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One of my go-to weeknight meals is what we call “baked potato salad bar” and involves me chopping up a bunch of veggies, grating some cheese, crisping up some bacon and letting everyone in my family go to town making their own ultimate baked potato AND salad. And you know what? Everyone LOVES it. Because there are few things better than a truly loaded baked potato. When you go to the trouble of putting everything you want on a baked potato — the bacon, the cheddar, the sour cream, the green onion — it becomes more of an indulgent treat than a basic meal. And that same principle stays true when you take those same ingredients and make them into a soup. This Loaded Baked Potato Chowder is a one-bowl soup that everyone loves. It’s creamy, it’s comforting, it’s hearty… but it’s easy too.
The first step is to crisp up your chopped bacon and then remove it from the pot but leave the fat. Why? You want crispy bacon in the end, so you’ll add it back in later (and save some for topping) but you want the fat in the pot to infuse the rest of the ingredients with some bacon flavor. Next, you cook down some onion and garlic and stir in a bit of flour that will help to thicken things up down the road.
Broth, milk, and potatoes go in next and you want to let that simmer long enough that the potatoes are very tender. Now, you have choices. For a thinner soup, you can leave it as is. But if you want more of a chowder consistency — which I very much do — you’ll want to use an immersion blender to blend up about half of the soup. This leaves some potato chunks, but gives the broth a thicker, velvety texture.
(No immersion blender? Just ladle the amount you’d like into a normal blender, process, and then pour back into the pot.)
Once you have the consistency you like, lower the heat, and stir in the cream, the sour cream, the cheese, and most of the bacon. Doing this over a lower heat keeps the dairy from separating.
Save some of the bacon for topping off when you serve. And of course, top it off with whatever else you like on your baked potato! For me, that’s green onion, sour cream, cheddar, plenty of black pepper, and definitely more crispy bacon.
Loaded Baked Potato Chowder
Allergens: Milk
Watch How It's Made
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Ingredients
- 1/2 lb bacon, chopped
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups milk
- 3 lbs Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 cup cheddar cheese, grated, plus more for servingd
- Green onions, chopped, for serving
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Preparation
- In a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot, cook the bacon over medium heat until brown and crisp. Remove bacon from pan and set aside, but leave fat in pot.
- Add butter and onion and cook until onions are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook just 30 seconds more.
- Stir in flour and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.
- Stir in chicken broth and milk and stir well. Stir in potatoes.
- Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and let cook until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Use an immersion blender to blend about half of the soup. (Alternatively, remove half of the soup to a blender to process and then return to the pot.)
- Stir in heavy cream, sour cream, the cheddar cheese, and most of the bacon, leaving some to top the soup when serving. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Serve topped with more cheddar, bacon, and green onion, if desired. Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from Sugar Spun Run.
