Loaded Baked Potato Soup Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is loaded potato soup made of? ›

It contains all the flavors of a baked potato but can be made in a fraction of the time. Onions, celery, and bacon add powerful flavors to the tender potatoes, while cream, cheddar cheese, and parsley bring the finishing touches. Add toppings to personalize each serving, and a well-crafted, cozy soup is born.

A loaded baked potato is typically topped with a variety of ingredients such as cheese, sour cream, and bacon, whereas a regular baked potato is often served with just butter and perhaps some salt and pepper.

Combine cornstarch and a little bit of water—or the chicken stock from the soup—in a small bowl. With the soup simmering over medium-low heat, whisk in the slurry. The soup should start to thicken almost immediately.

There's no correct way but some methods provide difference outcomes. I normally dice my potatoes quite small, boil them on their own and add to the soup at the end. That way they are perfectly cooked. On the other hand you can add them with other vegetables and the potatoes will begin to crumble once they are cooked.

Perhaps the simplest approach is to flavor your soup with salt throughout the cooking process. Instead of waiting until the end of cooking to realize your soup lacks taste, you can add a bit of salt during each phase of cooking. Doing so will help bring out the flavors of each of the ingredients.

Herbs: Fresh chives, thyme, or cilantro stirred in just before serving. Spices: Your soup is probably salty enough, but what about simmering a bay leaf in there for a while (don't forget to remove it before serving)? Depending on the soup's flavor profile, you could shake in some cumin or red pepper flakes.

To keep that from veering into bland territory, you can add dried herbs, stock concentrate + actual stock, ample garlic, and always heroic cream cheese to the mix, as we do in this recipe.

Add milk, potatoes, Worcestershire sauce, dry mustard, allspice, celery seed, thyme, seasoning salt, dry white wine, cayenne pepper and chicken granules. Allow to simmer and thicken, stirring frequently, until the potatoes are cooked through, approximately 25 minutes.

Some say wrapping baked potatoes in aluminum foil helps them cook faster (aluminum conducts heat, then traps it), and it does keep them hot for longer once they come out of the oven, which is why we think restaurants use this method. Wrapping potatoes will also give you a softer, steamed skin, if that's what you like.

Why are restaurant baked potatoes so good? ›

Baked potatoes always taste better at restaurants because chefs have learned how to produce a potato that's soft, fluffy, and flavorful on the inside while remaining delightfully crisp on the outside. But it's hard to replicate those results at home.

Loaded Mashed Potatoes

Our famous mashed potatoes topped with melted cheddar cheese, bacon, sour cream and green onions.

It's important not to chop them too finely before cooking. Keeping them in medium-ish sized chunks should work best. If the potatoes are chopped too finely, then too much starch will be released into the broth, resulting in a gummy-like texture.

Like many of us chefs and home cooks, potatoes break down when overworked in the kitchen. While it might seem like merciless mashing would lead to a smoother soup, it actually has the opposite effect, creating a base that's more like gluey gunk.

First, the starch in the potatoes will help thicken it. I also whisk together some flour and milk and add it to the soup to give it some body. There's heavy cream in it, too. Heavy cream is nice and thick on its own, but it gives the soup next-level thick, rich creaminess.

Potato soup can provide a number of benefits, including being a good source of fiber, vitamin C, and potassium. It can also be a comforting and satisfying meal, especially during cold weather.

WATER, REHYDRATED POTATOES (CONTAIN SODIUM PHOSPHATE), ROASTED POTATOES, PROCESSED AMERICAN CHEESE (MILK, WATER, CREAM, SALT, BACTERIAL CULTURE, ENZYMES, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, CELLULOSE), CREAM, SOUR CREAM PRODUCT (MILK, CREAM, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, MODIFIED MILK INGREDIENT, BACTERIAL CULTURE, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, GUAR GUM, ...

Many instant soups are made as health foods and are made to become a healthy part of your diet. That said, there are many instant soups that are not healthy. Some brands contain a high amount of sodium. While a pack or two of these noodles won't harm you, having them on a regular basis can have negative effects.

Soup Uses More Liquid

In soup, the liquid is the primary ingredient. Soup can be completely liquified or it can consist of other elements (like meat and vegetables) that are fully submerged in water, stock, or broth. Stew, meanwhile, is typically "chunkier." It contains just enough liquid to cover the main ingredients.