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Loaded baked potato soup in a cream bowl with cheddar shreds, bacon, chives and a swirl of sour cream through the middle.
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Loaded Baked Potato Soup

This is the steakhouse soup you order every single time, except now it’s a whole pot and nobody’s rationing your bacon. This indulgent soup is perfect to make on repeat now that the sun's setting at 5 and all you want is to curl up in your favorite sweater.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time45 minutes
Total Time1 hour
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Servings: 6 (about 1 1/2 cups per bowl, before toppings)
Calories: 597kcal
Author: Kita Roberts

Equipment

Ingredients

For the Soup

  • 6 slices thick-cut bacon chopped
  • 1 medium yellow onion finely diced
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  • 6 medium Yukon Gold potatoes peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces (about 2 1/4 lbs)
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt plus more to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese shredded from a block
  • 1/2 cup full-fat sour cream
  • 2 green onions thinly sliced

For Loading It Up

  • Reserved crisp bacon
  • Extra shredded sharp cheddar
  • Sour cream
  • Sliced green onions
  • Freshly cracked black pepper

Instructions

Render the Bacon

  • Put the chopped bacon in a cold Dutch oven and set it over medium heat. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until deep golden and crisp at the edges. Starting cold pulls more fat out before the meat browns. Move the bacon to a paper towel lined plate and pour off all but 2 tablespoons of drippings.
    Chopped bacon rendered crisp in the bottom of a white Dutch oven, sitting in its own drippings.

Soften the Onion

  • Add the onion to the drippings and cook 4 to 5 minutes over medium, stirring, until translucent with a little gold at the edges. Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds, just until it smells like garlic instead of raw allium.
    Diced onion softening in the bacon drippings until translucent and golden at the edges.

Make the Roux

  • Stir in the butter and let it melt into the onions. Sprinkle the flour over the top and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly, until the flour looks wet and smells toasted rather than chalky.
    Flour sprinkled over the softened onion and bacon fat to start the roux.

Add the Broth

  • Pour in the broth in a thin stream while you stir, so the flour has no chance to seize into lumps. Scrape the bottom of the pot as you go.
    Chicken broth stirred into the roux, filling the Dutch oven with smooth golden liquid.

Simmer the Potatoes Soft

  • Stir in the potatoes, salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and garlic powder. Bring to a gentle boil, then drop to a bare simmer and cook uncovered 18 to 22 minutes, until a paring knife slides into a cube and it falls apart under the blade. Undercooked potato will not blend smooth.
    Potato chunks simmering tender in the seasoned broth with a potato masher resting in the pot.

Blend It Silky

  • Take the pot off the heat. Run an immersion blender through it in short bursts, moving around the pot, 30 to 45 seconds total, until the soup is even and glossy and coats the back of a spoon with no grain to it. Stop the second it looks smooth. Potato starch turns gummy if you keep the blade going.

Warm the Dairy

  • Pour in the milk and cream and return the pot to medium-low. Warm 5 minutes, until steaming with a few lazy bubbles at the edge. It should never come back to a boil.
    Milk and cream poured into the pot of paprika-tinted potato broth before stirring.

Melt the Cheese Off the Heat

  • Kill the heat completely. Add the cheddar in three handfuls, stirring until each one disappears before the next goes in. Stir in the sour cream last, then taste and adjust salt and pepper.
    The soup stirred smooth once the dairy goes in, deep orange from the smoked paprika.

Load It Up

  • Ladle into bowls and pile on the reserved bacon, more cheddar, a spoon of sour cream, and the green onions. Finish with cracked black pepper and serve hot.
    A pot of smooth loaded baked potato soup dusted with cracked black pepper, with bowls of cheddar, bacon, chives and potatoes alongside.

Notes

  • Blend before the cheese, never after. Cheddar under a blade splits into grease and grit and does not come back.
  • Yukon Gold blends cleaner than russet. If russets are what you have, blend in two or three short bursts and stop early.
  • Shred the cheddar from a block. Bagged shreds are dusted with potato starch and cellulose, which is why they melt grainy.
  • Do not rinse the cut potatoes. That starch is free body.
  • Make ahead: cook and blend through Step 6, cool, and refrigerate up to 3 days. Add the milk, cream, cheddar, and sour cream while reheating gently.
  • Fridge 4 days in an airtight container, toppings stored separately. Reheat over medium-low, never boiling, loosening with broth or milk.
  • Do not freeze the finished soup. Freeze the blended base before the dairy goes in, thaw overnight in the fridge, and add the dairy while reheating.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 597kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 19g | Fat: 41g | Saturated Fat: 21g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 13g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 102mg | Sodium: 835mg | Potassium: 1092mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 1094IU | Vitamin C: 36mg | Calcium: 251mg | Iron: 2mg