Homemade Baked Potato Soup Recipe

Baked potato soup is one of those recipes that earns a permanent spot in the rotation — not because it’s fancy, but because it’s legitimately good and comes together with stuff you either already have or can grab in one quick store run. This version is thick, loaded, and tastes like something that took way more effort than it actually did.

Bacon, cream, cheddar, real potatoes. That’s the whole story.

It feeds a crowd, reheats well, and holds up as leftovers without turning weird. If you’re making this for a weeknight dinner or prepping for a cold-weather weekend, you’re in the right place.

What You Need to Make Baked Potato Soup

Here’s the full ingredient list before we get into notes:

• 1/2 pound bacon, cut into small pieces (plus more for garnish)
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 4 cups peeled and chopped russet potatoes (about 5 medium potatoes)
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1.5 teaspoons dry ground basil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1.5 teaspoons black pepper
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (plus more for garnish)
• Chopped green onion for garnish

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

The Potatoes

Russet potatoes are the right call here. They’re starchy, which helps thicken the soup naturally as they cook down.

Yukon Golds work as a substitute and give you a slightly creamier result, but don’t use waxy potatoes like red potatoes — they don’t break down the same way and you’ll end up with chunks floating in thin broth instead of a thick, hearty soup.

You’ll need about 5 medium russets to get 4 cups peeled and chopped. Cube them roughly 3/4 inch — not too small or they’ll disintegrate, not too large or they’ll take forever to cook through.

The Bacon

Regular cut bacon works great. Thick-cut takes longer to crisp up but adds more texture and a smokier flavor.

Whatever you have works. The key thing is cooking it in the soup pot — you’re going to use those drippings to cook the onions, and that step makes the soup taste noticeably better than if you cooked the bacon separately on a paper towel and dumped it in.

The Cream

Heavy cream is what makes this thick and rich. Heavy cream is worth using here — don’t swap it for half-and-half if you can avoid it.

Half-and-half gives you a thinner, lighter soup. Milk will make it watery and bland.

If you genuinely need to cut fat, half-and-half is acceptable; whole milk is not.

The Cheese

Buy a block and shred it yourself. Pre-shredded cheese has a starch coating that prevents it from melting cleanly, and in a soup like this, you’ll sometimes end up with a slightly grainy texture.

Sharp cheddar gives you better flavor than mild — the sharpness cuts through the richness of the cream and bacon.

The Stock

Chicken stock, not broth. Stock has more body and gives you a richer base.

Store-bought is completely fine here. If you happen to have homemade, even better, but this isn’t the recipe to agonize over that.

The Flour

This is your thickener. It gets whisked into part of the warm stock before being added to the pot — this prevents lumps.

Don’t skip this step or try to add flour directly to the pot. It won’t work the same way and you’ll chase lumps for the rest of the cooking time.

Why This Bakes Up Just Right

A lot of potato soup recipes end up thin, or bland, or oddly sweet. This one avoids all of that for a few specific reasons:

Cooking in bacon drippings. After the bacon is done, you leave a few tablespoons of fat in the pan and cook your onions in it.

That fat carries flavor into every bite of soup in a way that olive oil or butter just doesn’t replicate.

The flour-stock slurry method. Instead of making a separate roux, you whisk flour into warm chicken stock to create a thickening liquid.

This gets added to the softened onions and simmered until it thickens before any of the other ingredients go in. It’s a cleaner method that gives you consistent results without a floury taste.

Real potatoes, not instant. Russet potatoes cooked directly in the soup release starch into the broth as they cook, adding to the thickness in a way that instant potato flakes never quite match.

You get better texture and real potato flavor.

Heavy cream added at the end. Adding cream too early and cooking it at high heat can cause it to separate or reduce too much.

Add it after your potatoes are mostly cooked, then keep the heat low.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Cook the Bacon

Use your largest soup pot for this entire recipe — one pot means less cleanup and the flavors stay together the whole time. Cut your bacon into small pieces and cook over medium heat until crispy.

Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside on a plate. Leave about 2 tablespoons of drippings in the pot — drain the rest if there’s a lot.

Step 2: Soften the Onions

Add your chopped onion to the bacon drippings and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until translucent — about 5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook for another 60 seconds.

Don’t let it brown.

Step 3: Make the Thickening Mixture

Heat about half of your chicken stock (3 cups) in a separate saucepan or in the microwave until warm but not boiling. Whisk the flour into the warm stock until it’s fully incorporated and the mixture looks slightly cloudy.

No lumps. This is your thickener.

Step 4: Build the Soup Base

Pour the flour-stock mixture into the pot with your onions. Add the remaining 3 cups of stock.

Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring frequently. The mixture will start to thicken as it heats — this takes about 5-7 minutes.

Keep stirring so nothing sticks to the bottom.

Step 5: Add the Potatoes

Add your cubed russet potatoes to the thickened base. Stir to combine.

Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until the potatoes are fork-tender, about 15-20 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Step 6: Add Remaining Ingredients

Once potatoes are tender, add the heavy cream, parsley, basil, salt, and pepper. Stir everything together.

Add half the cooked bacon to the soup and reserve the rest for topping. Taste and adjust seasoning — this soup almost always needs a bit more salt than you think.

Simmer on low for another 5-10 minutes to let everything meld together.

