Warm up on a cold day with this easy potato soup! Thick, creamy, and loaded with toppings like green onions and cheese, it's the ultimate comfort food.
This potato soup recipe is the ultimate comfort food for a cold day! It’s like a loaded baked potato in soup form—the thick, creamy, savory soup is piled high with toppings like sour cream, shredded cheese, and green onions or chives. Jack loves it so much that he can polish off half the pot in a single night.
Luckily, this potato soup comes together in one pot with simple ingredients, so it’ll be easy to keep in our rotation this winter.
It’s one of those recipes that’s so much more than the sum of its parts. You start with humble veggies like celery and potatoes and end up with a deeply flavorful meal. Smoked paprika adds rich, smoky flavor (no bacon here!), and thyme brings in fresh, earthy notes. We’ll be making it all winter long. I hope you love it too!
Best Potatoes for Soup
I think Yukon Gold and yellow potatoes are the best potatoes for soup. They hold their shape when cooked, and they have an amazing creamy texture when blended. This soup is partially blended, so you get to enjoy them both ways! They have a nice buttery flavor too.
I wouldn’t use russet potatoes here, as they fall apart as they cook.
How to Make Potato Soup
You can find the complete potato soup recipe with measurements at the bottom of this post. For now, here’s a quick overview of how it goes:
Start by prepping the veggies. Cut the potatoes into roughly 3/4-inch chunks. Do your best to cut the pieces to a similar size so that they cook evenly. Chop the onion, carrot, and celery.
Then, sauté the onion and celery until softened.
Make a roux by adding flour to the pot and stirring until it coats the veggies. While stirring, gradually pour in the broth.
Next, simmer the soup. Add the potatoes, carrots, garlic, thyme, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper and simmer until the potatoes are tender, 25 to 30 minutes.
When the potatoes are tender, partially blend the soup. You can do this right in the pot with an immersion blender, adding water as needed if the soup is too thick. Another option is to transfer half the soup to an upright blender and blend until smooth, then stir it back into the pot.
- Tip: If you’re using an upright blender, let the soup cool slightly before blending.
Finally, add the cream and simmer for another 5 minutes. If desired, add a squeeze of lemon juice for a brighter flavor. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!
Don’t want to use cream? Half-and-half or milk (any kind) works too! These options will be thinner than cream, so I’d start with just 2/3 cup and add more as needed to reach your desired consistency.
Loaded Potato Soup Toppings
Half the fun of this easy potato soup is loading up your bowl like a baked potato! Don’t hold back on the toppings. Here are some of our favorites:
- A dollop of sour cream, vegan sour cream, or plain Greek yogurt
- Thinly sliced green onions or chives
- Shredded cheddar cheese
- Freshly ground black pepper
A few homemade croutons are great too!
Round out the meal with crusty bread and/or a simple green salad.
How to Store
Leftover potato soup keeps well in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
It will thicken in the fridge, so don’t hesitate to thin it with water when you reheat. It reheats nicely in the microwave or over low heat on the stovetop.
Can you freeze potato soup?
I don’t recommend freezing this soup. It can become grainy when it thaws.
More Comforting Soup Recipes
If you love this creamy potato soup, try one of these cozy soup recipes next:
- Broccoli Cheddar Soup
- Creamy Gnocchi Soup
- Corn Chowder
- Or any of these 35 Best Soup Recipes!
Creamy Potato Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 1 celery rib, chopped
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes or yellow potatoes, chopped
- 1 medium carrot, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, grated
- 3 fresh thyme sprigs, bundled
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, optional
Topping Options
- Chopped fresh chives or green onions
- Grated cheddar cheese
- Sour cream
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 8 minutes, or until softened. Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the flour is lightly golden. While stirring, slowly pour in the broth.
- Add the potatoes, carrots, garlic, thyme, salt, smoked paprika, and several grinds of pepper. Simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.
- Remove the thyme bundle and use an immersion blender to blend the soup until it is mostly smooth but still has some larger potato chunks. If the soup is too thick to blend, add water, ¼ cup at a time, as needed to reach your desired consistency. Alternatively, allow the soup to cool slightly and transfer half to an upright blender. Blend until smooth, then return to the pot with the remaining chunky soup and stir to combine.
- Add the cream and gently simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice, if using.
- Season to taste and serve with desired toppings.
Notes
This soup is really tasty! Can’t wait to try it on the second day! It was SO EASY to make.
