The Best Potato Soup Recipe Ever
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Calling this recipe The Best Potato Soup Recipe EVER might sound like Buzzfeed-style click-bait, but there’s a deliciously good reason why this recipe was featured by a popular YouTube channel and readers have pinned it over 300,000 times.
It’s that good.
Forget watery restaurant-style soups and canned versions. This recipe is guaranteed to be thick, cheesy, creamy, and oh-so-amazing. Consider this your excuse to add a big bowl of potato soup to your weekly meal plan, especially since winter is the prefect time to whip up soups, stews, and all sorts of steaming-hot goodies!
Although, just between you and me, I actually make this soup all year long. 😉
Now, I’m usually a simple recipe kind of gal, but I’ve got to be honest with you—this soup takes a little bit of prep. BUT…it’s totally worth it. Plus, you’ll have a big batch leftover that heats up just the same as fresh, even from the freezer.
Top with crispy bacon and freshly grated cheese, and no one will know the difference!
Related: The Master List of Foods You Can and Cannot Freeze
How to Make the Best Potato Soup Ever
Step 1: Peel and cut the potatoes and carrots. If you opt for baby carrots, you’ll save time and can just chop. Also, if you want to increase the veggie factor, go ahead and add a bit of celery too.
Step 2: Add all veggies to a large pot, sprinkle with onion flakes, and add enough water to cover the veggies. Bring everything to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 12 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
Step 3: Drain water after simmering. Let me repeat: drain water after simmering. I forgot to do this the first few times I made the recipe, which made it much too watery. That portion is now highlighted in my recipe binder to remind me!
Step 4: Beat cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl at medium speed until creamy.
Step 5: Add cream of chicken soup to butter-cream-cheese mixture, beating well, then gradually add milk. The key is gradually, otherwise milk will fly out all sides of the bowl. Just speaking from experience…ahem. Then beat until smooth.
Note: You can experiment with homemade cream of chicken soup instead of the canned version if you want to take this soup up a notch!
Step 6: Add milk mixture to vegetable mixture and then stir in 2 cups of water, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Step 7: Mash with potato masher to desired consistency. If you like chunkier soup, then you can leave the potatoes alone, but I tend to like mine mashed up a bit. It makes the soup nice and thick.
Step 8: Serve and top individually with bacon bits and cheddar cheese. YUM! Voila! The best potato soup recipe ever. See for yourself!
What is your favorite kind of soup to make?
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This looks so tasty and I love the price point (and that it’s freezer friendly). I’m definitely adding it onto the menu plan in the coming weeks.
You will have to let me know how you and your husband like it!
I just discovered that my husband actually like potato soup… so guess what’s on the menu for sometime really soon?! And now I don’t even have to look for a recipe, so thanks! This one sounds delicious. 🙂
You’re welcome! I can’t wait for you to try it. 🙂
Wonder how mozz. cheese would work instead of cream cheese. What do you think? I don’t use cream cheese much but always have mozz on hand. Awaiting your homemade cream of chicken soup recipe. I have experimented with it some but it still needs some work.
I know mozzarella and cream cheese have quite different properties and textures, so I’m not sure if it would be a good exchange, but you could try! Any substitutions for cream cheese that I’ve seen has been with sour cream.
This sounds delicious! Could you make it in the crockpot?
Hmmmm…I’m not entirely sure, but it would be fun to give it a try!
I did make this in the crockpot once! I combined all the ingredients and put on low all day… Takes a while for the veggies to soften, however, without boiling them beforehand.
Omg this is totally the best soup ever
This really tastes amazing!! It is for sure the best potato soup recipe and is fairly quick and easy to make 🙂
Yay! I’m so glad you love it.
I haven’t tried making potato soup in years and as I remember it wasn’t very good. This looks delicious! I doesn’t look too hard to make either. Thanks for the recipe.
