Warm up on a cold day with this easy potato soup! Thick, creamy, and loaded with toppings like green onions and cheese, it's the ultimate comfort food.
This potato soup recipe is the ultimate comfort food for a cold day! It’s like a loaded baked potato in soup form—the thick, creamy, savory soup is piled high with toppings like sour cream, shredded cheese, and green onions or chives. Jack loves it so much that he can polish off half the pot in a single night.
Luckily, this potato soup comes together in one pot with simple ingredients, so it’ll be easy to keep in our rotation this winter.
It’s one of those recipes that’s so much more than the sum of its parts. You start with humble veggies like celery and potatoes and end up with a deeply flavorful meal. Smoked paprika adds rich, smoky flavor (no bacon here!), and thyme brings in fresh, earthy notes. We’ll be making it all winter long. I hope you love it too!
Best Potatoes for Soup
I think Yukon Gold and yellow potatoes are the best potatoes for soup. They hold their shape when cooked, and they have an amazing creamy texture when blended. This soup is partially blended, so you get to enjoy them both ways! They have a nice buttery flavor too.
I wouldn’t use russet potatoes here, as they fall apart as they cook.
How to Make Potato Soup
You can find the complete potato soup recipe with measurements at the bottom of this post. For now, here’s a quick overview of how it goes:
Start by prepping the veggies. Cut the potatoes into roughly 3/4-inch chunks. Do your best to cut the pieces to a similar size so that they cook evenly. Chop the onion, carrot, and celery.
Then, sauté the onion and celery until softened.
Make a roux by adding flour to the pot and stirring until it coats the veggies. While stirring, gradually pour in the broth.
Next, simmer the soup. Add the potatoes, carrots, garlic, thyme, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper and simmer until the potatoes are tender, 25 to 30 minutes.
When the potatoes are tender, partially blend the soup. You can do this right in the pot with an immersion blender, adding water as needed if the soup is too thick. Another option is to transfer half the soup to an upright blender and blend until smooth, then stir it back into the pot.
- Tip: If you’re using an upright blender, let the soup cool slightly before blending.
Finally, add the cream and simmer for another 5 minutes. If desired, add a squeeze of lemon juice for a brighter flavor. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!
Don’t want to use cream? Half-and-half or milk (any kind) works too! These options will be thinner than cream, so I’d start with just 2/3 cup and add more as needed to reach your desired consistency.
Loaded Potato Soup Toppings
Half the fun of this easy potato soup is loading up your bowl like a baked potato! Don’t hold back on the toppings. Here are some of our favorites:
- A dollop of sour cream, vegan sour cream, or plain Greek yogurt
- Thinly sliced green onions or chives
- Shredded cheddar cheese
- Freshly ground black pepper
A few homemade croutons are great too!
Round out the meal with crusty bread and/or a simple green salad.
How to Store
Leftover potato soup keeps well in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
It will thicken in the fridge, so don’t hesitate to thin it with water when you reheat. It reheats nicely in the microwave or over low heat on the stovetop.
Can you freeze potato soup?
I don’t recommend freezing this soup. It can become grainy when it thaws.
More Comforting Soup Recipes
If you love this creamy potato soup, try one of these cozy soup recipes next:
- Broccoli Cheddar Soup
- Creamy Gnocchi Soup
- Corn Chowder
- Or any of these 35 Best Soup Recipes!
Creamy Potato Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 1 celery rib, chopped
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes or yellow potatoes, chopped
- 1 medium carrot, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, grated
- 3 fresh thyme sprigs, bundled
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, optional
Topping Options
- Chopped fresh chives or green onions
- Grated cheddar cheese
- Sour cream
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 8 minutes, or until softened. Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the flour is lightly golden. While stirring, slowly pour in the broth.
- Add the potatoes, carrots, garlic, thyme, salt, smoked paprika, and several grinds of pepper. Simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.
- Remove the thyme bundle and use an immersion blender to blend the soup until it is mostly smooth but still has some larger potato chunks. If the soup is too thick to blend, add water, ¼ cup at a time, as needed to reach your desired consistency. Alternatively, allow the soup to cool slightly and transfer half to an upright blender. Blend until smooth, then return to the pot with the remaining chunky soup and stir to combine.
- Add the cream and gently simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice, if using.
- Season to taste and serve with desired toppings.
Notes
I made this over the weekend and it was delicious! I doubled the recipe so I could have some for my lunch at work too. Very easy to make.
This soup is delicious. So simple to make and the flavouring suits the potatoes very well. I added a carrot and could taste the small difference it made, again adding another layer to the flavour. Thank you for this recipe. Merry Christmas!
While I don’t normally make potato soup, this one hit the spot and I will definitely be making it again! I used light cream which worked quite well, added an extra carrot and topped with cheddar cheese. Yum!
Delish and easy!
I added a dollop of plain Greek yogurt with my cheese and green onions.
I also love potato soup in the winter. I make mine with ham and kale, and use cumin as a spice. Think I’ll try paprika. So yummy!
Potato soup was simple to make. I added edamame for extra protein kick. I used coconut milk – afraid mine didn’t look as creamy as yours in the blog. Served with a side of hot honey cornbread. It was even better leftover.
Super yummy! I adapted to make in the crockpot and topped with cheese, Greek yogurt, and bacon.
Delicious and super simple with pantry staples. We added 1/4 tsp of cayenne for a little kick.
Will this soup keep in the freezer?
I’d freeze before you add the cream.
I made this today – delicious!
I made this yesterday for supper, it turned out delicious!!! I added crispy bacon bits as a garnish.
Just made this soup for a weekend lunch and it is so delicious and perfect for a day of -31C! I didn’t have smoked paprika, so I used a mix of hot and sweet Hungarian paprika. I also only had dried thyme on hand. Will be keeping this one on the rotation list!
This soup is delicious. I was surprised how easy the recipe was – all accessible ingredients and quick to make – great for weeknight dinner. The thyme and smoked paprika added a new flavor and we added a little more sweet paprika when serving the soup. I used light cream to make it a little less caloric and the texture, thickness and flavor were great. Left some bits of vegetables when blending. My family liked it and this will be my preferred potato soup from now on. Thanks for a great recipe!
Made this tonight for supper. It was very good!
This was very delicious! Thank you for sharing!!!
This looks so good. I”m going to make it this weekend.
I hope you enjoy!
This soup couldn’t be easier to make and is so delicious! I used homemade broth and topped it with croutons made from toasted leftover stuffing. I especially love the smoky flavor from the paprika. So good!
Hi Adrienne, I love that stuffing crouton idea!! So fun! So glad you enjoyed the soup.
This was delicious and easy to make. Comfort food on a snowy evening December. I made it with bone broth for added protein. My husband and I finished the batch in 1 night.
Hi Susan, I’m so glad you both enjoyed it!
Made your potato soup last night. It was SO delicious!!! My daughter really liked it to. I had seconds. This is s keeper!!! Thank you for sharing.
I’m so glad you loved it!
I highly recommend this delicious, soul-satisfying soup. I usually avoid potato soups because of the dairy and most recipes include bacon (which I live but my husband is a vegetarian). I made this with Lactose-free 2% milk, but I did use real butter. Easy, quick and so good!
Hi Holly, I’m glad you both enjoyed it!