Taste Tested Tuesday: Baked Potato Soup

27Oct

Taste Tested Tuesday: Baked Potato Soup

Posted by Andrea

Potato and Leek soup The cooties came calling at the Thorpe house last week, so I decided to make a comforting batch of soup. I was in the mood for a thick and hearty soup, so I opted not to make the traditional chicken soup.

Instead, I made my first batch of Baked Potato Soup and it was absolutely delicious! I will definitely be making this soup all winter long.

Many potato soup recipes instruct cooks to fry bacon and use those drippings in the soup. I wanted a more healthful recipe, so I omitted the frying of bacon and sauteed the minced garlic and onion in olive oil. The soup was very flavorful even without the additional fat. You can still satisfy your bacon craving by garnishing the soup with canned bacon bits or crumbled turkey bacon. However, if you’re a purist, feel free to fry up that bacon!

My potato cubes were large, so I smoothed them out and thickened the soup using my immersion blender (a handy kitchen gadget!). This made the soup more creamy, but still allowed a few potatoes to remain intact for texture.

JT felt the soup was a bit too peppery but I thought the proportion of pepper was the perfect. To make sure the soup isn’t too spicy consider starting with a 1/4 teaspoon pepper and add more to taste if necessary.

Baked Potato Soup
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 teaspoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 cups chicken broth
2 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup half-and-half (can use low fat or fat free)
bacon bits (for garnish)
shredded Cheddar cheese (for garnish)
2 green onions, diced (for garnish)

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until tender. Whisk in flour, salt, basil and pepper; mix well. Gradually add broth.

Bring to boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes and half and half. Heat through but do not boil. Serve hot and garnish with bacon, cheese, and green onions.

If you’d like to see more fabulous recipes, visit Tuesdays at the Table and stop by Tempt My Tummy over at Blessed With Grace.

Photo: Courtesy of greg.turner (Flickr)