The Best and Creamiest Loaded Baked Potato Soup
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All the flavor of your favorite baked potatoes in a bowl of creamy soup! My Loaded Potato Soup Recipe is sinfully creamy and contains plenty of gooey cheese and crispy bacon. Enjoy a comforting bowl on those blustery, cold nights!
Why you’ll love this Recipe for Baked Potato Soup!
Ingredient Notes
- Potatoes — Choose baking varieties like Idaho or Russet potatoes and cook them in the oven before getting started. You could even substitute a few red potatoes in your cheddar potato soup. In fact, all types of potatoes should work.
- Chicken broth — This adds an incredible amount of flavor! Grab a carton from the store or make your own from chicken bones and fresh veggies.
- Milk — You may use whatever you have in your fridge or replace some of the milk with heavy cream for a thicker consistency.
- Cheddar cheese — Always buy a block and shred it by hand! Bagged shreds contain extra ingredients to prevent clumping, but these prevent the cheese from melting smoothly.
- Sour cream — Plain Greek yogurt is an excellent substitute.
- Bacon — Fry the strips in a pan or cook them in the oven at the same time as the potatoes. If you make a large batch for breakfast, crumble the extras into small pieces and store them in the fridge for recipes such as these! Be sure to save the bacon grease for other uses as well!
How to Make Loaded Potato Soup
This meal requires a little bit of time-consuming prep work — for instance, baking the potatoes and frying the bacon — but it’s worth it!
STEP 1 | Bake the potatoes
Wash and scrub the potatoes thoroughly, removing any dirt and grime with a vegetable brush. Then, pierce the skin several times with a fork and place in a baking pan. You may wrap the potatoes in aluminum foil (or simply oil the skins and sprinkle a little salt on them).
Bake the potatoes until they are soft, then slice them open and carefully scoop out the pulp.
STEP 2 | Saute the onions
Dice a small yellow onion. Melt the butter over medium heat in a Dutch oven or large pot on the stove top. Add the onion to the melted butter and cook until soft.
Mix in the flour and continue cooking for another 10 minutes. Slowly stir in the broth to avoid any lumps, then add the milk. For a richer soup, use whole milk.
STEP 3 | Bring to a boil
Once the liquid is bubbling, stir in the potato pulp and sour cream. I like to leave my soup a little chunky, but if you may use an immersion blender or a potato masher for a smoother soup.
STEP 4 | Melt in the cheese
Reduce the heat to a low simmer. Add a handful of shredded sharp cheddar cheese at a time, stirring constantly to help it melt evenly into the pot.
STEP 5 | Add bacon and serve
Taste and season the hot soup with salt and black pepper to taste. If desired, add a dash of garlic powder, too.
Lastly, stir in the bacon crumbles and spoon the loaded potato soup into bowls. Add your favorite toppings and enjoy!
Tips from the Home Chef’s Kitchen
Variations and Substitutions
- For vegetarian Baked Potato Soup leave out the bacon and substitute the chicken broth with vegetable broth.
- If preparing this comforting soup for a party, keep it warm in a slow cooker and set out the toppings in small bowls.
Storage and Reheating Tips
- Let the soup cool to room temperature before storing leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. I do not recommend freezing this soup.
- To reheat soup the next day, thin it with a splash of milk and warm it slowly on the stove top, stirring frequently.
Frequently Asked Questions
You sure can! Simply leave out the bacon and replace the chicken broth with vegetable broth instead. It will still be just as tasty, and you’ll save some calories too!
Warm leftovers over low heat on the stove, stirring occasionally. Add a splash of broth as needed if the consistency is too thick.
Lumps and curdling are often caused by rapid changes in temperature, so it helps to bring dairy ingredients to room temperature first. Measure out the milk and sour cream, then let them sit on the counter while you start the soup.
Also, slowly pour in the broth and milk while stirring constantly so the flour dissolves smoothly into the liquid.
Looking for More Creamy Soup Recipes?
In my opinion, Creamy Chicken Pot Pie Soup is just the very best soup, but I think you’ll also enjoy my Chicken Florentine Soup or this copycat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Soup — all have a rich and creamy base and plenty of flavor!
