Baked Potato Soup

Because Winter.

Christmas is over. It’s cold. It’s winter for like another seven years. Maybe we need to lighten up our food game, but all we want are carbs, carbs, butter, and more carbs.

I think I can help.

Here is my mostly low-ish fat recipe for baked potato soup.

Yes. That’s right. I said “low-ish” fat. I mean there is bacon in it. So don’t get too excited, but yes. It’s reasonably light. So take that skeptic!

Here we go.

Ingredients:

• 3 Cups skim milk (you could use whole milk, but I really prefer skim here. AND we’re trying to lighten things up so maybe just trust a gal for a minute).

• 6 Cups low sodium chicken broth (I use boxed because I never think to make my own, but homemade would be amazing).

• 6 Slices thick cut bacon cut into tiny pieces.

• 4 Tbsp. flour.

• 5 Medium baked potatoes (Russet would be a good choice here because they are super starchy).

• 2 Tbsp. course sea salt (for baking the potatoes. You’re about to love me for this).

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil (divided in 2).

• 1 Tsp. table salt (possibly more, so keep some around).

• 1 Tsp. black pepper (possibly more, see above).

• 1 Tbsp. garlic powder.

• ¼ Cup sour cream.

• Shredded cheddar cheese for garnish (the amount here is up to you. I like to control most things. However, I feel like one’s cheese amounts are very personal, as they should be).

• Diced green onions for garnish (optional but pretty).

To bake the potatoes (yes, I AM actually going to tell you how to bake a potato. You want to fight me?!?):

-Thoroughly wash and dry your 5 medium Russet potatoes (I do feel the need to include this step. For many reasons but mostly because I need constant and complete control).

Place the potatoes on a baking sheet (it’s just cleaner this way).

-Coat the potatoes with the 1 tbsp. of olive oil.

-Sprinkle the 2 tbsp. of course sea salt over all of the potatoes (This seems like a lot of salt, but we’re actually going to remove most of the skins, and the oil and salt really do get into the potato. Plus you can snack on the skins while you’re cooking because they are delicious. Who doesn’t love a bonus snack?).

-Bake in an oven preheated to 375 degrees for 50-60 minutes until fork tender (fun fact, the word tender makes me uncomfortable… I have no idea why).

To make the soup:

-In a large pot (I like to use my fancy cast-iron enameled Dutch oven), add the remaining 1 tbsp. olive oil and warm over medium heat (a good tip I learned recently is to heat the pan, and then add your oil so as to not burn it).

-Add your 6 chopped pieces of thick cut bacon and cook until just shy of crispy (it’s important to stir these while cooking to keep them from burning. It’s also a good way to guard the bacon. It is in my experience, that when cooking bacon, the smell attracts people to the kitchen and if you’re not careful, they will steal your bacon. I don’t mean this as some sort of weird euphemism. I mean this quite literally).

-Once the bacon is just shy of crispy, add your 4 tbsp. of flour and whisk into a paste with the bacon fat. Keep it moving and allow to cook for about a minute, just to get the rawness out of the flour (this will keep your soup from tasting like paste. I know some people like to eat paste and who are we to judge. This is not for them. It’s for us).

Note: We are making a roux, which is how we thicken sauces. Do not be scared. You can do this! I promise you! The key here is to have all your liquids nearby, pre-measured and ready to go and to whisk like you have never whisked before (and even if you never have whisked before, I know you can do this).

-While whisking your flour/fat mixture, slowly pour in your 3 cups of skim milk, a little at a time, until incorporated into the paste, which should by now look much thinner (words I say to the mirror every day).

-Keep whisking (yes, It’s a lot of whisking, but if you don’t keep whisking you will get lumps, lumps are tricky to get rid of...another thing I say in the mirror every day. The mirror in this girls house is super judgey), and add the 6 cups of low sodium chicken broth, a little at a time, until all incorporated.

-By now you should have a thin soup base (I feel like this would make an excellent band name). Add your ¼ cup sour cream, and whisk well (don’t panic when it looks lumpy, as it cooks it will melt).

-Bring the broth to a low simmer (remember, that’s the gentle bubble we talked about in a previous recipe. If you don’t remember, that’s on you. Maybe you should read my posts more).

-Add the 1 tbsp. garlic powder, 1 tsp. salt, and the 1 tsp. black pepper and mix well, making sure you scrape the bottom of the pan to ensure nothing is sticking.

-Allow to simmer on low for about 5 minutes.

-While this is simmering, peel off most of the skin from your potatoes, and cut into cubes (no need to be fancy here, this is one of the few times I will ever say that. It’s OK if some of the skins make it in, if you have not eaten them all).

-Add the potatoes and stir. At this point taste your soup, and adjust the salt and pepper as needed (potatoes are salt sponges. They are big jerks that way).

-Allow to simmer for about 5 more minutes (this allows those starchy potatoes to help thicken the soup).

-After 5 minutes, use a potato masher and mash the potatoes a little. Don’t mash completely, leave just enough for there to be potato chunks (potato chunks, incidentally would make another excellent band name).

You’re finally done now! Serve up in a big bowl, with some cheddar cheese, and green onions on top! Or don’t… But yeah do it my way please.