Slow Cooker Loaded Potato Soup

Do you want to prepare a flavorful recipe that will keep you warm during the winter weather? If so, this slow cooker loaded potato soup is the easy yet delicious recipe you need to try. It will satisfy your craving for a creamy, warm lunch or dinner.

Are you the kind of person who likes to have a fresh bowl of soup for lunch or dinner? There is something so convenient and satisfying about having soup on a cold day.

Not only does it help you warm up faster, but it also contains healthy ingredients that will nourish you and keep you feeling good. Whether you are under the weather or simply a fan of savory soups, this slow cooker loaded potato soup is fantastic.

Ingredients for Crockpot Loaded Potato Soup with Heavy Cream

With plans to make this hearty potato soup, be sure to have these essential ingredients:

• Russet Potatoes. Peel your potatoes and chop them into pieces to use in your soup.
• Bacon Slices. Adding bacon to the soup gives it a slightly smoky taste that pairs perfectly with the potatoes.
• Minced Garlic. You cannot go wrong with adding garlic to your soup for additional flavor.
• Shredded Cheddar Cheese. Give your soup a cheesy taste and consistency with shredded cheddar cheese.
• Chicken Broth. Use chicken broth as the base for your soup.
• Heavy Cream. Put heavy cream in the mix to make your soup thicker and creamier.

Besides these six ingredients, you will also need onions, butter, thyme, sour cream, salt, and pepper.

How to Prepare the Slow Cooker Loaded Potato Soup

Start by cooking your bacon in a skillet, removing it when it gets crisp, and patting it dry with a paper towel.

Add the chopped potatoes to your slow cooker, followed by your broth, thyme, onion, garlic, butter, and crumbled pieces of the cooked bacon. 

Cook on high for up to four hours or on low for up to eight hours.

After it's done cooking, mash the potatoes down just a bit with a potato masher, add your cheese, heavy cream, and sour cream to the slow cooker, and put the lid back on.

Cook the soup until the cheese starts to melt. Serve with extra shredded cheese on top for added flavor! You can even garnish the soup with some chopped green onion.

What is the best way to thicken potato soup?

You'll need to add a starch to your soup, like cornstarch or flour. Take some of the broth out of your soup and put into a separate bowl and whisk about two tablespoons of flour or starch into it. Once your mixture is smooth, add it back to the soup in the crock pot. Doing it this way will prevent clumps.

If you like thicker soups and are a fan of potatoes, this recipe is the one for you. 

Why won't my potatoes cook in the slow cooker?

If your potatoes are still hard/raw after cooking for hours, you should check the temperature on your crockpot. You may need to adjust the temperature setting a little higher.

If the temperature is fine, make sure that you have covered your potatoes with enough liquid, which should be no problem for this recipe.

Finally, some people choose to boil thier potatoes briefly before adding them to the slow cooker. This is totally optional.

How do you add flavor to potato soup?

Potato soup can be bland for some, but I have a few simple quick fixes for this.

We are using chicken broth instead of water for this recipe, which adds more flavor.

You can also brown your onions, garlic and thyme with a little bit of butter before adding them to the soup.

Of course the bacon we added definitely lends us some additional flavor.

This recipe also calls for salt and pepper to taste, but feel free to add different seasonings if you like. Some suggestions include cajun seasoning, seasoning salt like season all or natures seasoning,

This loaded potato soup with bacon is the perfect family meal. You can even make it days in advance and store it in the refrigerator or freezer until you feel like heating it in the microwave to have a bowl of it for lunch or dinner. You might even want to have it as an appetizer before having a big meal.

Storing Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Yes, you can freeze baked potato soup. If you want to freeze it, place it in a large plastic container with a lid. Use a cover that fits perfectly to prevent air from getting into the container. 

You can leave the soup in the freezer for six months to preserve it. If you want to make batches of the loaded potato soup to have throughout the winter, you can do that by simply freezing the extra soup and then thawing it and microwaving it when you want to have a bowl of it.

Alternative Ingredients and Substituions

Although the recipe is great the way that it is, you can substitute different ingredients if you want to do so.

For example, if you do not have heavy cream available, you can substitute it, such as almond cooking milk or half-and-half with butter.

If you do not like bacon, you can leave it out or even replace it with browned sausage or chopped pieces of ham. 

If you are not up to the task of cutting and peeling fresh russet potatoes, you can always use frozen hashbrowns that have been shredded.

The recipe calls for cheddar cheese, which is excellent with the potatoes and broth, but you can use any cheese that you personally enjoy the most.

You can add some vegetables to the soup if you would like, such as chopped carrots, chopped broccoli, and corn. These vegetables will enhance the dish even more.

What to Serve With the Slow Cooker Loaded Potato Soup

Serve your soup in a bowl by itself or with a side of bread that you can dip in it.

You might want to eat your soup with crispy hash browns on the side or a grilled cheese sandwich. You can always dip the sandwich in the soup.

Some people like to eat cornbread with their potato soup. It all depends on what you want to eat with it and when you have it.

You might want to have the loaded potato soup with extras for dinner but eat it by itself without all the extras when having lunch.

With a few ingredients and a crockpot, you can make such a hearty soup that will taste much better than canned soup options.

You can make this dish in your slow cooker, which means you do not have to spend hours watching your ingredients cook in a pot. Instead, you can add your ingredients to the slow cooker, set the timer, and go about your day while it cooks!