Creamy Baked Potato Soup

I first made this soup in September after my husband has his wisdom teeth taken out. I had no plan other than I wanted to make a creamy potato soup that would be easy for him to eat with ingredients that I had on hand. We both ended up loving it so much, I decided I should make it again for blogging purposes. If you prefer your soup be chunky, use an immersion blender or a potato masher to get the soup to your desired consistency. I used beef stock because that’s what I had on hand, but any broth or stock would work well here. I recommend using a low sodium variety as stocks and broths can pack a lot of sodium. This is also why I don’t season the soup with salt and pepper until after blending. Some stocks will be really salty and you may not even need to add any additional salt. I didn’t have any bacon on hand, but highly recommend frying up a few slices and crumbling it on top of this soup. This recipe makes a generous amount, but does not freeze well so feel free to half this recipe is you desire. Serve garnished with Greek yogurt or sour cream, thinly sliced green onion, hot sauce and crumbled bacon.

What You Need:

 

5 cups stock or broth
2 cups milk, room temperature (I used whole milk)
3 lbs russet potatoes, washed and cut into small pieces (about 5 medium)
1 large brown onion, diced
2 medium carrots, diced
8 cloves garlic (or to taste), minced
1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbs butter
3 Tbs flour
1 ½ tsp kosher salt, divided
1 ½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper, divided
Optional Garnishes: Greek yogurt or sour cream, thinly sliced green onion, hot sauce and crumbled bacon.

What To Do:

Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottomed soup pot over medium heat. Once the oil is hot add the onion and carrot, season with ½ tsp salt and pepper. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic during the last minute of cooking.

Create a well in the center of the vegetables and melt butter.

Once butter is melted add the flour and cook over medium heat stirring constantly for 2 minutes.

Slowly add stock or broth stirring constantly, scraping browned bits off the bottom.

Once all of the broth has been incorporated, throw the potato in the pot and simmer for 10 minutes or until mostly tender.

Add milk and return to simmer. Cook for an additional 5 minutes or until slightly thickened.

In batches, puree the soup until smooth. Taste and see if you need more salt and pepper. I added 1 tsp of salt and pepper.  Top with garnishes and serve immediately with a garden salad.
















Yields 13 ½ - 1 cup servings



Bon Appétit!
Mary



**Behind the Scenes:  Had to share a picture of my cat/ fur-child trying to help me blog about this recipe :)**