If you search homemade potato soup recipe, you get a whole bunch of results with words like “ultimate potato soup” and “perfect potato soup.” Oh, and then there’s “absolutely ultimate potato soup.” Rather than thinking up fancy qualifiers to stack on top of my personal potato soup recipe, I’ll just lay it out like this: This soup is simple. It is easy to make. It only requires the humblest of ingredients, but you can also load it up with additional ingredients to make it more of something.

However, if you want to keep it simple, this is still great potato soup. Delicious. Yum.

And although mine starts with homemade broth (here’s my homemade chicken broth recipe), you can use prepared broth.

This is simple, delicious, homemade potato soup with simple, delicious, homemade ingredients. As written, this is a frugal base for many, many variations. In fact, I’d argue that Zuppa Toscana, a delectable copycat recipe of a famous fast-casual Italian restaurant’s soup, is basically potato soup with some ingredient tweaks.

Simple Potato Soup – Classic Ingredients

• Potatoes – I use russet potatoes because they are easy to find and affordably priced. I also like the way they partially disintegrate when cooked and give a creaminess and thickness to the finished soup. Other potatoes will absolutely work; they just may have a slightly firmer texture when finished. And you might LOVE that, because it is also good.
• Bacon – or some other smoky, delicious meat. Bacon is classic, but ham and sausage are wonderful substitutes. Most of the meats here stay in the pork family, but you could use substitute sausages if you don’t have pork.
• Celery, onions, and carrots – they really go together to form the base flavor of the soup. You could leave out the carrots if you have to and substitute green onions or chives if you want to. They would be equally delicious. But my favorite and the classic is carrots, onions, and celery. Honestly, I think in a pinch you could throw in some celery seed for flavoring if you really just don’t have any. That’s how versatile this classic potato soup recipe can be.
• Chicken or vegetable broth – full of flavor and nutrition and, if you make it yourself, just the right amount of salt.
• Milk or cream – or both, depending on what kind of calories you can afford and how much creaminess you want.

The idea behind this potato soup is that it can be almost anything. Just survey the contents of your fridge and get close. Obviously, you need potatoes, water, and some kind of seasoning. The rest is up to you. But we’ll start with a base recipe and add optional things.

Monday Night Soup

My dad used to make this for us on nights when it was Mom’s night off from cooking. Each time, he used whatever ingredients were on hand, so it was always a little different. We kids noticed it usually happened on a Monday, so we started calling it Monday Night Soup — and we loved it.

Potato Soup – Customizable Ingredients

As I mentioned before, potato soup is so customizable! You have a lot of optional ingredients:

• Vegetables – peas, corn, extra carrots, celery, leeks, green onions, chives, spinach, kale, mushrooms, roasted peppers
• Meats – ham, sausage, Italian sausage, smoked sausage, leftover roast chicken
• Broth – chicken or vegetable; water in a pinch (just add more seasoning)
• Herbs and Seasonings – parsley, thyme, rosemary, paprika, garlic, onion powder, celery seed, turmeric
• Dairy – butter, heavy cream, half-and-half, sour cream, cream cheese, shredded cheese (cheddar, gouda, parmesan)
• Toppings – croutons, extra cheese, chopped fresh herbs, bacon bits

That said, here is my Classic Potato Soup Recipe:

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes

• 1/2 pound bacon, cut into pieces
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 4-6 green onions, diced
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 10 small/medium russet potatoes, cut up (4 pounds, ish)
• 6-8 cups homemade broth or water (or a combination of both)
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 tsp granulated garlic or garlic powder
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup milk
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Brown the bacon in the bottom of a large, heavy soup pot over medium heat.
2. Once the bacon is browned, add the onions, carrots, and celery and sauté until slightly softened.
3. Use a little of the broth to deglaze the bottom of the pot, scraping up any browned bits, then pour in the remaining broth.
4. Add the seasonings and potatoes. Increase the heat to medium-high, cover, and bring the soup to a boil.
5. Once boiling, stir, reduce heat to medium, and cover again. Simmer until the potatoes are tender.
6. Stir in milk and cream at the very end and heat through, about five minutes.
7. Serve with optional toppings such as shredded cheese, more chopped green onions, bacon bits, or your favorite add-ins.

Tips:

For a creamier soup, remove some potatoes and broth before serving and blend or mash them until creamy, then return the blended soup to the pot.

Potato soup always tastes better the next day. If you’re bringing this to a party and you can make this in advance, do it!

Printable Classic Potato Soup Recipe