Fall Soups: Baked Potato

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This baked potato soup recipe is hearty and filling. My kids give it a seal of approval! I have the recipe jotted down in my binder so I’m not sure who the original source was but I’ve made a few changes based on what my family likes (see Notes). The most time consuming is baking the potatoes so I usually bake extra then freeze them (cool, cut, freeze in bag in single layer). Who doesn’t love a nice warm baked potato soup when the windchill is minus 5?

Baked Potato Soup 5 lbs baking potatoes 7 bacon slices (or more) 4 ½ c chopped onion 1 tsp salt 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 bay leaf 7 ½ c milk ¾ tsp black pepper 3 c chicken broth 1/3 c chopped fresh parsley 1 ¼ c sliced chopped green onions 1 ¼ c finely shredded cheddar cheese Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Wash and rub olive oil lightly on potatoes. Pierce potatoes with a fork and wrap in aluminum foil. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour, or until tender. Cool slightly. Partially mash potatoes (including skins) and set aside.

Cook bacon in a Dutch oven until crisp. Transfer bacon to plate and crumble. Add onion to bacon drippings and sauté 5 minutes. Add salt, garlic and bay leaf; sauté 2 minutes. Add potatoes, milk, pepper and broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in parsley, if desired.

Top individual servings with bacon, green onions and cheese.

Notes: I bake extra potatoes, cool, cut and freeze them for the next batch. My kids do not like the green onions so I usually skip those to save money. We personally like one teaspoon of garlic instead of the full amount. If I have half-and-half I will substitute some of that for the milk. We really like bacon, so I start with ½ lb and put half of that in the soup at the same time as the potatoes. I can decrease overall ingredient amounts depending on the number of people eating.