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Baked Potato Soup
Ingredients
- 4 Tablespoons butter
- ¼ cup flour
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt or ¾ teaspoon table salt
- 4 cups milk
- 2 pounds baked potatoes
- 1 cup shredded cheddar or colby jack cheese
- ¼ cup sour cream can substitute plain yogurt
- Bacon bits, chopped green onion, additional cheese and sour cream for topping
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat.
- Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute.
- Whisk in the milk, making sure to whisk out any clumps of the flour mixture.
- Add in garlic powder and salt and cook until mixture is bubbly and thickened, about 5 minutes.
- Remove skin from the potatoes, if desired, and cut half into cubes and mash the other half with a fork.
- Stir all the potatoes into the pot.
- Add in the cheese and sour cream, stir again and cook until everything is heated through.
- Serve topped with bacon bits, chopped green onions, additional cheese and sour cream to your preference.
Obligatory Fictional Backstory
I used to run guided boat tours through the lochs of Scotland. One year, like this year, it was particularly cold. We had dined on baked potatoes for the previous five nights, and I, like Mark Watney, could not stand the sight of potatoes nor stomach the thought of eating another one.
Since we still had mountains of leftover baked potatoes, I decided that I would figure out a better way of eating them. And what better for cold, damp weather than baked potato soup?
I set to work in the kitchen transforming the cold, lifeless pre-baked potatoes into a warm, comforting bowl of deliciousness that no one could resist. Cheese! Bacon! Garlic (of course)! Green onions! The result was simply fantastic.
So fantastic, in fact, that it attracted the attention of a celebrity.
That’s right, Nessie, the famed Loch Ness Monster, appeared in my pot of baked potato soup. We’re still not quite sure how she fit, as it was a rather large pot but not as large as a loch. Experts say this is the clearest picture of Nessie that has ever been taken!
So if you have some leftover baked potatoes, and a desire to see the Loch Ness Monster, make this baked potato soup.
Real Talk
Okay, first off, how fun is this Nessie ladle??? I forget where I first saw it but when I did I had to have it. You can get one here. She even has a whole family, including a strainer spoon, tea infuser and a coffee/tea spoon!
For the past two days, the HIGH temperature has been 0 °F.
Zero.
As in, nothing.
Current actual temperature at the time of writing is -7 °F. And I don’t even live in the northern part of the country.
I hate the cold. I’ve been making a lot of soups lately to try and warm up. This is one of my favorites – it’s perfect for when you just want to hibernate. Most of the baked potato soup recipes I’ve seen use frozen hash browns, and while these have their place, I think an actual baked potato gives it a much better flavor and texture.
You can find my other soup recipes here – some of my other favorites include the (Beef) Vegetable Soup (has a vegetarian option) or the Hearty Beef Stew for this extreme cold. These posts also include a crusty bread recipe, if you’re interested. I generally don’t make bread with the baked potato soup because it’s so filling, which is why I did not include the recipe on this post.
If you don’t know who Mark Watney is, he’s the main character in the book /movie The Martian. I haven’t seen the movie but the book is excellent and made me laugh out loud throughout – I highly recommend it!
