This healthy potato soup is easy, delicious, and made in just one pot. Made without cream, it is gluten-free but still creamy, super flavorful, and one of the best comforting soup recipes. You’ll have this potato soup on repeat all winter long—make ahead for the week or freeze for later.
Living in Buffalo, NY, it’s cold and snowy over half of the year so having a collection of cozy soup recipes is a must! When I need extra comfort, I turn to creamy soups that warm me from the inside out.
Over the years, I’ve transformed our favorite cream-based soups into healthier versions that I can enjoy without the extra fat and calories. This Healthy Broccoli Cheddar Soup, Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup, Zuppa Toscano, Buffalo Chicken Soup, Cheeseburger Soup, and now this healthy potato soup is always on the meal plan during the cold winter months.
See all of my healthy soup recipes.
Reasons you’ll love this recipe.
- One-pot meal. This makes preparation and cleaning up a breeze!
- Clean and healthy. This light potato soup uses healthier ingredients that are still big on flavor – nobody will guess this comfort food is good for you.
- Simple ingredients. There’s nothing fancy about this easy potato soup recipe. If you keep a stocked healthy pantry staples,then you probably have everything to make this soup right now.
- Make-ahead. You can prepare this soup on Sunday for the week or freeze it to have later on. I’ll give you storage tips below.
Ingredients
- Yukon gold potatoes are my favorite to use in this healthy potato soup. They are also called yellow or butter potatoes, and you can find them in the produce section with the other potatoes.
- Onions, carrots, celery, and garlic start the foundation for this soup.
- Chicken broth. Using broth instead of water infuses a ton of flavor into the potatoes and soup. I recommend using a high-quality chicken broth.
- Milk. Traditional potato soup recipes use heavy cream; I use 1% milk instead to lower the fat. I’ve also successfully used unsweetened coconut milk (in the carton).
- Sour cream gives the soup creaminess and adds a nice tang to the flavor. You can also use plain Greek yogurt to lower the fat.
- A little bit of butter goes a long way in giving this soup that last touch of richness.
- The salt and pepper get added to the soup after it cooks to help the rest of the ingredients pop.
- Bacon, shredded sharp cheddar cheese, chives, and green onions are all toppings you can sprinkle on a bowl of potato soup.
Supplies
- 5 ½ quart soup pot or dutch oven
- Immersion blender
How to Make Healthy Potato Soup
- Chop the potatoes into chunks and prep the rest of the ingredients.
- In a large soup pot or dutch oven, sauté onion, carrots, and celery in olive oil until translucent, about 4-5 minutes over medium-high heat. Add the garlic cloves and continue cooking for another 1-2 minutes.
- Pour the chicken broth into the soup pot and bring it to a boil.
- Reduce heat to a simmer, add in the potatoes, and cook for 20 – 30 minutes until the potatoes and vegetables are fork-tender.
- Stir in the milk and cook for another 3-4 minutes until the soup is hot.
- Remove from heat, and using a potato masher, mash the potato and vegetables until chunky. Or using a hand-blended puree the soup slightly. You want the soup to be smooth but also a little chunky.
- Cook for another 5-10 minutes until it’s lightly cooked down and thickened up.
- Stir in sour cream, butter, salt, and pepper.
- Ladle into bowls and serve with crumbled bacon, shredded cheddar cheese, and green onion.
Cooking Tips
- An immersion blender makes it easy to get a smooth finish to this potato soup, but you can also use a regular blender or food processor. Of course, the soup will be hot when using these two other methods, so be careful. Cool the soup if possible, blend in batches, remove the blender’s center cover, and cover with a towel to prevent steam from building up and popping the cap off.
- Mash the potatoes with a masher instead of blending for a chunkier soup.
- Make it dairy-free by swapping the milk for unsweetened non-dairy milk. I prefer coconut milk (in the carton) because it’s creamier than almond milk or others. You can also leave out the butter and use non-dairy cheese and non-dairy sour cream instead.
- Bulk up the veggies by adding cauliflower or broccoli in with the potatoes as it cooks. Then blend it all. Of course, use any of your favorite vegetables.
- Make it vegetarian by using vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.
- To add more flavor to potato soup, you can use fresh or dried herbs – thyme is one of my favorites in soups. Italian seasoning is also good. Add the herbs in with vegetables and aromatics as they cook – this helps to bloom the spices.
- Don’t forget to salt and pepper at the end. Potatoes often need extra salt, so after the soup cooks, start with ½ of a teaspoon, give it a taste and add more if necessary.
Serving suggestions
This healthy potato soup is a meal all in itself, but it’s also delicious with a slice of crusty bread, salad, or add some roasted vegetables on the side.
Storage tips
Don’t worry about leftovers because this soup stores beautifully in the fridge or freezer.
For the week
After the soup cools, place it into airtight containers and refrigerate for five days. I find it helpful to portion out into individual containers making it easier to grab for lunches.
To freeze
After the soup cools, place into airtight containers and freeze for up to 3 months. You can also freeze into portions using Souper Cubes.
Check out my tutorial for more tips on freezing soups.
