As one of my most loved and most popular recipes, I had to include this in my Debut Cookbook ‘Comfy’!
Crispy Potato Skins
I’m going to share with you a nifty little trick to using up the baked potato skins. Clue – you don’t need a spoon to eat this soup! A lot of potato soup recipes simmer the potato in a pot and then blend it into a soup. However, I’m here to show you that baking potatoes is a much superior method. By baking the potatoes you end up with super fluffy potato AND you get the bonus of ultra crispy, seasoned potato skins, which just happen to be the best soup dunkers in the world. Let me be honest with you – when I was younger, potato skins really freaked me out. The thought of eating them seemed… Odd? Yes, I had my fussy tendencies as a child 😅. But now, genuinely, the skin of a baked potato is my favourite part.
What kind of potatoes to use?
You’ll want to use starchy baking potatoes like Russets (US) or Maris Pipers (UK). I find the floury texture blends much easier into a soup, as opposed to waxier varieties of potato.
Using crispy potato skins for soup
Once you’ve baked your spuds, you’ll want to quarter them and scoop out the potato. From there, oil them up and roast the heck out of them until they’re super crispy. You can then use the skins to scoop the soup 😋 Process shots: coat potatoes in oil, salt and pepper (photo 1), bake (photo 2), add to chopping board (photo 3), quarter and scoop out potato (photo 4), add to baking tray with more oil, salt and pepper (photo 5), roast until crisp (photo 6).
Baked Potato Soup
When it comes to making the soup, we’re going to start with bacon, like most good things in life do. After you’ve fried the bacon you can then use the leftover fat to fry celery, onion and garlic. These will add a body of flavour to the soup.
Soup Consistency
A lot of potato soup recipes use flour to thicken the soup, but I really don’t think it’s needed. Just reduce the amount of liquid and allow the potato itself to thicken the soup. I also like to make the soup fairly thick in the first instance. Reason being it’s much easier to melt the cheese into a thick soup than it is a thin, watery soup. You can then thin out the soup more as needed. Process shots: fry bacon then remove (photo 1), fry onion, celery, garlic (photo 2), add baked potato (photo 3), pour in milk and chicken stock (photo 4), blitz until smooth then add cream and seasoning (photo 5), stir in cheese (photo 6).
Can I prep this ahead of time?
You could make the whole thing and tightly store in the fridge until needed. You can also prepare most of it ahead of time by baking the potatoes. Just scoop out the potato, allow it to cool and tightly store it in the fridge until needed. You can even make the skins, then reheat them in the air fryer or at a low temp in the oven until crisp again.
Do I have to bake the potatoes?
Strictly speaking, you could microwave the potatoes, but they won’t have the fluffy centre. I have actually made this soup with leftover mashed potato (800g/1.8lb) and it comes out great. You just lose out on the potato skin dunkers that’s all.
Do I have to blitz the soup until smooth?
If you’d prefer to have more texture, you can remove some of the potato and dice it up, then stir through at the end so you’ve got some potato chunks through the soup.
Serving Loaded Potato Soup
When it comes to serving up, this is where you can go wild and create that ‘loaded’ soup you’re looking for. My favourite toppings are:
Chives Bacon Sour Cream Cheddar
After more potato soup recipes? Check out my Spring Onion Potato Soup and Curried Sweet Potato Soup! Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe for this loaded baked potato soup shall we?!
How to make Loaded Baked Potato Soup (Full Recipe & Video)
For more similar recipes check out these beauties:
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If you loved this Baked Potato Soup Recipe then be sure to Pin it for later! Already made it or got a question? Give me a shout in the comments and pick up your free ecookbook along the way!
