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
Really good. Made as directed except for adding in one teaspoon miso. Oh yeah and I used chicken broth instead of vegetable broth. Obviously I’m not a total vegetarian just majorly leaning that way.
Husband really likes it too.
Yum, I love the miso idea!
This was really good! I was surprised at how creamy it was! This recipe is a keeper!!!
I’m so glad you loved it!
I love this soup. Pure comfort! It’s reminiscent of the German Potato Salad my mom and grandmother made. I didn’t top it with anything but plan to make the coconut bacon and top the rest. Thank you. WOW.
This is such a unique and delicious potato soup. I was tired of seeing meaty potato soups and had to make this when I saw it. I took out the smoked paprika (because I didn’t have it) and added freshly chopped rosemary as well as some lemon zest (to clean out my fridge) and it tasted PERFECT. I want to try the smoked paprika version too. I love all of your recipes but this is truly the best!
Hi, thanks for your sweet comment! I’m so glad you loved the soup.
Seriously one of the best soups I’ve ever eaten. With all the suggested toppings it tastes just like loaded potato skins.
I’m so glad you loved it!
Hi! The answer to this question is probably obvious to everyone, but should I peel the potatoes?
Hi, we actually don’t peel the Yukon gold potatoes since the skin is pretty thin. Hope that helps!
This recipe is so good and easy! I added 1 cup of frozen corn. Made it taste a tiny bit sweet. Thank you for the yummy recipe!!
Hi Michelle, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Delicious recipe! The mustard-lemon juice addition was a new technique for me and really freshened things up. I used red lentils instead of beans and the soup still had a great texture. I also needed to use up a squash so I just peeled and cubed that up and tossed those in with the potatoes, needed to simmer longer but it all came together nicely in the end. I love a delicious nutrient-loaded soup, thank you!
Ooh, that sounds delicious, I’m glad you loved the soup!
I don’t have time today to run to the store to purchase white beans. Will garbanzo beans work as a sub? Thank you.
Hi Cele, I think it would be ok – just not as smooth.
would black beans work?
It might be a funny color – here’s our yummy black bean soup recipe: https://fit-discovery.info/black-bean-soup-recipe/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv class=reply>
Ok real talk: this recipe has singlehandly turned me into a Love & Lemons fan… & I’m not even vegan!
At first thought, the idea of creamy potato soup without my beloved cream & cheddar cheese just sounded cruel…. But I gave it a chance and WOW. You’d truly never know the difference AND it’s 10x healthier for you. Extra bonus your body actually feels good after eating it. 12/10.
Ha ha, I’m so glad you loved the soup!
This is my favorite soup, I make it often its delicious like it is but sometimes we add nutritional yeast for a change!
My husband and I didn’t really like the lemon and mustard taste. I’ll have to add some more of the base ingredients to neutralize the lemon and mustard. Kinda sad about it.
about how many cups does this yield?
I am trying to introduce more plant based foods into our home and tried this with a whole grain cornbread and salad tonight and my whole family loved it. They said they preferred it without the toppings (cheese, sour cream) bc they loved the flavor of the soup so much! Thank you for a great recipe, can’t wait to try others on the site.
Hi Alyssa, I’m so glad everyone loved it!
Hi, Love your recipes but need nutria also values with each recipe or I can’t consume it. Thanks
Hi Pat, I’m sorry we don’t calculate nutrition facts, but there are calculators online if you google for one.
This soup was very tasty but mine came out a bit too thick. Maybe I made a mistake at the end and blended 1/2 the soup – potatoes, beans and all, instead of just the liquid.? I noticed someone else made a comment about thickness too. I thinned it out a bit with white wine and water – the wine added a nice flavor in the end too!
Hi Lisa, you could stir in more water and season to taste to reach a thinner consistency. You didn’t make a mistake, I blend half of all of the soup.
I made this last night and it was so good! I was a little heavy handed with the paprika to delicious effect. I made the coconut bacon also and it was so easy I think it’ll become a staple for me. Would be so good on salads I’m sure. Thank you so much for your wonderful recipes!
Super good
I had to make a couple of adjustments and used an Instant Pot set to manual for 3 minutes—the soup turned out lovely! I used chickpeas because that’s what I had and next time I’ll make sure I have lemons, even though the ACV I used as a substitute worked fine.
I’m so glad you loved it!
I made this, used balsamic vinegar instead of white wine vinegar, added a bunch of italian seasoning, used fake bacon, and topped with extra sharp white cheddar. This is an amazing soup. dang.