Who doesn’t love a fully loaded baked potato with butter, bacon, sour cream, onions, and, and and? Try a different take and flip the script on all that buttery goodness. Toss all those toppings into a pot and make a crave-worthy soup instead. Serve it with a crunchy piece of bread and a tall glass of beer to satisfy that spuds craving in no time flat.
A note on potatoes: These delicious little tubers are grown in the ground. As in, UNDER the earth. For that reason, potatoes in the field are subject to high levels of pesticides and environmental toxins. Because of this, I highly recommend spending the extra money on certified organic potatoes for all of your potato cooking endeavors.
For potatoes that hold up best in soup, try fingerling, Yukon Gold or long white potatoes. Idahos or russets are definitely not great for soups. They are high in starch and low in moisture and have a mealy texture.
Loaded Baked Potato Soup
Ingredients
- 6 slices bacon
- 2 pounds Fingerling or Yukon Gold potatoes peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes
- 1 bunch scallions (about 6-8) thinly sliced with white parts separated from green
- 1 small shallot minced
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- ⅛ tsp red pepper flakes
- 6 cups whole milk
- ¾ cup sour cream plus more for serving
- ½ cup sharp cheddar cheese plus more for serving
- ¼ tsp onion powder
- 2-3 tsp Kosher salt to taste
Instructions
- In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove cooked bacon and set aside on a paper-towel lined plate.
- Using the same pot with bacon fat remaining in the bottom, saute the white parts of the scallions (reserving the green parts for topping), shallots and the 4 cloves of minced garlic and red pepper flakes. Heat till just golden brown, about 2 minutes, stirring frequently so that the garlic does not burn. (To make this recipe vegetarian, omit the bacon and saute vegetables in 3 Tbsp butter.)
- Add the diced potatoes, milk, onion powder and Kosher salt. Bring to a boil over medium to medium-high heat. As soon as it starts to boil, reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for about 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are tender.
- Once potatoes are tender, remove from heat and briefly pulse mixture in batches in a blender or food processor. (Remember to keep the lid slightly opened on blender to avoid steam building up inside the blender cup.) You can also do this entire process right in the pot with a potato masher, if you prefer.
- Stir in the sour cream, ¼ of the bacon (reserving the rest for topping) and cheddar cheese. Stir until combined.
- Serve in bowls topped with bacon, cheddar cheese, a dollop of sour cream and chopped scallion greens.