Craving this Cheesy Bacon Potato Soup while sick with a cold was a conundrum and a half. Should I get off the couch and make it for supper after dreaming about it? Or should I ask the teenager to make it (this potato soup is THAT easy!) or just have a tomato sandwich and a nap, leaving the family to fend for themselves later on?
I’ve been making this potato soup for 9 years!
The craving won, of course, and Mr Magpie ended up making the soup for supper. We actually make this potato soup on a regular basis when we are wanting something carbo-licious with bacon for dinner. This potato soup was published on my site in 2009, but thanks to The Great Website Crash of ’10, it is one of the posts that I never really fixed up the pictures for. I kept the recipe in my drafts – luckily because I have had many reader requests for it since the Crash- and just waited for the moment I could take a new picture and fix the post up.
So here’s my new, fixed-up post for one of my favorite soups that I have ever whipped up. Salty, creamy, bacony awesomeness.
Potato Soup in the Crockpot, Instant Pot, OR Stovetop
The real trick to this being a great potato soup is that you add bacon and cheese for flavor, of course. The bacon just takes this over the top and makes it the best potato soup I’ve ever tasted. I usually make this potato soup in the crockpot as it’s the perfect soup to cook slowly. You can easily make this on the stovetop, however, and the Instant Pot! There are directions for each one in the recipe below!
What kind of potatoes do I use for soup?
You want to use russet potatoes to make potato soup – and in any soup, you don’t want the potatoes to retain their shape and size. You have to use a potato that is going to fall apart in the broth which adds richness and thickness to it. You don’t want to use Yukon Golds as they keep their flavor and won’t fall apart in the broth. Potatoes that hold their shape are better in soups like my Classic Hamburger Soup where you don’t want the potatoes to fall apart, you want them to keep their shape. Russet potatoes will fall apart and are what is behind the magic of potato soup – they’re a natural, delicious soup thickener.
Tips and Tricks for Making Great Potato Soup
- Make sure to use russet potatoes in this recipe as you want them to slightly fall apart and make the soup a little bit thick and starchy.
- You need a fairly strong-tasting salty chicken broth base to make this great. I found Knorr bouillon in a jar that you just add to the water and it dissolves SO much easier. LOVE IT. When making the boullion keep in mind you are adding salty bacon to the soup as well so err on the side of caution and don’t make it AS strong as you like it, make it a little less. You can always add more in once you taste the sodium that your bacon has added to the soup. Bacon’s vary so greatly that a super salty piece could send this soup over the brink of too-salty no return!
- The thought occurred to me what fantastic party food this is! Small bowls for your guests to help themselves from a steaming crock pot of soup, with perhaps some soft potato bread on the side. In fact, if I get around to issuing the invitations for a Christmas open house I think I want to have, this is on the menu.
- If and when you serve this, wait until right before it’s time to eat to stir in the milk, and make sure that you stir it occasionally to prevent a gruesome skin on top.
Happy cooking! Let me know in the comments below if you try this potato soup and what you thought!
Love,
Karlynn
Magpie’s Cheesy Bacon Potato Soup
Ingredients
- 5 strips of bacon
- 1/3 cup chopped onion
- 3 large russet potatoes cubed about 4 after chopped
- 4-5 cups chicken broth made from bouillon
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon basil
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 4 tablespoons flour
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 cup Tex Mex cheese
- and more if you want to top the soup with it
- Sour cream- if you want to top the soup with it
Instructions
Crockpot Potato Soup Directions
- Peel and chop up your Russet potatoes and place in the crockpot.Make 4-5 cups of chicken broth, making sure it’s enough to cover the potatoes and pour into the crockpot.
- Add the spices into the crockpot and stir in.
- Crisp your bacon and drain, reserving 2-3 Tbsp of the bacon grease, then crumble the bacon into small pieces. Add the bacon to the soup.
- Saute the onions and garlic in the bacon grease until they are soft, then add to the soup.
- Cook in the crockpot on high for 3-4 hours, until the potatoes are slightly falling apart and the broth is cloudy.
- When the soup is ready with fully cooked potatoes that are slightly falling apart, you need to make a roux. (Flour/butter/milk thickener). In a medium size pot over low heat, melt the butter.
- Stir in the flour until it’s combined, it will be all clumped together, this is ok.
