Winter calls for hearty, filling, warming soups - just like this delicious Baked Potato and Bacon Soup!
I love the simplicity of the ingredient list. The soup has just the right amount of onion in it. The potatoes thicken up the soup (no flour!) making it creamy, but chunks of potato give it texture.
This satisfying soup hits all the right notes, and it's customizable. Top it with scallions, cheese, and bacon - or don't. If you've got a small family, you're lucky enough to have leftovers!
I've made this potato soup for over 10 years, and I still love it. It's inexpensive to make, so it's easy on your budget!
This is the second time I've revamped this blog post. January is apparently when I like to make it! In 2012, I wrote:
Winter has finally arrived in St. Louis. Yesterday we reached a balmy high of 56F, and Alex and I took our dog for a leisurely walk. Today, we've had a few inches of snow, and when I walked my dog, it was 17F and felt like -1.
Although it happened to be that cold again last week just about everywhere, you don't have to wait for frigid weather! It's great any time you need a cozy, warming bowl of carbs.
I love to have this soup with some Italian bread or cornbread on the side, but it's also delicious on its own.
[This post contains affiliate links. I may make a commission for purchases made through links on this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.]
Ingredients
I adapted this soup from a recipe from the now defunct Cooking Light. (Technically, it merged with Eating Well, a recipe magazine I actually preferred.)
One of the things I love about this soup is that it takes inexpensive pantry ingredients.
- Potatoes
- Milk
- Bacon
- Onion
- Broth or bouillon
- Garlic, a bay leaf, salt, and pepper
Potatoes form the backbone of the soup. I recommend starchy or all-purpose potatoes, like Russets or yellow potatoes. You want something that will mash and dissolve nicely. The potatoes also thicken the soup, meaning you don't need to use flour!
One of the things I love about this recipe was that while many cream soup recipes took sour cream or cream cheese, this one just took milk. I use 1% or 2% dairy milk in this soup. If you need a dairy-free soup, I recommend you find different recipe.
Bacon provides flavor. Frying bacon for this recipe is ideal, because then you get bacon pieces to garnish. However, I save my bacon grease every time I cook bacon and keep it in the fridge, so I sometimes use that instead. To skip bacon entirely, sauté the onions in butter, and try adding smoked paprika to the soup for a little smokiness.
Onion also provides a lot of flavor. If you can't eat onion (like on a low-FODMAP diet), you can try substituting 1 cup of leek greens, which should be low-FODMAP. Or you could add onion-infused oil.
[Disclaimer: these are suggestions only, and not medical advice. Check up-to-date resources on what you can or cannot eat on a low-FODMAP or any other diet.]
You can use broth or bouillon in this soup. I usually use bouillon because it lasts longer, and is often less expensive. If you use gluten-free broth or bouillon (not all are, unfortunately), then you can make your soup gluten-free!
Instructions
First, bake some potatoes. This works best if your potatoes are all the same size.
Heat your oven to 400F. Scrub your potatoes, pierce them with a fork a few times, and bake them for about an hour. This is usually long enough for 8-ounce potatoes. To text for doneness, pierce them a fork; if it doesn't go in easily, bake another 5 minutes. Repeat until potatoes are done.
You can save some time making the soup if you bake the potatoes in advance. Just refrigerate them, and pull them out of the fridge when you start the soup proper.
If your potatoes are hot out of the oven when you cut them, hold them in place with cooking tongs.
Peel the potatoes if you'd like. I personally like the skins in the soup, but I try to cut them into small pieces.
- In a large pot, fry your bacon. Meanwhile, chop your potatoes into bite-sized pieces.
- Remove the bacon from the pot and let rest on a paper towel lined plate.
- Saute the onion in the bacon grease, then add the garlic and bay leaf.
- Add the baked potatoes (with their skins, if desired), milk, broth, salt, and pepper.
- Bring the soup to a boil, and then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Once the soup has cooked, remove it from the heat and mash it with a potato masher (affiliate link) or an immersion blender (affiliate link).