Faqs
Potatoes get a bad rap in the diet world, but potatoes are lower in calories and include tons of vitamins and minerals including fiber and vitamin C.
So, it’s not the potatoes in the potato soup that make it unhealthy, it’s the extras. If you want a healthier potato soup recipe, then keep the sour cream, cheese, bacon, and other extras to a minimum. You can also swap out the heavy cream for healthier non-dairy milk or lower-fat milk and use turkey bacon instead of pork bacon.
This healthy potato recipe is gluten-free because it doesn’t use flour or other ingredients that contain gluten. If you want a thick soup, use gluten-free flour or cornstarch as a thickener to keep it gluten-free
My favorite potatoes for soup recipes are Yukon gold potatoes, also called butter or yellow potatoes. They create a creamy texture and have a buttery flavor. They are lower in starch and higher in moisture, so they work better in soups.
Red potatoes are also an option, but I’ll pick Yukon gold potatoes if I have a choice.
Russet potatoes or baking potatoes are high in starch and don’t work well in soup recipes. They create a mealy texture that’s not very appealing in soups.
Leaving some potatoes chunky and cooking the soup down a bit will naturally thicken up the soup. However, you can also add a thickener.
Remove ½ cup of the soup and whisk in 3 tablespoons of flour until it dissolves and forms a slurry. Then stir the slurry back into the soup and continue cooking until it thickens. If you have gluten sensitivity, then use gluten-free flour or cornstarch.
No, you don’t need to boil or bake the potatoes before adding them to the soup, and the potatoes will cook in the broth.
It’s unnecessary to peel the potatoes before adding them to the potato soup recipe. Peeling potatoes is time-consuming, and we want this to be a quick one-pot recipe!
Also, the skins hold a lot of nutritional value and flavor, so I recommend leaving them on. they get blending into the this saves a lot
Healthy Potato Soup
Equipment
- 5 1/2 quart soup pot or dutch oven
- Immersion blender or potato masher
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs Yukon gold potatoes about 4-5 medium-sized potatoes (about 4 cups chopped)
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup chopped white onion chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped carrots 2-3 medium-sized carrots
- 1/2 cup chopped celery 2-3 celery stalks
- 4 garlic cloves chopped
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups 1% milk
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1/2 teaspoon salt more to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 4 slices bacon cooked and crumbled
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- Sliced green onions
Instructions
- Chop the potatoes into chunks and prep the rest of the ingredients.
- In a large soup pot or dutch oven, sauté onion, carrots, and celery in olive oil until translucent, about 4-5 minutes over medium-high heat.
- Add the garlic cloves and continue cooking for another 1-2 minutes until it becomes fragrant.
- Pour the chicken broth into the soup pot and bring it to a boil.
- Reduce heat to a simmer, add in the potatoes, and cook for 20 – 30 minutes until the potatoes and vegetables are fork-tender.
- Stir in the milk and cook for another 3-4 minutes until the soup is hot.
- Remove from heat, and using a potato masher, mash the potato and vegetables until chunky. Or using a hand-blended puree the soup slightly. You want the soup to be smooth but also a little chunky.
- Cook for another 5-10 minutes until it's lightly cooked down and thickened up.
- Stir in sour cream, butter, salt, and pepper. Cook for another 5 minutes or until hot.
- Ladle into bowls and serve with crumbled bacon, shredded cheddar cheese, and green onion.
Notes
Nutrition
Other healthy soup recipes
- Italian Chicken Soup
- Pizza Soup
- Chicken Enchilada Soup
- Stuffed Pepper Soup
- Chicken Tortellini Soup with Spinach
Did you make this recipe?
Have you tried this Healthy Potato Soup Recipe? I can’t wait to see it! If so, I’d love for you to rate this recipe and leave a comment below. We all learn from each other’s experiences. Also, it would be awesome if you could share a picture on Instagram and tag it #organizeyourselfskinny.
Denise says
Made this last night. It was awesome. I don’t have a hand blender so I used a regular blender and blended 1/2 of the soup. It was really yummy. Thanks for the great idea!!
Denise - Chez Us says
Hi, just found your site via the Kitchen Daily Curator Network. Looking forward to checking out more of your recipes and your site.
I have seen a few of these loaded potatoes soups floating around the food blog world – they sound so amazing. After reading your post, I am just going to have to go for it!
Tammy says
Thanks so much for stopping by!! This soup is delish!
Melissa says
Could we substitute the flour with whole wheat flour in this recipe?
Tammy says
Yes I think that would be fine.
Krys says
This was great! I made it last night. I added a couple of touches that increased the fat and calories, though, so I ate a bit less of it. I fried the onion in the bacon grease from two strips of bacon (I used 2 strips instead of 4, as a compromise), and added the chicken stock to that mixture. I also shredded some extra-sharp cheddar cheese right into the soup to give it a little more bite.
Turned out spectacularly, and I’ll be eating the leftovers today for lunch!
Tammy says
That sounds delish! This is such a great base recipe – I have been already thinking up different flavor combos 🙂
Crystal says
Looks delicious!! Can’t wait to try it!!