- Next, little by little, stir in the milk making sure that the milk is absorbed into the flour without making it lumpy. Eventually the mixture will be smooth.
- When all of the milk has been added and the mixture is smooth, add in the cheese and stir until melted.
- Move your potatoes to one side of the pot so there is a soup surface to mix in.
- Whisk in your milk/cheese sauce into the crockpot. Cook for another 30 minutes or so, stirring occasionally so there isn’t a skin on the surface.
- Serve and top with the Tex Mex cheese, extra parsley, extra bacon, you name it, it will work!
Instant Pot Potato Soup Directions
- Fry the bacon and the onion in your Instant Pot using the “saute” setting until the onions are soft and translucent and the bacon is cooked. Drain, keeping the bacon and onions in the pot.
- Peel and chop up your Russet potatoes and place in the crockpot, along with the broth. Add in the spices. Seal and using the soup button or manual cook for 45 minutes high pressure. Release the pressure manually – safely ( how you do this is up to you)
- Follow instructions to make the roux, then whisk it into the Instant Pot. Use the simmer button and while stirring frequently, let it thicken up. Serve when ready.
Stove Top Potato Soup Instructions
- Fry the bacon and the onion in a large stockpot until the onions are soft and translucent and the bacon is cooked. Drain, keeping the bacon and onions in the pot.
- Peel and chop up your Russet potatoes and place in the crockpot, along with the broth. Add in the spices.
- Cook, covered, on a low simmer for 45-55 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork tender and are falling apart.
- Follow instructions to make the roux, then whisk it into the stockpot. Simmer a while longer to thicken, then serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Pin This Recipe To Your SOUPS Board and Remember to Follow Me on Pinterest!
Laurie Paterson says
Hi Karlynn,
You have so many great potato soup recipes and I have one shot to turn my husband, a non-believer into a fan!! Which Potato soup is your favourite??
thanks,
Laurie
Danielle says
I added buttermilk, delicious!!
Sandy says
Can Swanson’s chicken broth be used instead of the cubes?
Jan says
This sounds yummy. What is Tex Mex cheese?
Sam Eskenazi says
Tex-Mex cheese is sold at a lot of North American supermarkets, and is basically just cheddar and pepperjack cheese, sometimes with a bit of Mexican-y spices like cumin and cayenne 🙂
Bernadette says
Hi, just wondering about “3 cups large russet potatoes cubed about 4 after chopped”. Am I supposed to use 3 large russet potatoes, which results in about 4 cups after being cubed?
Mr. Kitchen Magpie says
Fixed, sorry about that.
Sandy says
I was thinking the same thing. It’s still not fixed. I was a little confused as to what you were meaning.
Colleen Ripp says
I cooked this on high in a crockpot for 7 hours and the potatoes STILL haven’t fallen apart….what am I missing?
Betty says
This soup is one of my favorite. The Tex-Mex cheese adds a great flavor!!
Kim says
This sounds wonderful, but I’m not sure what “3 cups large russet potatoes cubed about 4 after chopped” means. Do I want to end up with 4 cups of chopped potatoes? Could you clarify cubed vs chopped? I usually cut potatoes into small cubes for soup, maybe 1/2 inch.
Grammy S says
This is the third or fourth time I’ve made this soup. We love it! It’s even better th next day. Fortunately, we usually manage to eat it all. I wasn’t very successful when I tried freezing it.
rick says
unsubscribe please. Nowhere does this Magpie thing give me that option or else I would surely chose it.
Tammy Vanderburgt says
Thanks for such great recipes, really enjoying some old fashioned dishes that I made probably at least 40 years ago..loving your Web page and creating some fantastic homemade meals my children loved ,now my grandchildren tease me and say only Nana Tam makes healthy food?Thanks again Nana Tam &Papa Walt ?
Anne Dial says
looks delicious
KitchenMagpie says
20*******@tw*****.com" jid="20*******@tw*****.com" profile_url="https://twitter.com/#!/NurseLovesFarmr" ns="true">NurseLovesFarmr At least my soup makes it to church once in a while…..
