Winter weather means soup. For my family, soup usually means something extremely hearty that sticks to your ribs and will keep you warm through a cold night on the Great Plains. (which, if you’ve never experienced it, can be very cold indeed!) For me the king of all rich and hearty soups is potato soup and this is my take on it.
This soup is hearty and filling. It’s incredibly thick, sumptuous, rich and warming. It’s slightly thicker than most potato soups and the bacon adds a certain richness to the earthy flavor of the potatoes that I don’t think ham quite accomplishes, though it’s the more traditional addition to this dish.
A warning, though. If you’re looking for something light, this ain’t it. There’s enough cream and butter I this recipe to make staunch dieters cower in fear, and your cholesterol levels may never be the same again. Having said this, I only recommend this dish as an occasional treat. One to be savored when the weather is chill and the nights are long. It’s not every day fare, it’s comfort food at the highest level, with the calorie count to match.
This recipe makes enough to serve about eight people, but don’t worry about scaling back if you’re only serving one or two. It freezes exremely well and can be kept sealed in the chill chest for three to six months in airtight containers. That way it’s just waiting for you the next time the weather gets seriously chilly and you’re in need of a wintertime booster shot of soothing warmth.
Thick and Creamy Potato Bacon Soup
Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb (1/2 package) thick cut pepper bacon, cooked until crisp and chopped
- 2 – 3 tbsp. Bacon drippings
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 5 lbs. russet or red potatoes, peeled and cut in 1-inch cubes
- 32 oz. chicken stock (approximate)
- 1/2 pint heavy cream
- 1/8 lb (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Cook bacon using preferred method until crisp. (I bake thick cut bacon on a cooling rack over a sheet pan so that it remains flat). Allow to cool and chop or crumble into small pieces. Reserve several tablespoons of drippings. (add more bacon drippings if onions look dry. This will depend on the size of your pot and particular onion.)
Place a large soup pot or heavy casserole over medium heat. Add 2 tbsp. bacon drippings and cook onions, stirring frequently, until translucent. Add garlic and cook another 2 minutes, stirring often.
Add potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally for a few minutes. When everything is sizzling nicely, add enough stock to just cover potatoes. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for approximately 15 to 20 minutes or until potatoes are fork-tender.
Mash potatoes roughly with a potato masher. Scoop out about half of the remaining mixture and puree in a blender (in batches!) or food processor. (Or if you’ve got an immersion blender, go for it with that.) Make sure to leave a good bit of the potatoes chunky, for texture.
Add butter and heavy cream. Stir to combine well. Taste for seasoning and add more stock if soup is too thick for your liking. When the consistency is right for you, stir in bacon and bring to just a bare simmer, stirring often.
Serve hot. Garnish with additional crumbled bacon and some chives or green onions.
Share and Enjoy!
What I would have done differently had I thought of it at the time:
I wish I’d had some fresh parsley on hand for a garnish. Lacking that, the onions and bacon did just fine.
Expect to see a few variations on this recipe over the winter. It’s really my basic potato soup recipe. There are many more ways to mix this one up for something completely unique!
Links to other recipes like this:
- Potato Soup with Bacon and Vegetables, from European Cuisines
- Hearty potato Soup with crumbled Turkey Bacon, from The Good Eatah
- Loaded Baked Potato Soup, from bitchincamero
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Category : Recipes
Jerry, great photo of a wonderful soup. These off-white soups are hard to capture despite how tasty they are.
Thanks peter! The secret to an off-white anything is a dark bowl or plate. Gotta have contrast!
Great picture Jerry! That soup looks great and next time I get my hands on 5 lbs of potatoes I will definitely be making this!
Hey mang,
Considering the addition of bacon, I wonder what a squeeze of fresh lemon would be like? Huge fan of the citrus!
I need to do more soup, but not today. It’s going to be 70 + with breezes. Mebbe this weekend!
Biggles
Thanks jerry, Its nice looking in picture. But after seeing this I cant control myself to prepare and Eat.
This sounds like it would be good on a cold snowy Kansas night. They’ll be here soon enough.
Judy,
You don’t have 5 lbs lying around? Wow. Must be the Southern boy in me. I never have less than a 10 lb bag of russets at the ready.
Biggles,
I dunno ’bout the lemon… Mebbee would be good. Why not make it and let us know when and if the weather in the Bay area cools down a bit?
Johanna,
It warmed us up on one of our cooler nights. Of course, It’s not bad cold on a warm afternoon, either.
this looks so good!
Hi Jerry,
I just found your site when looking for a yummy potato soup recipe. I absolutely love your blog, pictures, writing style, and best of all – the soup was delicious! It is just starting to dip down into the winter temps where I live and this was the perfect comfort food! I look forward to some more culinary inspiration from your site…so keep ‘em coming!
Jerry, thanks for the link back to our site!
Love the garnish on your soup, BTW. :)
Stop in and check up on us — we’re having our annual Irish recipe festival and breaking in a new camera. ;)
Best! ECL
Hi Jerry,
I saw your recipe for creamy potato and bacon and it looks great, this winter I’m gonna make this recipe for my son and I-can’t wait to make and try it(I really love bacon) thanks for having this recipe available for me to try. Thanks again outlw811
I made this tonight and it was amazing, thanks for posting!!!
[...] Wednesday – I have some bacon and potatoes, so baked potatoes might be on the menu. However, if I get a chance to pick up a few extra ingredients, I’d love to try this Thick and Creamy Potato Bacon Soup. [...]
where’s the recipe?? All i get is comments….
A little Blue Stilton cheese is divine sprinkled on a bowl of this soup, not sure how easy it is for you folks to get on that side of the pond but I guess any very strong, crumbly blue cheese would work.
lemon makes it, try it – squeeze a half lemon for acid and sprinkle popcorn on top…YUM
My husband is a picky eater. I want to make a creamy potato soup/chowder. He doesn’t like onions unless it is soo finely chopped that he doesn’t even know it is there. Like he can have onion powder. So can i substitute onion powder? Also pepper he isn’ t a fan.
Any ideas…thanks
@Colin,
Thanks for the tip!
@lambchop
I hadn’t thought of that… I’ll give it a shot next time I make this
@jaylene
I don’t know that I’d use onion powder, but you could grate the onion… After a while cooking it will simply dissolve, but the flavor will be more potent so use a littl less. Pepper is entirely up to your tastes!
I’m doing a 30 day “Living off the Land” challenge where we eat from our pantry and deep freezer almost exclusively. With 10lbs of potatoes staring at me I googled and up came this delicious recipe. I’ll be adding it to my list of recipes this week with a link to your page. Love your site, I have a feeling I’ll be back often!
[...] 3rd – Potato & Bacon Soup – served with warm crusty [...]
i was looking for a base for a potato bacon soup, one that was rich & held lots of flavor and stumbled upon this recipe of yours.. it’s perfect. i roasted some carrots and added them to the pot when preparing the potatoes.. then grated about a cup of aged 2 year old white cheddar and added that as well… a bay leaf also added a little extra flavor…when serving i added a drizzle of good olive oil… this was perfect on a cold winter day.
thanks so much.
Thanks for the recipe made it tonight it was great added some carrots and celery it was great .