Easy Creamy Homemade Potato Soup
You will love this easy homemade potato soup recipe with potatoes, veggies, garlic, and a creamy broth. The soup is comforting and ultra-flavorful. For the best potato soup, use Yukon Gold potatoes. They have thin skins, so it is not necessary to peel them. They also become buttery and soft when cooked. There are two ways to serve this soup: brothy or thick and blended. We love both and making them is the same except for the last step. For a thick, luxurious, and blended soup use a potato masher or immersion blender to puree or mash about half of the potatoes in the soup to thicken it.
You will love this easy homemade potato soup recipe with potatoes, veggies, garlic, and a creamy broth. The soup is comforting and ultra-flavorful. For the best potato soup, use Yukon Gold potatoes. They have thin skins, so it is not necessary to peel them. They also become buttery and soft when cooked. There are two ways to serve this soup: brothy or thick and blended. We love both and making them is the same except for the last step. For a thick, luxurious, and blended soup use a potato masher or immersion blender to puree or mash about half of the potatoes in the soup to thicken it.
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- salt and fresh ground black pepper
- 1 leaf
- 3 tablespoons butter or olive oil
- 2 cups chopped onion (1 medium)
- 1 cup chopped carrot (2 medium)
- 1 cup chopped celery (2 to 3 stalks)
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary or 1/4 teaspoon dried rose
- 4 cups stock or broth see our chicken stock or vegetable broth
- 4 cups chopped potatoes cubed (1 1/2 pounds or 3 to 4 medium)
- 1/4 cup cream half and half, sour cream or plain yogurt
- 1 cup (2 ounces) shredded cheese like sharp cheddar or g optional
- for serving (optional): chopped parsley chives or scallions, extra shredded cheese, sour cream, crumble
- Carbohydrate 7.22139607339907 g
- Cholesterol 31.8257143131962 mg
- Fat 11.6499891161476 g
- Fiber 0.937487525395435 g
- Protein 1.1997641079944 g
- Saturated Fat 7.31524425564466 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (70g)
- Sodium 140.111464343869 mg
- Sugar 6.28390854800363 g
- Trans Fat 0.807410857689196 g
- Calories 135 calories
Step-by-step
- In a large heavy-bottomed pot (like a Dutch oven), melt the butter over medium heat. When the butter is melted, stir in the onions, carrots, and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally until they begin to soften; 5 to 6 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic, rosemary, red pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper, and then cook, stirring everything around the pot, for 30 seconds.
- Scatter the flour over the vegetables and cook, stirring, until it looks medium blonde in color; about 1 minute. It will smell toasty, like browned butter.
- Slowly whisk in 2 cups of the stock, making sure there aren’t any lumps of flour. It will be thick.
- Pour in the remaining stock and whisk until blended. Increase the heat and bring the soup to a boil then reduce to a simmer.
- Add the potatoes and bay leaf, and then cook, partially covered, until the potatoes are fork tender; about 20 minutes.
- Turn the heat to low, remove the bay leaf, and then stir in the cream and cheese.
- Taste for seasoning then adjust with more salt and pepper as needed. Serve with fresh herbs on top or for a thick and blended soup, use a potato masher to mash or an immersion blender to blend about half of the potatoes in the soup (this is Joanne’s favorite way to serve the soup).
Building the Aromatic Base and Roux
Sweating the onions, carrots, and celery over medium heat for five to six minutes removes their raw moisture without browning the sugars. Scattering all-purpose flour directly over these softened vegetables requires exactly one minute of stirring until the mixture turns medium blonde and smells distinctly toasty. Whisking two cups of cold stock into this hot flour paste gradually prevents lumps by hydrating the starch molecules evenly before the remaining liquid is added.Selecting Potatoes for Starch Control
Yukon Gold potatoes provide a medium starch profile that bridges waxy and mealy varieties, yielding a buttery texture without disintegrating completely during a twenty-minute simmer. Leaving the thin skins intact preserves water-soluble nutrients and adds a slight textural contrast. Crushing approximately half of the cooked tubers with an immersion blender releases their internal starches into the broth, thickening the liquid naturally without requiring heavy cream additions.Balancing Dairy and Seasoning
Stirring in cream, sour cream, or sharp cheddar cheese only after reducing the heat to low prevents the milk proteins from curdling under high heat. Simmering dried bay leaves alongside fresh rosemary infuses the broth with herbaceous aromatic compounds that cut through the richness of the dairy fats. Serving the finished bowls alongside crusty bread provides structural contrast to the velvety consistency of the blended base.