NurseLovesFarmr says
“66******@tw*****.com" jid="66******@tw*****.com" profile_url="https://twitter.com/#!/KitchenMagpie" ns="true">KitchenMagpie: 20*******@tw*****.com" jid="20*******@tw*****.com" profile_url="https://twitter.com/#!/NurseLovesFarmr" ns="true">NurseLovesFarmr At least my soup makes it to church once in a while…..” Haha you’re hilarious! They love it!
farmerjleach says
20*******@tw*****.com" jid="20*******@tw*****.com" profile_url="https://twitter.com/#!/NurseLovesFarmr" ns="true">NurseLovesFarmr cheese and bacon in a soup? Sounds #awesome
NurseLovesFarmr says
“28*******@tw*****.com" jid="28*******@tw*****.com" profile_url="https://twitter.com/#!/farmerjleach" ns="true">farmerjleach: 20*******@tw*****.com" jid="20*******@tw*****.com" profile_url="https://twitter.com/#!/NurseLovesFarmr" ns="true">NurseLovesFarmr cheese and bacon in a soup? Sounds #awesome” I forgot the main component potatoes!!
NurseLovesFarmr says
28*******@tw*****.com" jid="28*******@tw*****.com" profile_url="https://twitter.com/#!/farmerjleach" ns="true">farmerjleach it’s a 66******@tw*****.com" jid="66******@tw*****.com" profile_url="https://twitter.com/#!/KitchenMagpie" ns="true">KitchenMagpie recipe thekitchenmagpie.com/magpies-cheesy…
farmerjleach says
20*******@tw*****.com" jid="20*******@tw*****.com" profile_url="https://twitter.com/#!/NurseLovesFarmr" ns="true">NurseLovesFarmr fantastic thanks a bunch
NurseLovesFarmer says
Thank you so much for this great recipe and for putting it in the form of a recipe card. Tripled the recipe for Soup Sunday at church tomorrow and I know it will be all gone!
NurseLovesFarmer says
I’m not a whizz with cooking terms and it would sure be helpful to have this in the Recipe Box widget…I don’t even know what a roux is…
NurseLovesFarmer says
I mustered my way through, took what food knowledge I had (I know what a roux is and I didn’t even know it! 😉 ) and it is DELICIOUS! I would ask kindly to make the instructions more clear for us non-foodies! 😉
NurseLovesFarmer says
Call me tired and not really understanding all the terminology (roux!?) but do you just do the potatoes in the broth for 3-4 hours on high and then do the rest of the steps? I’m having a very dumb moment here!
Stephanie says
I made this for dinner tonight and it was WONDERFUL!!! Oh my word…I love potato soup, but I’ve never had one like this.The flavour was out of this world! I used fresh thick cut smoked bacon from my local butcher, and it gave it a slightly smoked taste. I also used 2% milk, which was a bit of a mistake because my roux was a bit thinner than I would have liked, but it was still heavenly. Thank you so much for this AWESOME recipe!
Karlynn says
Glad you liked it! It’s my favorite soup ever but soo not healthy ;). The best things in life usually are.
Charlynn says
Tried this the other day, and it was fantastic! I added some nutmeg to the roux (just love nutmeg in anything creamy!) and used 1% milk instead of whole. Turned out really good. One of the kids liked it, which I count as a success considering how fussy they are! It is really good with herb and garlic biscuits-although I had the leftovers with some fresh dinner rolls (they were still warm) from a local bakery and that was very yummy too!
Cymantha says
Pretend this is a real drum roll…………..HORRAY!!!! HORRAY!!! HORRAY!!! The potato soup was fantastic!! I topped it off with the shredded cheese, green onion, and bacon (by the way, I have never broiled bacon like that before and it turned out superb!!) Funny story…looking over the recipe, oh ya…I have… everything. Then, as I was making the soup. I read DO NOT use stock in the box. Brought back memories of when I made your pumpkin muffins and you said DO NOT add any more pumpkin then needed. And..silly me I figured what’s the big whoop if I add the rest of whats in the can. WRONG!!! ME….learned quickly from last time. So, my mom saved the day and brought over bouillon!!! Thank God, for Mom’s eh!!!! Soup was even better than our favorite restaurant for potato soup!!!!!! I’m applauding now!!
Cymantha says
I’m printing recipe as we speak. Can’t wait to try it! Thanks, Karlynn!
Em says
I love the recipes you post. This one looks incredible!
Darlene says
If you love this one..you should definitely find a recipe for Cream of Potato and Leek. Yummy!!!