Cheesy Loaded Potato Soup
Video
Ingredients
- 6-8 slices bacon chopped into 1/2″ pieces
- 1 medium onion diced
- 4 tablespoons flour
- 2 quarts chicken broth (8 cups)
- 10 Yukon gold potatoes peeled and cut into 1″ cubes
- 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
- Place bacon pieces in a soup pot or Dutch oven and cook over medium-high heat until bacon is crispy.
- Carefully remove bacon from the pot and place on a paper towel to drain. Set aside. Pour off most of the grease from the pot but leave about 3-4 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 become combined. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 3 minutes.
- Slowly add chicken broth, whisking constantly with a large whisk. Bring to a boil.
- Add diced potatoes and reduce heat. Simmer potatoes for 10-12 minutes or until potatoes are 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.
- Place in individual bowls and garnish with additional shredded cheese, sour cream, and/or chopped green onion.
Notes
- This soup will stay good in the fridge for up to a week.
- Tastes best when re-heated over the stove.
- Do not freeze.
Nutrition Information
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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!
What a fabulously comforting dish! Love how there’s a mix of crispy bacon and potatoes. They definitely are a great duo. Thanks for sharing!
I made loaded potatoes many times but I have never tried loaded potato soup. It looks super comforting. Thank you for the recipe!
A loaded potato in liquid form… Delish! So perfect for a cool fall day!
This is comfort food to the max! Love the cheesy creaminess of this recipe!
This is my kind of comfort food! 🙂 Definitely making this for my family below.
Drooling Over this soup. Looks so delicious and creamy. Thanks for sharing
This is going on the stove for this evening’s dinner. This was one of my favorite soups growing up in the midwest and once the weather gets cool it’s time again. Love the additions and thanks for the tips on not freezing it!
I made this last night. I didn’t have enough chicken broth so I used water to make up for it. I also used heavy whipping cream instead of half and half. I forgot I broke my blender. lol. so I used and old fashion potato smasher. Yes issue after issue. I have to say. this soup is so delicious!!!!! This will be a recipe to keep. Flavor was amazing. Just imagine if I had proper items for the job! …..LOVE LOVE this!
So my daughter and I tried making soup for the first time tonight…and loved it! It was simple enough for newbies and it tasted so good! We highly recommend rolls to dip.
This is one of the best soup recipes!! Thank you so much!!!
The best kind of comfort food! We love how creamy potato soup is and taste just like a baked potato!
This soup is delicious! So rich and creamy, I enjoyed every spoonful! Already added more potatoes to my shopping list for another batch!
This potato soup is AMAZING. Comfort food at its finest!
Greatest potato soup recipe ever!
My husband and daughter said it’s the best soup I’ve ever made – and I make a LOT of soup! Highly recommend.
I absolutely love this soup. I made it 2 weeks ago, my first attempt at making potato soup and it was amazing. Making more today
This was my first time making potatoes soup and it was a winner . my grand daughters has never had it and they loved it . it had a rich creamy texture and rich flavor .
I made this soup just now , my family likes heavier soups so I used 5 russet potatoes and cooked them in broth with onions, when they were tender I whisked in the flour and cheese, no need for half and half and it was wonderful
So glad you liked it! Great idea using extra potatoes to “beef it up”. Thanks for sharing how you made this recipe a success and thanks for the 5 stars!
It was just ok considering the labor input. I was expecting something with lots more flavor and texture.
I made this tonight for dinner and blended it smooth with my immersion blender and it turned out wonderfully! My picky kiddo is on her second bowl.
Just made it and it is amazing! I didn’t have half and half – so I used milk and it worked perfectly.
Substitute procedures for the blender? How crucial is the blending? Started entire process without reading thru instructions first (rookie mistake) and I’m blenderless.. lol
FAIL.
You definitely don’t have to blend it! It will just be a chunkier chowder, rather than a soup! Let us know how it turned out!
This is totally delicious. I will try this by Sunday.
Thanks for sharing
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