Top the soup with reserved bacon, cheese, sour cream, a pat of butter, or chives/scallions as you'd like!
Hint: Stir the pot while you bring the soup to a boil, and occasionally while it simmers. This will keep milk or potato from scorching on the bottom.
Equipment
I usually use a potato masher (affiliate link) to break up the potatoes. I prefer this because I like my soup chunky.
You could use an immersion blender (affiliate link) instead, for a smoother soup. If you have neither of those tools, you can try using a sturdy flipping spatula to press the potatoes against the sides of the pot to break them up.
Storage
Serve the soup immediately. Since the soup contains dairy, refrigerate leftovers within one hour.
The soup will stay good in the refrigerator for a few days. Pay attention to the expiration date on your milk, and consume the leftover soup before that.
Top Tip
Get your soup to the texture you want! If your soup is too chunky even after you mash the potatoes, you can continue to simmer and stir, which should help break up the potatoes.
FAQ
Ideally, you want a potato that would become nice and fluffy, because the potatoes help thicken the soup. Choose baking potatoes like Russets or all-purpose potatoes like yellow potatoes. Russets practically dissolve when well-cooked and stirred in soup. All-purpose potatoes are a happy medium, giving you a thickened but chunky soup.
Waxy potatoes like red potatoes will hold their shape and will not thicken the soup. Your soup will be thinner, with distinct chunks of potato that have bite. Use them if that's all you have, but that's not what we're going for here.
More Soups
Try these other delicious and warming soups:
Pairing
Want some bread to go with the soup? Try these!
Interested in other recipes? I save and share recipes I like or want to try on my Pinterest page - follow me there! You can also check out my Facebook page for more recipes and helpful tips. I'm also happy to try to help troubleshoot my recipes there.
Have you tried this recipe? Or have a question about it? Rate it or leave a comment below! (PS: rating my recipes helps other people find them, too!)
📖 Recipe
Baked Potato and Bacon Soup
Ingredients
- 2 ¾ pounds baking potatoes (44 ounces)
- ⅓ pound bacon (5 ounces)
- 1 large onion (chopped)
- 2 cloves minced garlic (1 teaspoon)
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 ½ cups 2% milk (28 ounces) (add more for a thinner soup)
- 1 ½ cups chicken broth (12 ounces) (prefer low sodium; bouillon is fine)
- ½ teaspoon table salt (use less if your chicken broth is not low sodium)
- ¾ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- cheddar cheese, sour cream, green onions, other baked potato toppings
Instructions
Bake the Potatoes
- Choose potatoes that are all around the same size. Scrub and pierce potatoes with a fork.
- Bake in a 400F oven for about an hour (for 8-ounce potatoes). Potatoes are done once you can stick a fork all the way into them without much resistance. [See notes for if your potatoes are a different size.)
- Once potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel if desired. Cut in quarters lengthwise, then slice.
Make the Soup
- Fry bacon over medium heat in a large Dutch oven until crisped. Remove bacon and set aside for topping. Crumble it after it cools.
- Sauté onion in bacon drippings for about 5-10 minutes, until it turns translucent. Add garlic and bay leaf and cook for a few minutes longer.
- Add chopped baked potatoes with skins, milk, chicken broth, salt, and pepper, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes.
- Turn off heat and mash potatoes with potato masher (affiliate link). Mash a lot for thicker puree, and only a little for a thinner but chunkier soup. You can add extra milk if you would like the soup thinner as well.
- Taste the soup, and add extra salt if necessary. If the potatoes seem too chunky, you can simmer the soup gently while trying to mash them apart. Add extra milk to thin the soup, if desired.
- Top with reserved bacon and other toppings as desired.
- Store leftovers in the refrigerator within an hour, separately from toppings. Reheat soup before adding toppings when serving leftovers.
Notes
(Originally published January 12, 2012. Redone in January 2019 and January 2025 with updated recipe, text, and photos.
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