Serving suggestions
While this cheddar potato soup is hearty enough for a meal on its own, you can’t go wrong with some crusty bread for mopping up every last drop!
Be sure to save extra bacon, cheese, and green onions to sprinkle on top. You can even add extra toppings like some sliced avocado or a dollop of sour cream!
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Loaded Potato Soup
Ingredients
- 4 large or 6 medium potatoes
- 1 small onion diced
- 3 tablespoons butter
- ⅓ cup flour
- 2 ½ cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 3 cups milk
- 1 ½ cups cheddar cheese
- ½ cup light sour cream
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 5-6 slices bacon fried crisp and crumbled, (optional)
- chives or green onions for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Wash and dry potatoes and prick 5-6 times with fork. Bake approximately 1 hour or until soft. Cool completely, then slice in half and remove pulp for the soup, leaving some pulp in chunks.
- Melt butter in large pot over low heat; sauté onions five minutes. Add flour and cook and stir (this mixture will be very thick) about 10 minutes.
- Slowly add chicken broth a little at a time, stirring constantly until thickened and bubbly. Next, gradually add milk. Bring to a boil, then add potatoes, sour cream, and 1 cup cheese.
- Reduce heat and stir gently until cheese melts. Taste and season with the salt and pepper, then add the bacon (or reserve it for topping).
- Garnish with more cheese and chives or green onions, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Life Love and Good Food does not claim to be a registered dietician or nutritionist. Nutritional information shared on this site is only an estimate. We recommend running the ingredients through an online nutritional calculator if you need to verify any information.
About Sheila Thigpen
Recipe Developer, Food Photographer, Food Writer
Sheila Thigpen is the publisher of Life, Love, and Good Food — a Southern food blog — and the author of Easy Chicken Cookbook and The 5-Ingredient Fresh and Easy Cookbook. After 20+ years in the publishing industry, she retired in 2018 to focus on her own creative endeavors full time. She and her husband live near the beautiful Smoky Mountains and have a precious little granddaughter who has stolen their hearts. As an influencer, Sheila has collaborated with brands like Creamette, Kroger, HERSHEY’S, Hamilton Beach, Garafalo Pasta, OXO, Smithfield, Valley Fig Growers, and more.
This creamy potato soup is the ultimate comfort food meal! We love all the “loaded” toppings, too.
I made this for dinner tonight and it was so delicious! Everyone loved it, even my dad who isn’t an avid soup eater. I didn’t really make any fancy changes to the recipe, but I did decide too double the bacon, cheese and sour cream. Okay, so maybe I might have tripled the bacon, but lets not talk about that. The only extra ingredient I added too my own bowl was a little garlic powder because I just love garlicy potatoes. I served this with a side of warm chibata bread and a fresh garden salad. It was just the most perfect meal. I’ll have to make this again when the weather starts getting cooler.
I love potato soup, and I’m really liking your soup bowl. I have one in white, but want one in burgundy now. PINed and Tweeted.
Dewqelicious! Very flavorful and not heavy! Very easy to make. I added in diced carrots and celery and it went over great. Thank you
This is exactly what we need for dinner tonight, Sheila, a filling and warming soup! Switch out the chicken broth with vegetable broth (for veggie daughter) and this is a meal we can all enjoy! The weather has decided that winter is here and all I can think about cooking is soup! 🙂
Delicious! Just made it and loved it. Thank you!
That’s great to hear, Ali! Glad you liked it as much as we did!
I am so incredibly jealous that you had snow, here in Australia it is too hot at the moment! Definitely going to be saving your baked potato soup recipe for the cooler months – it looks seriously delicious!
Thank you, Thalia. Don’t be too jealous–there were only snow flurries and they disappeared by morning.
Emily, I’m so glad you liked the soup and am glad to hear that the Greek yogurt worked as a substitute…I love using Greek yogurt when I have it on hand.
My family and I loved this potato soup recipe. I doubled it and also added a handful of diced celery in with the onion. Also I substituted plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. It is definitely a keeper! My children loved it and even got seconds. We love soups, especially in the winter. I will be making this potato soup recipe again!