Hi! Welcome to Sarah Kate’s! Today’s recipe is a super comfy, delicious creamy loaded baked potato soup! This soup is so easy and perfect for colder nights coming. This week Macon started to really cool down, and this was the perfect Tuesday dinner.

Ingredients

• 4 large russet potatoes (or 6 smaller russet potatoes)
• 1/2 lb of Bacon
• 1 sweet onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• Salt/Pepper/Italian Seasoning
• 32 oz of chicken broth (I use Kettle and Fire)
• 1/4 cup of cream (or 1/2 if you want a creamier soup)
• Sour Cream
• Shredded Mild Cheddar Cheese
• Olive Oil

Start by preheating your oven to 450.

Pierce your potatoes with a fork and cover in olive oil. This will create a crispier skin that will help when we create the potato skin topping later. Put in the over. Baked for 30 minutes then rotate your potatoes and cook for another 30 minutes or until soft.

When there’s about 20 minutes left on your potatoes, dice up your 1/2 pound of bacon and add to a Dutch oven on medium heat. While your bacon is browning, dice your sweet onion and cloves of garlic. Once the bacon has browned and is starting to get crispy (about 7-10 minutes), add in your onion. Let the onion sauté until somewhat translucent and add your garlic and seasonings to taste. Cook for another 3 minutes and add in your broth.

At this point your potatoes should be ready. Put your stove on low to heat the broth. While the stove is on low, cut your potatoes in half and scoop out the inside. Set the skins aside. I use a clean kitchen towel to hold the potatoes if they are still hot. Add the potato you have scooped out into the Dutch over. Turn the heat up to low-medium and cover.

While the soup is cooking, cut your potato skins into strips. Add olive oil to a pan (the oil should cover the surface of the pan) and let heat up for 3-4 minutes. Once hot add your potato skins. Let them fry up until crispy. This may take 5-10 minutes, so while those are frying let’s turn back to the soup.

Once the soup is at a simmer, use an immersion blender to combine all the ingredients in the Dutch oven. If you do not have an immersion blender, you can use a regular blender or break apart the potato chunks using a fork. Do not over blend. You want a few larger, heartier piece still left.

Once blended, add in your cream and sour cream and cheese (to taste). I typically add 1/2 cup of sour cream and 1/2 of cheese. I will add more for garnish at the end as well. Combine everything and the soup is ready to go!

Serve your soup topped with your crispy potato skins, more cheese, and sour cream! Enjoy!