You will love this easy homemade potato soup with potatoes, veggies, garlic, and a luscious creamy broth. This soup is comforting and loaded with flavor.
Watch the Video
Related: We also love this creamy chicken noodle soup!
How to Make Creamy Potato Soup from Scratch
We’ve already shared our Sausage and Potato Soup and this comforting Potato and Leek Soup with you. Now it’s time to share this easy, creamy, and luxurious potato soup.
Once you see how easy it is to make this soup, you’ll be making it all the time! The soup is simple so the ingredients you use matter. Here’s the rundown for you:
Potatoes: You can use any type of potato, but we highly recommend using Yukon Gold potatoes. There’s no need to peel them, and when cooked, they are buttery and almost melt in your mouth. We use Yukon Gold potatoes to make mashed potatoes and these crispy roasted potatoes, too. If you cannot find them, baby red or white potatoes, as well as russet potatoes, will work.
Veggies: Sure this is potato soup, but we love to add a few cups of extra veggies. Onions are a must, carrots add color and some sweetness, and chopped celery add flavor and texture.
Butter and Flour: It’s the combination of butter and flour that thickens the soup. We like to use unsalted butter for this and then adjust salt to taste when making the soup. That said, salted butter will work if that is all that you have. If you need the soup to be gluten-free, no problem! We’ve added tips for omitting the flour in the recipe below.
Stock/Broth: For the most flavor, use a good quality chicken stock from the store or use homemade. When reaching for store-bought broth, we go for low-sodium. We also look for a store-bought broth that’s darker in color (usually means more flavor) and since it usually has more of a backbone, we like to buy boxed bone broth (we use homemade bone broth sometimes, too).
Cream: We add a little cream at the end of cooking. The chicken stock adds flavor, and the cream makes the broth creamy and more luxurious (we use the same trick when making our favorite creamy chicken noodle soup). Using cream isn’t the only option, though. Try half-and-half, sour cream, cream cheese or plain yogurt in its place.
Cheese: Cheese is an optional ingredient, but if you have some on hand, it adds a lovely richness to the soup. For soup that rivals cheesy baked potatoes, use sharp cheddar. We also love stirring in gruyere (we use this when making mac and cheese), and parmesan adds lots of flavor.
The Steps I Follow For This Soup
Making potato soup from scratch is simple, and it all happens in one pot! Here’s an overview of how to make it (the full potato soup recipe is below).
- Cook onions, carrots, and celery in butter until soft.
- Stir in the garlic, rosemary, and other spices.
- Scatter flour over the veggies and cook until toasty. (It’s the flour that thickens the soup.)
- Add the stock then bring to a low simmer.
- Add the potatoes and cook, partially covered, until tender.
- Stir in the cream and cheese. Taste for seasoning, and then serve!
There are two ways to serve this soup: brothy or thick and blended. We love both and making them is the same except for the last step. For a thick, luxurious, and blended soup use a potato masher or immersion blender to puree or mash about half of the potatoes in the soup to thicken it.
More Comfort Food
If you enjoyed this creamy potato soup recipe, here are a few more favorites:
Easy Creamy Homemade Potato Soup
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You will love this easy homemade potato soup recipe with potatoes, veggies, garlic, and a creamy broth. The soup is comforting and ultra-flavorful. For the best potato soup, use Yukon Gold potatoes. They have thin skins, so it is not necessary to peel them. They also become buttery and soft when cooked. There are two ways to serve this soup: brothy or thick and blended (our favorite). We love both and making them is the same except for the last step. For a thick, luxurious, and blended soup use a potato masher or immersion blender to puree or mash about half of the potatoes in the soup to thicken it.
Makes about 7 cups of soup or 4 to 6 servings
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
3 tablespoons butter or olive oil
2 cups chopped onion (1 medium)
1 cup chopped carrot (2 medium)
1 cup chopped celery (2 to 3 stalks)
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary or 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 cups stock or broth, see our chicken stock or vegetable broth
4 cups chopped potatoes, cubed (1 1/2 pounds or 3 to 4 medium)
1 bay leaf
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
1/4 cup cream, half and half, sour cream or plain yogurt
1 cup (2 ounces) shredded cheese like sharp cheddar or gruyere, optional
For serving (optional): Chopped parsley, chives or scallions, extra shredded cheese, sour cream, crumbled cooked bacon, hot sauce
Directions
1In a large heavy-bottomed pot (like a Dutch oven), melt the butter over medium heat. When the butter is melted, stir in the onions, carrots, and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally until they begin to soften; 5 to 6 minutes.
2Stir in the garlic, rosemary, red pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper, and then cook, stirring everything around the pot, for 30 seconds.
3Scatter the flour over the vegetables and cook, stirring, until it looks medium blonde in color; about 1 minute. It will smell toasty, like browned butter.
4Slowly whisk in 2 cups of the stock, making sure there aren’t any lumps of flour. It will be thick.
5Pour in the remaining stock and whisk until blended. Increase the heat and bring the soup to a boil then reduce to a simmer.
6Add the potatoes and bay leaf, and then cook, partially covered, until the potatoes are fork tender; about 20 minutes.
7Turn the heat to low, remove the bay leaf, and then stir in the cream and cheese.
8Taste for seasoning then adjust with more salt and pepper as needed. Serve with fresh herbs on top or for a thick and blended soup, use a potato masher to mash or an immersion blender to blend about half of the potatoes in the soup (this is Joanne’s favorite way to serve the soup).
Adam and Joanne’s Tips
- Make it gluten-free: Do not use the flour and instead whisk a tablespoon of cornstarch into the cream (or use milk) and add it to the soup (the cornstarch acts as a thickener). Or leave out flour and the cornstarch and blend about half of the soup to thicken it.
- Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste
Nutrition Per Serving
Serving Size
About 1 cup
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Calories
224
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Total Fat
11.8g
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Saturated Fat
6.9g
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Cholesterol
30.7mg
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Sodium
302.2mg
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Carbohydrate
23.9g
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Dietary Fiber
3.6g
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Total Sugars
3.9g
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Protein
7.4g
