Fully Loaded Potato Cheddar Soup

I realized after I'd started in on this recipe that I had made a something similar before, but this version has vegetables in it, which is even better. To my surprise, this recipe comes from the same site too! It's from Real Mom Kitchen.

For some reason it's called 'baked' potato soup. I wonder if it's because the recipe doesn't say to peel the potatoes? Anyway, I rarely peel my potatoes (even when making mashed) because I love the skins. I just scrub 'em, take off the creepy stuff and away I go.

I made a double batch and made a few adjustments to the recipe to suit my taste. I love onions in my potato soup, so I upped the onion factor. I also added garlic because there's room for garlic in pretty much every savoury recipe in my kitchen.

The other major change is rather than using full cream and milk, which equals to about 18% fat, I used only 10% cream all the way through. Just easier, and lighter, in my opinion.

Oh yeah, I also added Dijon mustard to give it a little bit more tang, and added the bacon bits into the soup, which gave it a lovely smoky flavour. Saves me from having to cook up bacon each time we serve it.

This soup is awesome with homemade no-knead bread! The easiest bread ever to make, but it does involve timing. It ends up being like ciabatta bread if you make the pot version. Next time I'll try a regular loaf and see what happens.

After eating this yummy soup for a couple of meals I froze the leftovers, which some people would poo-poo because it separates the cream and makes it a bit grainy, but trust me, it still tastes might fine!


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Fully Loaded Potato Cheddar Soup

Adapted from Real Mom Kitchen

Serves 6

5 cups                                       diced russet potatoes (about 5 medium)

1/2                                             onion, chopped

2                                                 garlic cloves, chopped

2 tsp                                          salt

1/4 cup                                     flour

4 cups                                       10% cream

12 oz.                                        frozen chopped broccoli, thawed

2 cups                                       shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1/2 tsp                                      paprika

1 tbsp                                        Dijon mustard

6 slices                                      cooked bacon, chopped

                                                   pepper to taste

Place potatoes, onion, garlic and salt in a large pot with just enough water to cover the potatoes.  Bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes or until fork tender. Stir occasionally to prevent the potatoes from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Mash the potatoes a few times with a potato masher.

Whisk together flour and cream; stir in with the potatoes. Simmer until mixture is slightly thickened.

Add broccoli, paprika, and mustard; cook for 1 to 2 minutes more; just enough to warm the broccoli. Remove from the heat and add the shredded cheddar cheese and bacon. Stir until the cheese is all melted.

Printable Fully Loaded Potato Cheddar Soup