This is a super creamy and flavorful Potato Soup made with red potatoes (new potatoes). The best part is that it is finished with a whole block of Garlic and Herb Boursin Cheese! Serve this potato soup loaded up with crispy bacon, cheese and green onions.
We love a good potato soup recipe around here, if you do too, check out this recipe for Potato Leek Soup or Instant Pot Creamy Potato Soup.
Why This Recipe is Amazing
- The recipe starts by making crispy bacon, then the bacon grease is used to cook the veggies.
- You choose if you want to peel the potatoes or leave the skins on.
- Smash up the potatoes for texture or leave them whole for a smoother soup.
- Instead of sour cream this potato soup is finished with a whole block of Herb & Garlic Boursin Cheese. YUM!
Ingredients
Here is what you need to make this Creamy Red Potato Soup, and some tips on a few ingredients.
Red Potatoes – These are sometimes called new potatoes, b- potatoes or baby reds. They are a smaller, soft potato with red skin.
You can choose to peel the potatoes or leave the skin on. The red skin is very thin and cooks through nicely if you choose to leave it on.
Boursin Cheese – It is a brand of Gournay Cheese. Soft and creamy in texture and FULL of flavor! It melts perfectly into the Red Potato Soup adding thickness and flavor.
You can find it in your local grocery store. You will find it either by the cheese, specialty cheese or deli.
Step-by-Step Picture Instructions
In a large pot over medium heat cook the diced bacon until it is crispy. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate with a slotted spoon, set aside.
Discard all but 2 tablespoon bacon drippings from the pot.
In the reserved bacon drippings, sauté the onions, carrots, celery and garlic for about 5 minutes.
Pro Tip: As the veggies release their liquid scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
Add the 2 tablespoon butter the pot and melt then stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Slowly whisk in the 4 cups chicken broth or chicken stock.
Add in the chicken base, salt, pepper, onion powder and cut potatoes.
Pop the lid on the pot and cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are fork tender.
Pro tip – Make sure to test a couple potatoes before moving on to the next steps.
Reduce the heat to low.
At this point you can mash some of the potatoes if you like. Use a potato masher, fork or wooden spoon to smash a few or a lot of the potatoes.
Stir in the half and half and Boursin Cheese. Warm over low heat until the Boursin is completely melted.
Remove from the heat and let it cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Pro Tip- If you like your soup even thicker you can stir in a few tablespoons of instant potato flakes! Let them cook and thicken the soup for about 4-5 minutes.
Make Ahead
You can absolutely make this soup ahead, like chili, it gets even better with time!
Make it up to 3 days ahead and reheat over low, medium-low on the stove top.
I would not recommend freezing the soup because of the cream and cheese content.
Recipe Tips
- Don’t cut your potatoes too far ahead of time. They will brown the longer the flesh is exposed to the air.
- Place the cooked bacon pieces on a paper towel lined plate for the grease to drain.
- Cut the carrots and celery about ¼ inch thick and the potatoes in a ½ inch dice. It is the perfect thickness for everything to cook together.
- Test a couple potatoes for doneness before adding the cream and cheese.
Recipe FAQ’s
Absolutely not! The red potato skins are actually quite thin and will cook nicely in the soup. Leaving the skin on also provides structure for the potatoes if you choose to leave the pieces whole.
If you like your potato soup a little thicker you can add a few tablespoons of dried potato flakes. They thicken the soup perfectly! Another option is mashing together 1 tablespoon of room temperature butter and 1 tablespoon all purpose flour, stir it into the soup while it simmers.
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Did you make this recipe?
I would love to hear your review, especially if you have tips and tricks to add! Pop down to the comment section and connect with me
Creamy Red Potato Soup
Equipment
- Large pot with a lid
Ingredients
- 6 strips bacon - diced
- 1 yellow onion - diced
- 1 cup celery - cut into ¼ inch pieces
- 1 cup carrots - cut into ¼ inch pieces
- 3 garlic cloves - minced
- 2 tablespoon butter
- ¼ cup all purpose flour
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 2 tablespoon chicken base
- 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 lbs red potatoes - cubed ½ inch pieces, peeled or unpeeled
- 2 cups half and half
- 5.2 oz Garlic and Fine Herb Boursin Cheese
Garnish
- crispy bacon, cheese, green onions
Instructions
- In a large pot over medium heat cook the bacon until it is crispy. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate with a slotted spoon, set aside.
- Discard all but 2 tablespoon bacon drippings from the pot.
- In the bacon drippings sauté the onions, carrots, celery and garlic for about 5 minutes. Pro Tip: As the veggies release their liquid scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
- Add the 2 tablespoon butter the pot and melt.
- Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
- Slowly whisk in the 4 cups chicken broth.