You’re welcome! It’s especially yummy on a really chilly day. 🙂
This is really THE BEST potato soup ever!! For the last step, I simmer about 30 minutes or longer until the consistency is really creamy and thick, and I don’t use the potato masher. The whole family loves it and always asks for more! I also mix the bacon right to the soup while simmering. Thanks for sharing this lovely recipe 🙂
Sarah, I’m so glad you tried the recipe and came back to tell me! It made my day. 🙂 I’m going to have to try simmering a bit longer now — love thick and creamy soups!
SO…I went to make this soup and realized I did not have the cream of chicken soup…no worries…I substituted with sour cream lol..and for good measure I added some grated parmesean cheese because my family loves that with potatoes lol…and in a nutshell….the soup is AMAZINGGG!!! 🙂 But I will definitely buy some cream of chicken when I go grocery shopping next, to make it exact because I am sure it changes the flavor profile a bit…but in a pinch my variation was very satisfying! 🙂 Thumbs up from my hubs and my kiddos!! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Oh my goodness, I LOVE that you used your own substitutes and it came out amazing! I’m going to have to try this trick when I’m out of Cream of Chicken Soup. So glad you enjoyed the recipe, and thanks for coming back to share your thoughts!
Yummy I used cream of celery soup…phenomenal!!!
Glad you liked it!
I really want to try this recipe but do you think it would taste just as good without the carrots or do you think it helps with the flavor?
I think it would taste just fine without the carrots! The original recipe calls for celery too, and I definitely leave those out. Enjoy! 🙂
I’m going to make this soup tomorrow. I’m from Northern Michigan and deer hunting season starts tomorrow, which is a big thing in our family. I will be feeding 6 hungry men when they come out of the woods so I thought this soup sounds really good. I think I will make it ahead of time and then put it in the crockpot on low so it will be good and hot when they come in for lunch.
This will be perfect for them! I hope they enjoyed it! 🙂
just finished and the soup is very runny….how can i thicken it?
Hmmmm…I am just curious — did you drain the soup after the potatoes were cooked and then add in the water? If you already did that, then I would add in a cup less water, and make sure to mash up your potatoes good after the final simmer so they fill up the space more. You can also add a few tablespoons of cornstarch during the final simmer and stir until it thickens up. Hope that helps!
I have several potato soup recipes I’ve tried. This one ranks second! I didn’t have carrots, but it didn’t matter because it didn’t need them. I think the cream cheese is the ingredient I’ve been searching for. This is excellent for a quick soup on a cold night, like tonight!
So glad you enjoyed it, Jo Ann! Ranking second is truly an honor. 🙂
I made this tonight and it was amazing!! I used onion powder instead of onions and a few dashes of garlic powder. I had no left overs.
I have never commented on any of the recipes I have made up until now. Your potato soup is AMAZING!! I lost my moms recipe (and I have always loved my moms potato soup) so I searched for something that caught my eye and landed here. Thank you for bringing this to my family’s table!! Will have to have my mom try it soon……cream of chicken…..brilliant!
Thank you so much for your sweet comment, Lindi — I’m glad your family loved it!
This soup is great! My 5 yo even liked it and I can’t get her near a potato. I omitted the bacon and I let the kids use Fritos as “crackers”.
Mmmm….Fritos sounds like a yummy addition!
I just made this, it looks and smells sooooo good, I can’t wait to try it !!!!! Potato soup is my favorite.
Made this for dinner, love that you have the cost, would you have the nutritional value for this as I’m on weight watchers & wanted to figure out the points thanks 🙂
So glad you enjoyed the soup! Unfortunately, I’m not able to provide the exact nutritional value as it wasn’t listed on the recipe I have. I might try searching for a similar recipe to see if you can calculate it based off of that. From the little research that I’ve done, it looks like a cup of this soup would probably be between 175-200 calories. Hope that helps!
Made this twice already, soup is absolutely delicious!!! It really is the best potato soup ever!!! Love it, love it, love it! Thank you
So glad you and your family enjoy it!!
Love this recipe. Instead of draining the potato water in the sink, I saved two cups to use in place of the water and it added so much more flavor
That’s a great idea, Linda!
