Creamy Baked Potato Soup

We've had some potatoes sitting around in our cupboard for a while that were left over from the West Allis farmers market. And seeing as how it's soup season and (completely coincidentally, I assure you) since potato soup is my favorite kind of soup, we figured we would give it a go.

We originally were going to simply follow a Cooking Light recipe, but we opted to use it as a basis, but make some of our own changes. So this recipe is ours, but largely based on the Cooking Light recipe.

One major difference we opted for was to cook the potatoes in the microwave so that the cooking time was reduced. (In addition, we were baking scones at the time we made this soup, so our oven was already accounted for.)


We also added chopped carrots and celery because Melissa wanted to ensure we were getting our veggies in, which added a nice crisp texture contrast to the chunky potatoes and creamy base.

In the end, we had a hearty soup that came together quickly and had a bit of a crunch in some bites with a lot of hot chunky potato and creamy milk and sour cream broth. Garnish with some more cheddar, green onions, bacon and freshly ground black pepper and it's not worth passing up.


Creamy Baked Potato Soup
(8 servings)
2 1/2 to 3 pounds baking potatoes
1 large carrot, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
6 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
4 ounces reduced-fat shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1 cup chopped green onions, divided
bacon slices, cooked and crumbled

1. Pierce the potatoes with a fork and bake in microwave. Cool and then peel and lightly mash.

2. Saute the carrots, celery and onions in a large stock pot or Dutch oven.

3. Add the flour and add milk, stirring to combine. Cook for about 5 to 10 minutes, or until thickened.

4. Add mashed potatoes, 3/4 cup cheese, salt and pepper, stirring until cheese melts.

5. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream and 1/2 cup green onions. Cover and heat for about 10 minutes.