Best Creamy Potato Soup With Dairy Free Alternative

This best creamy potato soup is the perfect comfort food for a cold winter day. Bacon and chicken broth give it its amazing flavor!

In the wintertime soup is a common meal around our house. A lot of soups (not necessarily this one) make a cheap meal that will last for several days, which we love. They also help warm the house and you up and they just sound good when it is cold outside. When we get tired of eating the same soups over and over again I like to try to mix them up and change them for fun.

Adding bacon grease, heavy cream, and a few other ingredients to a plain recipe changed things up quite a bit. This potato soup turned out extra creamy and delicious so I wanted to share it with you! Pair it with some quick fresh rolls, and you will have a hardy supper that will satisfy almost anyone!

What You Will Need

• Potatoes -You can use raw or canned. If you use raw potatoes you will probably have to add more salt to the soup because the potatoes will suck it up. I make it with canned potatoes because it is easier.
• Onions
• Carrots – These aren’t necessary, but they add a little sweetness to the soup.
• Garlic – I use minced garlic
• Chicken broth – Chicken stock works too. Sometimes I just boil some chicken/goose/or turkey bones for a couple of hours and use that.
• Heavy Cream – The heavy cream helps thicken the soup and make it extra rich.
• Milk
• Salt
• Pepper
• Chili powder
• Bacon – You will use both the bacon and the grease, so don’t dump it out!

How To Make The Best Creamy Potato Soup

• Fry the bacon in the bottom of your pot until crispy.

• Remove bacon and set aside for later.
• Add the onions, carrots, and garlic to the bacon grease in the bottom of the pot and saute until tender (5-8 minutes).

• If using raw potatoes add them now too.
• Once veggies are tender, add the flour, stir, and cook for 1 minute.
• Slowly whisk in the chicken broth, ensuring all the flour is mixed in.
• Add the heavy cream, milk, and seasonings, and bring the pot to a boil.

• If using canned potatoes add them now. Let boil until thickened.

• While the soup is thickening, chop the set-aside bacon into crumbles.
• Portion into bowls, and top with bacon and shredded cheese. Enjoy!

Directions For Dairy-Free And Gluten-Free Best Creamy Potato Soup

Dairy-Free Directions:

To make this soup dairy-free you will need unsweetened almond milk. I have only made this with almond milk, but I’m sure any other unsweetened dairy-free milk would work fine.

You will need to add about a 1/4 cup more thickener (flour) to replace the thickness of the heavy cream that you are removing.

Then you must replace the heavy whipping cream and milk with your dairy-free alternative.

Follow the rest of the instructions as written in the regular recipe.

Gluten-Free Instructions:

To make this recipe gluten-free replace the flour in the recipe with 1/4 cup of cornstarch. Then mash up about half a cup of the potatoes for the rest of the thickener.

If you are making the recipe dairy-free and gluten-free add an extra half cup of mashed potatoes as well.

Follow the rest of the instructions as written in the regular recipe.

Toppings For Best Creamy Potato Soup

• Chopped bacon
• Sausage – Sausage is a good substitute if you don’t want to put bacon on this soup. We have had it with sausage and it is almost as good as bacon in this recipe.
• Shredded cheese – Cheese goes on everything and makes it better!
• Green onions – These add a different flavor and texture to the soup. Sometimes we put them on top and other times not.

Can You Freeze Creamy Potato Soup?

Yes, this soup freezes just fine. I freeze it in quart bags and then defrost it and heat it in a pan on the stove. If you don’t freeze it you can store this potato soup in the fridge, for up to a week.