I made this yesterday, added some chopped broccoli, left if a little bit chunky, added a little garlic and celery salt instead of salt. It was very good, inexpensive, a KEEPER. Imwould use cream of celery soup when entertaining my vegetarian friends.
Thanks for the ideas, Pat. That’s a great modification for hosting!
Found this recipe on Pinterest and it was a hit with my family and was absolutely delicious! I made a little adjustment though; I boiled the potatoes in chicken broth instead of water and used the drained chicken broth instead of the recommended water in step 3. My family has always used chicken broth instead of water so I knew I couldn’t go wrong! Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for sharing that tip, Tiffany! I absolutely love it when readers take the time to give me feedback on recipes I’ve shared!! I didn’t think it was possible for this recipe to be any better… now I have something more to try!! 🙂
This looks like a fantastic recipe! I’ve never thought to use cream cheese in potato soup, but that would make it extra creamy I’m sure!
Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Do you save and use the potato cooking water for the water needed later in the recipe for more flavor?
I’ve done it both ways (fresh water and saved water). I haven’t been able to notice a difference in flavor.
I am looking to make this recipe tomorrow evening and, since I work full time, I wanted to know if the potatoes and carrots can be cut the evening before and placed in the fridge? It will save me some prep time!
I can’t think of a reason that should be a problem. I have read that in order to keep your potatoes from turning brown overnight that you should put them in a dish, cover with water, and then refrigerate.
Thank you!
This was my 1st potato soup and It was an absolute hit with the family. Thank you so much! The only thing I did different was, I didn’t add the carrots. Only because I didn’t have any at the time. My son kept asking me {for three day’s} “Is there anymore potato soup”!!!!! Now that Is amazing!
So glad it’s a hit!
This soup was AMAZING! Thanks for a delicious recipe. Has anyone ever tried freezing it?
I freeze it in single serve containers all the time! It freezes very well. 🙂
Made this for supper tonight with just a coupl of changes. I had more cream of mushroom soup in the pantry so I used that and I had leftover ham from Christmas so I didn’t use the bacon. Oh, and I diced up an onion instead of using the dry. It was wonderful and the consistency was perfect for our tastes. Thank you!
Sounds tasty!
I genuinely like this recipe and the specific twist that you’ve
placed on it. Pretty smart. I’m probably going to
be preparing this for my boyfriend next
week and I’m going to let you know on how I get on.
Thanks for the awesome suggestion!
Love the recipe but didn’t add the 2 cups of water was so creamy yum
Drain and don’t add water it makes it to watery and with its more creamy without it too
Yes – don’t forget to drain! We totally forgot that once. I still do add the water that’s in the recipe and it thickens up quite a bit through the simmering process. But if you want thick soup you can surely omit the water. 🙂
This soup was a big hit for our weekly family dinner. There are four adults and two children, and everyone had their fill. I did not have bacon so I cut up sausage instead. I had half and half, and used that too. Absolutely thick and wonderful. I will make this keeper again.
Absolutely ridiculously phenomenal. Added some half&half, about 1/4 cup of sour cream, some garlic powder, red pepper flakes, a pinch of McCormick Perfect Pinch Rotisserie Chicken Seasoning, and a half teaspoon of S&B Chili Oil with Crunchy Garlic. This is my new favorite potato soup. You were right! Best Potato Soup Recipe EVER!
I’m so glad you love it!
Totally YUM-azing! Thank you for such an easy and delicious recipe. 😋 I made this tonight and didn’t realize what a big batch it made! The only thing I added in addition to the ingredients was an additional can of cream of celery condensed soup and I lessened the added water to 1 cup after reading other comments. The water I added was the water I boiled the first 3 ingredients in. 😋 Wonderful recipe. Thank you!
That’s a great idea! Thank you for sharing, I’m glad you love it!
I made this soup and we love it. I added celery to the potatoes, carrots and onion and some velveeta cheese to it and a little onion powder and garlic powder, but I think I add garlic and onion powder to a lot of things.
Yay! I’m so glad you love it!