Baked Potato and Bacon Soup
This Baked Potato and Bacon Soup, made with a simple and short ingredient list, is hearty, creamy, and delicious! A satisfying meal for cold winter days.
Servings: 5
Calories: 413kcal
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. 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
You can make this soup more quickly if you have leftover baked potatoes. You can also microwave the potatoes instead of using the oven.
If your potatoes are smaller (5-ounces each), they may bake in 45 minutes; if they're larger, they will take longer. If your potatoes are different sizes, use tongs to remove smaller done potatoes, and bake the larger ones for more time. [Believe it or not, you can actually overbake small potatoes.] I also like to use tongs to hold the potatoes in place if I cut them while they're still hot.
Use starchy baking potatoes (like Russets) or all-purpose potatoes (like Yukon Golds), as they will release starch into the soup as they cook, helping thicken it. Red/waxy potatoes will hold their shape.
To make this soup vegetarian, skip the bacon entirely and sauté the onions in 4 tablespoons of butter.
If you cannot have dairy, I recommend you find a different recipe.
You can use 1 ½ teaspoons bouillon and 1 ½ cups water in place of broth.
To make this soup gluten-free, check the ingredients on the broth/bouillon to ensure that it doesn't have hidden gluten-containing ingredients.
Calorie count is calculated in MyNetDiary and is an estimate only. This estimate includes the bacon for topping, but does not include calories for any other topping.
Recipe adapted from Cooking Light magazine.
Originally posted in January 2012. Updated in January 2019 and January 2025.
Nutrition
Calories: 413kcal
