Creamy potato soup

Loaded baked potato soup, not blended

This is the American potato soup: cubes of potato in a creamy broth, topped with bacon, cheddar, green onions and a spoonful of sour cream or yogurt. Those are the toppings of a loaded baked potato, which is why it is often called loaded baked potato soup. It is not blended. A potato masher breaks up about a third of the potatoes right in the pot, and the starch they release thickens the rest of the soup. That is why it needs no flour and no heavy cream. For a smooth, blended soup, our potato leek soup is the French version.

Which potatoes to use

Russets fall apart at the edges as they cook, and that loose starch makes the thickest, most baked-potato-like soup. Yukon Golds hold their shape better and taste more buttery. Both work, and a mix of the two gives you some of each. Red potatoes stay firm and make a thinner soup; if you use them, leave the skins on.

Cut the cubes evenly, about 3/4 inch, so they are all tender at the same time. Cubes of different sizes give you mush and hard pieces in the same spoonful.

Potato soup in the slow cooker

A Crock-Pot is a brand of slow cooker, so a crock pot potato soup is made the same way in any brand. Use a 6-quart slow cooker.

• Start on the stove. Cook the bacon in a skillet until crisp, then soften the onion and celery in 1 tbsp of the drippings for 5 minutes. Bacon put into a slow cooker raw stays pale and soft. Keep the bacon in the fridge for the topping.
• Cook low and slow. Put the onion and celery, garlic, potatoes, broth, thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper in the slow cooker. Cook on low for 7 to 8 hours or on high for 4 hours, until the potatoes break easily.
• Dairy goes in last. Mash a third of the potatoes, stir in the milk and half the cheese, and cook on high for 15 to 20 minutes more, until hot. Milk added at the start curdles and separates over hours of heat.

Frozen diced hash brown potatoes, the cubed Southern-style kind rather than shredded, can replace the fresh potatoes. Use about 2 1/2 lb. They need no peeling and are already partly cooked, so check them after 4 hours on low. Many slow cooker recipes also stir in a block of cream cheese at the end. It makes the soup very rich: 8 oz adds about 130 kcal a bowl.

Healthy potato soup

Potatoes are not what makes potato soup heavy. The calories come from what goes in with them: cream, butter, cheese, sour cream and bacon. This recipe uses milk instead of cream and less of the rest, and a bowl comes to about 375 kcal. A few more ways to lighten it:

• Keep it to milk. Heavy cream in place of the milk would add about 170 kcal a bowl.
• Top with Greek yogurt. It tastes almost like sour cream and has far more protein. Sour cream adds about 25 kcal a bowl more.
• Put all the cheese on top. Cheese on the surface is the first thing you taste, so 1/2 cup on top gives more flavor than a full cup stirred in.
• Skip the bacon. Cook the vegetables in 1 tbsp olive oil and add 1 tsp smoked paprika with the garlic. With vegetable broth, the soup is vegetarian.

Potato soup is also more filling than its calories suggest. In the satiety index study, boiled potatoes were the most filling food per calorie of all those tested; our article on why not all calories are equal explains why that matters.

Too thick or too thin

Potato soup keeps thickening as it stands, and after a night in the fridge it is almost a mash. Thin it with milk or broth as you reheat it. If it is too thin in the pot, mash more of the potatoes, or simmer it uncovered for 5 minutes before adding the milk.

Keeping it

Four days in the fridge. Reheat it gently and do not let it boil, or the milk can separate. It does not freeze well: the potatoes turn grainy and the dairy splits on thawing. If you want to freeze some, take it out before the milk and cheese go in, and add them when you reheat it.

What it is worth nutritionally

A bowl of about 2 cups, with the toppings, has about 375 kcal, with 17 g of protein, 15 g of fat and 44 g of carbohydrate, including about 3 g of fiber. A medium potato has more potassium than a banana, along with vitamin C and B6. Sodium is the number to watch, since bacon, cheddar and broth are all salty; low-sodium broth makes the biggest difference. For the same cheddar with a lot more vegetables, try our broccoli cheddar soup.