Loaded Baked Potato Soup

 


Ingredients:

  • 4 large baking potatoes (Idaho or russet)
  • 1 pack bacon (original recipe calls for 12 slices, my pack came with 9 and was fine)
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 6 cups milk, heated (I used 2%)
  • 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
  • Salt and black pepper, to taste
  • Sour cream for garnish
  • Chives for garnish, I used green onion
Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
  2. Bake 4 large potatoes for 45 minutes. When done, a paring knife should cut through easily
  3. Cook 1 pack (9 slices) bacon in a large pot
  4. When bacon is crispy, remove and set aside, leaving the bacon grease in the pot
  5. Heat 6 cups milk
  6. Add 1/2 cup flour to bacon grease, stir for 1 min, until fat and flour are combined
  7. Pour in heated milk and stir for 15 min over medium heat, until bubbly and thickened
  8. Scoop pulp out of baked potatoes and add to milk mixture
  9. Mash pulp with back of wooden spoon in the pot, leaving it a little chunky
  10. Break cooked bacon into bits and add to soup
  11. Add 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese. When the cheese melts, remove from heat
  12. Scoop into bowls and garnish with sour cream and chives (or green onion)
Yield: About 4 bowls


Description:

I mentioned on my broccoli cheddar soup recipe that when I was in college, the cheapest thing you could get from the cafeteria was something from the soup bar. Even on a college budget, it wasn't usually worth it. With two exceptions: the broccoli cheddar, and the loaded baked potato.

So with this addition, I've completed my college cafeteria soup collection. I doubt this is the recipe my cafeteria followed, though. 

When I did this recipe, I used redskin potatoes instead of Idaho or russet, as was recommended. When they came out of the oven they were still a little firm and not easy to mash in the pot with the back of a wooden spoon, like the recipe suggests. I wound up cutting them in pieces with a fork, and they softened while in the soup afterwards. I think things would have gone easier for me if I had stuck to the recommended baking potatoes, although my end result was fine. If I realized they would be so hard to mash, I probably would have cubed them before adding them to the pot. Also, I used six potatoes because the recipe calls for large and mine were on the smaller side. I think I got the ratio correct.

I got the impression from the sourced recipe that I should cook the bacon in the pot and later break it into bits, which I did. Lee-Anne thought I should have cut the uncooked bacon into bits and then cooked them. My way worked fine. As I said under the ingredients, the sourced recipe asks for 12 slices of bacon. I used one pack, with 9 slices, and that worked for me. Different recipes varied wildly on how much bacon to use. 12 slices was probably the highest, with 4 being the lowest. Lee-Anne said she'd use 5.

I used 2% milk, as did the sourced recipe. Different recipes differed on this as well. I'm sure you can used whatever fat content dairy you'd like.

Even if you like milder cheddars, I recommend something on the sharper side, as the soup dumbs down the flavour quite a bit.

The sourced recipe suggests you use kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, but I don't care. Use table salt and pre-ground black pepper for all I care (and which I did)

The sourced recipe recommends you garnish with additional bacon bits and cheddar as well as sour cream and chives. I can't find it in myself to garnish with something I know is already a part of the body of the soup, so I don't bother with the cheddar or bacon. I also opted to use green onions instead of chives.

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