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Whether you’re looking for a new go-to soup, or just want something creamy and comforting, this Cheesy Potato Soup recipe is sure to satisfy! It is loaded with so much flavor.
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This cheesy potato soup is also referred to as loaded potato soup because it is loaded with all your favorite potato toppings. Think cheese, bacon, and scallions with a creamy savory sauce. It is the ultimate comfort food on 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 has 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 is also easy to make!
Ingredients in this Delicious Cheesy Potato Soup
These pantry staple ingredients work well together creating a comforting and flavorful cheesy potato soup. It is so simple to make and comes together in minutes. This is a family favorite that we all love!
- Bacon – Cook the bacon and cut into bite-sized pieces.
- Onion – Slice the onion into small pieces before adding it to the pan.
- Flour – This will help thicken the soup and give it the texture and depth that it needs.
- Chicken broth – Broth gives the soup a savory and flavorful liquid. You can also use a low-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth.
- Potatoes – Yukon gold potatoes or russet potatoes work great! Cut the potatoes into one-inch thick cubes. Try and cut them evenly to help them cook together.
- Half and half – Make this extra creamy with half and half. This is the base for a cheese sauce mixture. To make it even thicker, you can use heavy cream or lighter with a milk base.
- Cheese – Freshly shred sharp cheddar cheese for a rich and bold flavor.
- Garnish – Top your cheesy potato soup with sour cream and green onion for garnish.
How to Make the Best Cheesy Potato Soup
Create the best soup in minutes with this easy cheesy potato soup! Kids to adults love this soup and is a family favorite when we make it. It is rich, thick, and creamy with all your favorite ingredients. It is the perfect combination!
- 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. 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.
- Serve – 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 – Garlic, chives, parsley, or oregano for extra flavor combinations.
- Spicy – Chiles, red pepper flakes, or sriracha are added to the soup to give it a little kick of heat.
- Cream cheese – Make it like Panera Bread and add cream cheese to their soup and it is delicious!
- 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!
- Potatoe options – Choose the right potatoes like russet or Yukon gold. They both have a creamy texture to them. Other potatoes will break down and become mushy in the soup.
- 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.
- Adding liquid – 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 cheese that you can hand shred or a cheese that is pre-shredded in thick pieces. The cheese will melt properly and evenly if it is hand-shredded.
“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.
Yes, but first of all, make sure you store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge. Then 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 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 gluten-free. 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
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 actual BAKED potatoes. So yummy!
How to Make Cheesy Potato Soup
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!
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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