Loaded Baked Potato Soup
It is still winter here in North-East Pennsylvania & a good hearty soup will help to warm you up any day. This soup is filling and delicious, while still being pretty healthy. Take any rainy or cold or depressing day that you might have which needs some brightening. Spend a little bit of time on said day making this soup… I promise that it will make you feel better and help to melt away the blues of the day!
I made this soup after a recent storm and we just could not wait to eat it because it made the house smell so delicious. If you enjoy loaded baked potatoes (or those baked potato fries smothered in fatty goodness) then you will love everything about this soup. Since this soup uses milk instead of heavy cream, you can love this soup one night and then still love your jeans the next night: win-win!
I hope that you and your family enjoy this soup as much as we enjoyed it! I can see this being a perfect starter to any Holiday Meal to warm everyone up or a great soup to make ahead and heat up after a long day of playing outside on a cool (or cold) day: raking leaves, picking apples, skiing, sledding, whatever!
Happy Baked Potato Soup!
- approx 3 pounds Idaho Russet potatoes, scrubbed
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 6 green onions, sliced and divided in half
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 – 3 cloves garlic, diced
- 5 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1/4 cup milk or evaporated milk
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1 cup sharp cheddar, grated (and more for topping), you can also use one of those cheddar spreads, dropped in by the spoonful)
- 2 heads of broccoli, florets cut
- cooked bacon for topping (optional)
- Bake your potatoes – either poke some fork holes in them and microwave for about 8 minutes (in two batches) turning every 2-3 minutes OR heat your oven to about 400 degrees and line a cookie sheet with foil. Place potatoes on cookie sheet and bake for 60 minutes. After baking, allow potatoes to cool for 20 to 30 minutes or cool enough for you to handle. If you want, remove the potato peels (I leave them on) and chop into 1 to 1.5 inch cubes.
- Melt butter on medium heat in a large heavy bottom Dutch Oven Pot (your favorite soup pot) Add half of the green onions, regular onion, & garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Stir and cook for 4 to 5 minutes.
- Add chicken broth and turn heat to high and bring to a boil. After it boils, turn heat back down to medium or medium low and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes. Using a potato masher, mash the potatoes in the broth, about a half dozen times (until if it about 50-50 mashed to big chunks)
- Temper your sour cream: Add milk and sour cream by tempering. Do not add both directly to the pot, first take a measuring cup and remove about 1 cup of potato soup mixture into a bowl. Add half of the dairy and mix thoroughly with a spoon. Pour cream-potato soup mixture back into the pot and repeat for the remaining cream and sour cream. By tempering, you ensure the dairy doesn’t curdle in the soup.
- Add about 1 cup of cheddar cheese and all of the broccoli to the soup and simmer for about 20 to 25 minutes on low to medium low heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve with cheese, bacon and green onion as toppings.
adapted from The Little Kitchen
One Year Ago – “Solving” World Hunger through The Hunger Games and FreeRice.com (great book, good movie, and an amazing website which does good for you and those around the world… you should check out the post)
And I leave you with this, Today’s Question of the Day… What is your favorite topping to put on your loaded (or baked) potato?