Classic comfort food

It does not get much better than a bowl of thick, creamy, bacony potato soup on a brisk fall day. It reminds me of my childhood; curling up with a big ‘ole bowl of my mom’s potato soup, dunking my grilled cheese in the potatoey goodness and dripping it all over my face. I’ve played around with my potato soup recipe for a couple of years, and I think I finally came up with a winner. This soup is chunky, thick, loaded with bacon, and has notes of smoky flavor. I will warn you, this recipe makes a lot. I like making soup in large quantities, as leftovers are a staple for us. Feel free to cut this recipe in half, or you can always freeze half of it to enjoy at a later time :)

Ingredients

Bacon grease (or olive oil)
8 slices of bacon, cut into pieces
Bag of potatoes, diced
10oz bag of shredded carrots
1 large yellow onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 green onions, chopped
4-5 stalks of celery, sliced
2 10.5oz cans cream of chicken
2 32oz cartons chicken broth
2 cups of milk (or half & half)
1/2 cup flour
5-10 drops of Liquid Smoke
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon onion salt
Salt & pepper

Garnish

Bacon pieces
Sour cream
Shredded cheese
Green onions

Instructions

Start off by cutting up your raw bacon into small squares. I find it much easier to cut bacon when it’s raw, rather than when it’s hot and greasy.

So, I would normally cook the bacon in the same pot that I’m going to be cooking everything else in, but my stock pot has a tendency to burn bacon, along with a lot of other things that don’t start with oil or liquid.

Option 1: But if you have a better stock pot than I have, cook your bacon in it until slightly crispy. Remove bacon from the pot and set aside on paper towel lined plate. Leave the bacon grease in the pot, as it adds amazing flavor.

Option 2: If you have an equally burny stock pot, cook your bacon in a separate pan, until slightly crispy. Set bacon aside and pour bacon grease into the large pot that you’ll be cooking the remainder of your recipe in.

And right about now, your doggo will magically appear at your feet and give you those eyes, because… bacon.

Barley knows the drill.

Next, start chopping up your veggies. Cut up celery into slices, and onion into dices.

Toss your celery, onion, shredded carrots, and garlic into the pot. If you chose not to keep the bacon grease, because, well, you’re healthier than I am, then pour in some olive oil instead. Cook your veggies over medium heat for 3-5mins.

Chop your potatoes up into chunks. I used Yukon golds as well as some reds out of our garden. You can use whichever type of potatoes are your fav.

Next, add the chicken broth and potato chunks into the pot. Stir it up good, cover your pot, and bring to a boil. Boil your mixture until potatoes are tender, but not total mush. Once potatoes are tender, turn heat to low.

Now comes the fun part. If you have an emersion blender, blend up about 1/2 to 3/4 of your soup mixture. Make sure to leave some chunks non-blended. If you don’t have an emersion blender, you can pour 1/2 to 3/4 of the soup into a standard blender, puree, then dump back into the pot.

Add cream of chicken, Liquid Smoke, shredded cheese, and bacon into your soup mixture (reserve some bacon for garnish). Let simmer for a few minutes.

In a separate bowl, mix together flour and milk. Add to soup mixture. This makes it thicker, and thicker is always better. Let simmer for another few minutes.

Turn off heat. Add in about half of the green onions (the rest will be for garnish), fresh parsley, smoked paprika, and onion salt. Salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with the remaining bacon pieces, green onions, sour cream, and more cheese!