- Add in the chicken base, salt, pepper, onion powder and cut potatoes.
- Pop the lid on the pot and cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are fork tender. Pro tip – Make sure to test a couple potatoes before moving on to the next steps.
- Reduce the heat to low. At this point you can mash some of the potatoes if you like. Use a potato masher, fork or wooden spoon to smash a few or a lot of the potatoes.
- Stir in the half and half and Boursin Cheese. Warm over low heat until the Boursin is completely melted.
- Remove from the heat and let it cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Serving
- Serve bowls of your Red Potato Soup loaded up with the crispy bacon, cheese, and green onions.
Recipe Tips and Notes:
- Don’t cut your potatoes too far ahead of time. They will brown the longer they are exposed to the air.
- Place the cooked bacon pieces on a paper towel lined plate for the grease to drain.
- Cut the carrots and celery about ¼ inch thick and the potatoes in a ½ inch dice. It is the perfect thickness for everything to cook together.
- Test a couple potatoes for doneness before adding the cream and cheese.
Tcb says
Everybody loved it. Doubled the recipie. Needed alot.
Susie Weinrich says
wonderful!
Wanda says
I skip the roux process and add potato flakes at the end. For some reason, I have a hard time with Rou
Susie Weinrich says
We LOVE using potato flakes in potato soup. I always tell people “I might not be making mashed potatoes with potato flakes, but they definitely have a place in the kitchen as a perfect potato soup thickener!”
Blair E Andrews says
I’m in college and made this for a soup party with some girlfriends. Everyone brought their own soup and there twelve soups, ranging from broccoli cheddar to african peanut. The variety was insane and this soup was unanimously the favorite! An amazing texture and the whole block of boursin cheese was not overpowering like I thought it might be– it was perfect. I kept the skins of the baby reds on and thought it was perfect!
Susie Weinrich says
Amazing!! I think I can now call it “award winning soup”.
Blair E Andrews says
Forgot to mention also that I made this recipe gluten-free! I just blended some oats with my ninja blender to make 1/4 cup of oat flour instead of regular flour and the texture was not compromised at all!
Jennifer says
WOW!!!!! I have never left a review and have used hundreds of recipes I’ve found online- many that are amazing, but this soup was a show stopper!! This is hands down my FAVORITE soup I have ever put in my mouth. My family and friends went back for seconds and thirds😋
The only thing I changed was I added about half the jar of better than bouillon chicken base and I always go heavy on the herbs…. DELISH!!!!
Susan Bassitt says
This is now my go to potato soup recipe. Made as written. Absolutely the best, definitely restaurant quality, well actually better!!
Christine says
Made this recipe tonight and it was delish. I halved all ingredients and used shredded cheddar as I didn’t have any Boursin on hand. It was creamy, just the right thickness, and the flavor was excellent. I also used garlic powder as I didn’t have any onion powder. Thank you for the great recipe!
Nancy H says
Oh My!!! Best potato soup eeeveerr! 😆
Anne says
I followed this recipe, including the tips. This recipe is amazing. The best potato soup I have ever tasted. Thank you.
Nancy Snyder says
Made this today and hubby asked if we ever had this before. I thought maybe he didn’t like it but instead he loved it. You can keep your cut up potatoes in cold water until ready to use. They have never turned dark for me. This is a keeper. Thank you so much.
CLYDE Dora says
Says nothing about cheese on top as pictured.
Susan Bassitt says
Yes it does. Says top with bacon, cheese and green onions.
Austin says
Absolutely the best potato soup out there.
Kayla says
I loved this! Thanks for the recipe! 4 year old and 18m/o loved it too. Paired it with a Parmesan bread.
Cindy Parker says
WOW.. so easy and delish :). We grew our own Red Potatoes and onions so this pot of soup has special meaning. *LOL* Served it with sourdough bread we made. I am KEEPING this recipe for sure!!
Tricia says
I’ve tried many recipes for potatoes soup and by far this potato soup is amazing!!!!!!
Kelly says
Absolutely LOVED this soup, can’t wait to try more of your recipes.
B. Branford says
This is a very delicious and hearty soup, but mine was much too salty (and I use strict measurements in the kitchen). I think my issue stemmed from using bouillon cubes to make my broth. Next time I will use low-sodium broth and skip adding the kosher salt. Instead, I’ll add salt to each individual serving as desired.
Jessica says
By far the best potato recipe I’ve tried! I was very skeptical at first at the fact that the carrots and celery weren’t blended up broken down but it makes the soup unique! I have never left a review on a recipe before but this needed a review, it was absolutely delicious
Susie Weinrich says
Hi Jessica- Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review! I truly appreciate it. I am so glad you loved the soup.
Tina w says
Delicious! I didn’t have half + half but the flour worked great. Perfect for this rainy day!
Thank you!!