Made this for dinner. SO good and flavorful, I really think the smoked paprika makes this soup. I put some smoked Gouda in my bowl but definitely can eat with out. Will definitely be making this again for how easy it was! 🙂
Tried this today. Interesting and tasty flavor profile. Topped with coconut bacon and chives from the garden (gotta use em while I can!). Filling but not ‘heavy’. Thanks for another great soup with vegan protein!
Thanks for the soup recipes. The potato soup with changes due to ingredients on hand. I replaced chicken broth with water and homemade tahini and pesto. Also needed to substitute white beans but it worked good with Raw almonds ground to almost pasty substance. I also added fresh corn.
Sorry was cashews not almonds
I did extra lemon and mustard- it made it more tangy in the best way! My husband added some whole milk in his second serving- this was also delicious. I did real bacon since we had some, which offset the tangy-ness. Will make again 🙂
I’m so glad you loved it!
I made this Creamy Potato soup tonight for dinner and it is super delicious!
I was wondering if this would freeze well. Please advise.
Oops! I see you already answered this question.
Its a great soup! How many calories is it?
This soup was great, and I love that it only requires common pantry staples. The vinegar and lemon juice helped give it a really lovely brightness, and the beans made it more hearty and filling than some other potato soups I’ve tried. We topped ours with sliced green onion, shredded cheddar cheese, and sour cream. Will definitely make again!
Hi Shannon, I’m so glad you loved it!
This was sooo yummy. I think mine turned out a lot thicker than yours (from the looks of the pictures) but I thought it was really tasty. Love the subtle paprika and lemon flavors.
I’m so glad you loved it! You can always blend in extra water or broth to reach to thin it out a little if you like!
Hi
Can you freeze the soup?
Greetings
Dominique
Hi Dominique, you can, but the texture of the potatoes gets a little lumpy. Check out this post where I list all of my favorite soups to freeze: https://fit-discovery.info/freezer-meals/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv class=reply>
Hi!
Thank you so much! Loving the recipes!!!
This recipe looks great! I’m about to make this and am assuming the potatoes should be peeled. (The recipe does not specify.) I’ll try it and check back—I’d be really interested if in fact they aren’t!
I actually don’t peel them!
Ohhhh! I’ll have to try that next time!
Do you think chickpeas could be subsisted for white beans?
Hi Carly, I think they could be – it might not be quite as smooth but should still be delicious.
Loved this recipe & the simplicity of it!! So good & my entire family enjoyed!
Hi Jenny, I’m so glad everyone loved it!
Amazing! This was quick and easy to follow – I made exactly as written except added butter at the end instead of olive oil. Texture and flavors are perfect, and the coconut bacon was a revelation. I love potato soup but rarely make it because I’ll go for a soup with some protein instead – problem solved here with the white beans!
This was my first time making one of your recipes; I can’t wait to try more.
Hi Kayla, I’m so glad you loved the soup!
This was delicious! I topped it off with some old Bay seasoning(instead of paprika) and it was tasty. Surprisingly hearty and complex. I froze the leftovers. I’m thinking it should freeze well since there is no cream in it. We will see. Thank you for a great recipe!
Hi Stacey, I’m so glad you loved the soup! It froze well for me!
Delicious soup and so simple to make. Use all of the toppings, because it’s fun to customize your soup. Coconut bacon can be frozen and used right out of the freezer, which is great to have it on hand. Thanks for a great recipe!
Great simple recipe. I love that it feel hearty without weighing you down.
I never heard of coconut bacon, I love to try it with this delicious soup. I am curious, about how many slices of regular bacon is your recipe equivalent to?
Hi, I hope you give it a try! It’s hard to say because coconut flakes don’t start in strip form. You bake the coconut flakes and crumble them into bacon-like bits. The recipe makes 1/2 cup of bits, which is enough for multiple bowls of soup. It’s not completely the same as bacon, but it has a wonderful smoky flavor.
Thank you, 1/2 cup of bits is plenty for sure 🙂
I am also looking for the recipe for coconut bacon, which I have never heard of.
It’s at the bottom of the recipe now!
Hi! Nice recipe! This soup seems so delicious! I need to try it once! Can I use also other type of potato? Yukon are quite difficult to find where I live. And the recipe of the coconut bacon is missing.
Thanks!
Ana
You can use any potato, butterball potatoes would be great. Added the coconut bacon recipe, thanks for pointing that out!