Loaded Baked Potato Soup
Loaded Baked Potato Soup is comfort in a bowl—creamy, thick, warm potatoes and cheese, with broccoli, mushrooms, onions, bacon, sour cream, chives and green onions. Just what you need on a cold night!
Servings: 6 people
Ingredients
- 1 pound thick-sliced bacon sliced thin crosswise
- 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
- ½ large onion finely diced
- 3-4 large mushrooms halved and sliced
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 ½ pounds potatoes peeled and cubed
- 1 large potato to be baked
- 1 ½ cups chicken broth
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ Tablespoon dried parsley
- ½ Tablespoon dried chives
- ½ teaspoon onion salt or powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt or more to taste
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup chicken broth
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup sour cream (or 2oz cream cheese)
- 1 ½ cups broccoli cut small
- 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese
Garnish:
- Bacon crisped and crumbled
- 2 green onions chopped
- Sharp cheddar cheese
- Sour cream
Instructions
- In a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat, cook bacon until crispy. Transfer bacon to paper towel with a slotted spoon. Discard bacon grease, but don’t clean the pot.
- Add 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, and onion to pot. Cook for 6 minutes, then add mushrooms and cook until onions and mushrooms are tender, about another 2-4 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Add cubed potatoes and chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover with a lid. Let simmer 15-25 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
- While cooking cubed potatoes, cover large baking potato with plastic wrap and cook in microwave for 2-3 minutes, or until tender. Scoop out flesh and set aside. Discard potato peel.
- In another pot over medium heat, add 2 Tablespoons butter. Add flour and spices while whisking to form a paste. Gradually whisk in milk, chicken broth and heavy cream. Continually whisk until the mixture thickens and begins to coat the back of a spoon, about 10-15 minutes. Stir in sour cream until it is completely incorporated.
- Add broccoli, baked potato flesh, and two-thirds the crisped bacon to the cubed potatoes mixture. Stir. Add cream mixture to the pot and stir. Then, stir in cheese. Let melt and thicken. Taste for seasonings. Add more salt and pepper as desired.
- For fun—serve this soup in a bread bowl! Garnish with the remaining bacon, extra cheese, green onions and sour cream.