This Crockpot Potato Soup Recipe is easy to make and even easier to eat! It is the ultimate in comfort food. Loaded with bacon, cheese, and potatoes, your family will love this loaded baked potato soup recipe.
Creating recipes for you brings me so much joy, and this soup is the perfect example of that. When making this recipe, I decided to combine the cooking methods I used in two of my most popular soup recipes. (Read the details below.) And it turned out so incredibly perfect.
I loved how this recipe turned out so much that it got pushed to the top of my editorial calendar. It is delicious, packed with flavor, and has the best creamy texture.
If I could, I would make this for you right in my own house so that I could watch you eat it and enjoy it. Only in a non creepy stranger on the internet inviting you over sort of way. Since I can’t do that, I hope you do make it at home and I hope you love it’s simple easy flavors and comforting warm ways. I hope it spreads a little joy to your life. Because that is what food is. It doesn’t just nourish our bodies, it nourishes our souls.
So delicious!!! 10/10 recommend! Even my VERY picky son loved it, he even had seconds! Absolutely the best potato soup I’ve had! I’m looking forward to doubling the recipe to serve to my family coming for the holidays! Thank you for sharing!
How to Make Potato Soup in the Crockpot
This is a brief overview of how to make this delicious soup recipe. For the full recipe with all of the measurements, see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Cook the potatoes in the slow cooker. Combine the potatoes, onion, chicken broth, salt, and pepper in the slow cook and cook on low for six hours.
- Make the roux. Towards the end of the cooking time, take out some of the liquid from the slow cooker. In a small sauce pan on the stove top, cook some bacon. Use the fat rendered from the bacon to make a roux with some flour. Add the cooking liquid from the slow cooker.
- Add cream and cheese to the roux. Doing this on the stovetop will melt the cheese quickly. Then add the roux back to the slow cooker.
- Finish off the soup. With the roux mixture back in the crockpot, mash the potatoes and finish off this prefect and creamy soup.
Roux for Potato Soup
The key to a perfect creamy soup is a roux, a thickening agent made from a fat and flour. The fat coats the flour which then keeps it suspended in the soup.
My New England clam chowder uses rendered bacon fat for the fat part of the roux. Then you add in flour to start the roux, slowly adding clam juice to make a great thick and creamy soup in the end. In my slow cooker broccoli cheddar soup, at the end of the cooking time you pull broth from the crock pot, melt butter on the stove top, add in some flour, and then slowly add the stock and eventually put it all back in the slow cooker.
In this slow cooker potato soup recipe, you cook up some bacon at the end of the slow cooker time. Then you add in flour, stock from the slow cooker, eventually some heavy cream and some cheese. You add it all back into the crock pot for the most delicious crockpot loaded potato soup ever.
Given this is a slow cooker recipe, adding the bacon at the end of the cook time keeps it crisp. Additionally, using bacon to start our roux and thicken this soup really deepens the flavor of the whole soup.
Potatoes for Potato Soup
This soup calls for russet potatoes. They are great for baking and hold up well in this soup if you opt for potato chunks instead of mashing them at the end.
You could also use Yukon gold potatoes. Their buttery texture would be great in this soup.
Stovetop Potato Soup
This is an easy recipe to make right on the stovetop. It is the same recipe but done right on the stove.
Creamy Potato Soup with Bacon
Crocokpot
Storing Leftovers
This soup will makes great leftovers. Though I won’t judge if there aren’t any. It will last in your refrigerator for two to three days in an airtight container.
Freezing
Cream based soups are not my favorite to freeze. That being said, it can be done. Once the soup has cooled completely, transfer it to a container with room for the soup to expand. Freeze it for up to three months. When you are ready to eat it, allow it to thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
Reheating Leftovers
Reheat leftover potato soup at low temperature so that it doesn’t separate. Either cook it covered in the microwave at half power, stirring halfway through, or cook it over very low heat on the stove top, stirring often.
More Comforting Recipes
- These Italian Meatballs are my grandmother’s recipe, and they truly bring me joy and take me right back to her love filled home.
- This Crab Pasta Salad is my mom’s recipe and I love making it when I’m missing her.
- These Zucchini Fritters are my dad’s recipe. He has many talents, cooking may not be at the top of that list, but when he makes these magic happens.
If you make this crock pot potato soup or any of my other recipes, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think. I love hearing from you.
Crockpot Potato Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes peeled and diced (680.4 grams)
- 1 onion diced
- 4 cups chicken stock see note (907 grams or 946.4 ml)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 4 slices thick cut bacon diced
- 1/3 cup all purpose flour (40 grams)
- 1/2 cup heavy cream (113.5 grams or 118.3 ml)
- 1 cup cheddar cheese shredded, plus more for serving (56.5 grams)
- sour cream (optional for serving)
- green onions (optional for serving)
Instructions
- In a large slow cooker combine the potatoes, onion, chicken stock, salt and pepper.1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes, 1 onion, 4 cups chicken stock, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- Cook on high for 3 hours or low for 6 hours.
- When there is only 15 minutes left of cooking time, remove 2 cups of the cooking liquid from the crock pot.
- In a small stock pot over medium heat, cook the bacon. Once it is crispy, whisk in the flour.4 slices thick cut bacon, 1/3 cup all purpose flour
- Very slowly stir in the cooking liquid from the crock pot. Once it is completely added, stir in the heavy cream, and the cheese. Stir until the cheese is fully melted.1/2 cup heavy cream, 1 cup cheddar cheese
- Mash the potatoes in the crock pot using a potato masher or an immersion blender until you reach the desired consistency. Stir in the mixture from the stock pot. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Kathy Stevens Ring says
Can’t wait to try this.
Carl Pirro says
Love soup also Lisa, thanks for the recioe.
Hope you love it, Carl!
Krystal says
What type of potato are you using?
Russet potatoes
Sandi says
This looks amazing. What size crock pot did you use?
Can this be made a day before and kept in the frig?
I made it in a 6 quart crock pot. You can make it the day before, but I would suggest that when you reheat it you do so over very low heat on the stove top stirring often.
Joyce says
Good soup! Can this be frozen?
You can freeze it, but you want to reheat it slowly. You may deal with some separation as you reheat it (not as great of a consistency as when it was fresh off to the stove), but it will still be really delicious.
Jennifer says
do you drain the bacon before adding the flour or do you include the bacon grease?
You keep the fat in there. We are making a roux – which is flour plus fat – lots of times butter is the fat, but in this case it is bacon fat!
Brandi Moses says
Do you have to mash the potatoes? I like a little chunkyness in my potato soup.
How much you mash them is totally up to you!
Caitlin says
Do I re-add the two cups of liquid that I removed?
You are adding it back in in step 5.
Sierra says
Can you substitute the broth for cream of chicken soup?
I haven’t tried that so I can’t say exactly how it will turn out. I don’t think it will work great in this recipe. The whole recipe would need to be tweaked to use that short cut.
Brooke says
Super easy and very tasty! My husband and I really enjoyed this soup! First time making potato soup and it was great!
Thank you so much for coming back to let me know!
Jennifer says
Can anyone please tell me how many potatoes a 1Lb 1/2 is please and thank you ????
Roughly 2 to 3 medium russet potatoes. But I would definitely weigh them at the store before buying. You can be off on this recipe by 1/4 to 1/2 a pound, but not much more than that.
Danielle says
Can this recipe be doubled?
I haven’t tried that Danielle, I haven’t tried doubling it. I can’t think of a reason why it wouldn’t work provided you have a large enough crock pot. You will need to double the bacon and flour but you probably will only need to pull 3 cups of liquid out to finish off the roux.