Step 7: Add the Cheese

Remove the pot from heat and stir in the cup of shredded cheddar until fully melted. Keeping it off heat prevents the cheese from getting stringy or grainy.

Cautions and Things to Watch Out For

Don’t boil after adding cream. Hard boiling after the cream goes in can cause it to separate and look curdled.

Gentle simmer only once the cream is in the pot.

Watch the bottom of the pot. This soup is thick and will stick and scorch if you walk away from it on medium-high heat.

Stay close and stir every few minutes, especially before the heat is turned down.

Seasoning at the end, not just the beginning. Potatoes absorb a lot of salt as they cook.

Season conservatively at first, then taste and adjust after everything is in the pot.

Don’t add cheese over high heat. If the soup is still at a rolling boil when you add the shredded cheddar, you’re going to get a grainy mess.

Pull it off the heat, let it settle for a minute, then stir in the cheese.

Flour lumps. If you see lumps in the flour-stock mixture, strain it before adding to the pot.

It’s easier to fix that before it goes in than after.

Tools That Make This Easier

You don’t need anything fancy for this recipe. A large soup pot (6-quart or bigger), a whisk, and a slotted spoon cover the basics.

If you want to blend part of the soup for a creamier texture, an immersion blender lets you blend directly in the pot without transferring hot liquid to a countertop blender — much easier and safer.

If you do blend part of it, about 1/3 of the soup blended smooth and stirred back in gives you a creamy base with potato chunks still present. Full blend makes it more like a cream of potato soup — still good, just different.

Serving Suggestions

This soup is the kind of thing that needs toppings. Set up a little topping station if you’re serving it to a group:

• Reserved crispy bacon pieces
• Extra shredded sharp cheddar
• Sliced green onions or chives
• A dollop of sour cream
• A few dashes of hot sauce if anyone wants heat

For serving vessels: a bread bowl is the obvious choice and genuinely works well — the bread soaks up the soup in a good way. Regular bowls are fine too.

Serve it with crusty bread or a simple side salad if you want to round it out into a full meal.

This soup is rich, so portion sizes tend to run a little smaller than people expect. Plan on it feeding about 6-8 people as a main dish with the recipe as written.

Variations Worth Trying

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Lean into the baked potato concept fully: top with bacon, cheddar, sour cream, chives, and a drizzle of ranch dressing. Some people also add shredded chicken to make it more of a complete meal.

Slow Cooker Version

Cook bacon and onions on the stovetop as directed. Transfer everything except the cream and cheese to a slow cooker with the potatoes.

Cook on low for 6-7 hours or high for 3-4 hours. Stir in cream and cheese in the last 30 minutes.

Broccoli Potato Soup

Add 2 cups of small broccoli florets along with the potatoes. They’ll cook down with the potatoes and add color and texture.

Classic combination if you want to stretch the vegetables a bit.

Lighter Version

Sub half-and-half for the heavy cream, use turkey bacon, and cut the cheese to 1/2 cup stirred in plus a small amount on top. Still decent, just not the same indulgence level as the original.

Storage and Reheating

Refrigerator: Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days. The soup will thicken significantly in the fridge as the starch continues to absorb liquid — this is normal.

Freezer: Cream-based soups can be frozen but the texture changes when you thaw them. The cream can separate and the potatoes can get grainy.

It’s not terrible, but it’s not as good as fresh. If you need to freeze it, it’ll keep for up to 2 months — just know going in that the texture won’t be quite the same.

Reheating on the stovetop: Add a splash of chicken stock or milk to the pot and heat over medium-low, stirring frequently. Don’t try to rush it on high heat.

The soup thickens as it cools, so you’ll need to thin it back out a bit as you reheat.

Reheating in the microwave: Works fine for individual portions. Cover the bowl loosely, heat in 90-second intervals, stir between rounds.

Add a small splash of milk if it looks too thick.

Make-Ahead Notes

This soup is genuinely better the next day after the flavors have had time to sit together. If you’re making it for a gathering, you can absolutely make it the day before and reheat it.

Just store the toppings separately and add them fresh when serving.

If you’re prepping in advance, hold off on adding the cheese until you reheat it — stir the shredded cheddar in when the soup is hot but off the heat, just before serving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use leftover baked potatoes?

Yes, and this is actually a great use for them. Scoop the potato flesh out of the skins, chop it, and add it to the soup base.

Since the potatoes are already cooked, reduce the simmering time after adding them — just enough to heat through and let them absorb the flavors, about 10 minutes.

Can I make this without bacon?

You can, but you’ll miss some of the foundational flavor. If you’re going bacon-free, cook the onions in butter instead, and consider adding a half-teaspoon of smoked paprika to get some of that smokiness back.

It won’t be the same, but it’ll still be good.

Why is my soup grainy?

Grainy texture in cream soups usually means the cream or cheese was added at too high a heat. Make sure you’re adding cream on a low simmer and adding cheese completely off the heat.

Also check that your flour slurry was fully smooth before you added it to the pot.

How do I make it thicker?

A few options: mash some of the cooked potato chunks directly in the pot before adding the cream; blend a portion with an immersion blender; or make a quick cornstarch slurry (1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons cold water) and stir it in during the last 10 minutes of cooking.