Both Jeff and I are big soup fans. I discovered my love of soups when our family went on winter retreats to Beatenberg, Switzerland and they would serve the most delicious pureed soups with dinner every night. (This sounds fancy, but I grew up in Germany when my dad was stationed there in the military.)
Now that we’re in the thick of winter and I’m working on eating healthier, soup makes a great dinner as well as leftovers for lunches and busy evenings. We’ve been pairing it with a salad, skipping the crackers and bread.
One of our favorites (and Marshall loves it, too) is this creamy potato soup. I found the basic recipe in the Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook (the red checkered one), but we all found it to be a bit bland, so I added some white wine, celery, garlic, and other seasonings. It’s still a mild soup, but it has more flavor now.
The printable recipe card is below, but here are the basics…
Peel and cut 8 golden potatoes. Boil until soft and drain.
Chop 1 sweet onion and 3 celery ribs.
Saute them over medium-high heat in 1 T butter and 1 tsp olive oil along with 1 clove (or 1 tsp) of minced garlic. Saute until soft.
Stir in 2 T of flour (to thicken). Add one cup of milk, reduce heat to low and stir until smooth.
Scrape the pan gently to remove “brown bits” (or fond) off the sides and bottom.
Add one box vegetable or chicken stock (unsalted) and 1/4 cup white wine. Bring back to a gentle boil. Add desired amount of salt & pepper. At this point, I dropped in the bay leaf, but I had to fish it right back out! So, don’t add it yet!
Add 3/4 of the boiled potatoes and puree with a stick blender (or by transferring it into a food processor or blender.)
Add remaining potatoes and bay leaf. Allow soup to simmer for 10 minutes.
If it were just me eating it, I would puree all of the potatoes, because I like pureed soups. If it was up to Jeff, he wouldn’t puree it at all, because he likes chunky soups. So, you can do whatever you prefer!
The thing I like about this soup is that it’s creamy, but it’s not heavy. You could always treat it like a baked potato and top it with some bacon, cheese, sour cream, broccoli, etc. if you want to spice it up a bit more.
Creamy Weeknight Potato Soup
Ingredients
- 8 golden potatoes
- 1 sweet onion
- 3 celery ribs
- 1 tsp garlic
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 1 box vegetable or chicken stock unsalted
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp olive oil
Instructions
- Peel and chop potatoes. Boil in lightly salted water until soft. Drain and set aside.
- While potatoes are boiling, chop onion, celery, and garlic. Saute in a large pan/soup pot over medium heat in butter and olive oil.
- Once vegetables are soft, add flour and stir for about a minute. Add 1 cup of milk, reducing heat to low, and stir until smooth. Add stock and wine and bring to a boil.
- Add 3/4 of cooked potatoes to soup. Puree with an immersion blender if desired. Add remaining potatoes and bay leaf. Salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for an additional 10 minutes.
If you’ve ever over-guessed the amount of mashed potatoes for dinner, potato soup is a great use for them. I often make “too many” mashed potatoes just for this reason. Yummy, I love soups too.
what is the pattern of your silverware Plate is it Sheraton? I have Sheraton and I Love it! Just wondering looks similar? Also love your Blog/Website been watching for about six months, my favorite color is green so I love how much you incorporate green in your designs.
Thank you! The silver pattern is Repousse by Stieff
Hi, Marian
This looks tasty! I have a question though. You describe it as vegetarian, but you use chicken stock. Can it be made with vegetable stock?
Oh, yes! Sorry about that, but yes. I often make it with vegetable stock instead and I updated the recipe to show that as an option.
I make this very nice soup as well, but I don’t drain out the potato water, I just add both potatoes and the potato water back into the soup pot..
When leeks are on sale, I use them instead of the white onion ..
Yep, you can definitely do that, too, or just boil the potatoes in the stock and add more of it.
I too love soup. I even collect soup plates and bowls because of this. I would like to recommend the potato soup from gimmesomeoven.com. It’s creamy but no cream is used. The broccoli soup recipe is also good.
Oh, I’ll have to try those. I love creamy soups!
Thanks! I’ll enjoy trying this.
What a wonderful recipe! My husband is going to love this. And your blue and white soup bowls are perfection.
Looks and sounds so good! Now I know what we’re having for dinner tonight. Thank you!
Oh my dear! It’s a great basic soup but for a slimming and healthier version make a non-nightshade vegan version. Replace potatoes with celery root and parsnips, use leeks for the onions, and use homemade veg stock or even homemade bone broth if not vegan. You’ll never look back for flavor and your gut will love you for it.
Definitely, you can adjust this recipe a lot of ways to suit various diets. I love celery root and parsnips in a soup like this!
I love soups and this one sounds wonderful, thanks
The best potato soup I ever had was in a little deli/bakery at Neiman’s Dallas. It was yummy with garlic and butter and I swear they must have used cream. Yours sounds like a lovely substitute, especially with the garlic, but it’ill have to be a me soup. Hub doesn’t like cream soups. Am I laughing about that? Oh, yes!.
I put parsley and a touch of curry in mine – try it sometime – love love love potato soup on a cold winter’s night.
I love fresh, flatleaf parsley in soups, but I just didn’t have any on hand. I would definitely have added it if I did, though!
Ha! You put your bay leaf in, you take your bay leaf out,,,,,then you do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around…..
I love that you just roll with the mistakes, M!
Ha, yeah! I didn’t want to puree my bay leaf! 🙂
Marian,
I also like soup A LOT and I will definitely try this one.
One question though, is there any reason you peeled the potatoes? Knowing that you are health conscious, I would have thought you would omit this part of the prep. I wondered if it was personal preference or some other reason. Thanks. Bess
Yes, just personal preference. I don’t like the texture of the peel in a soup. You could certainly leave them on, though!
I enjoy making all kinds of soups, especially in the winter. Just finished my butternut squash soup yesterday…yum!
I’m completely enamored by the China pattern of your soup bowls. It’s exactly what I have envisioned for my own collection. Can you please tell me the make and pattern? Thank you and always love your blog.
I spent time in Beatenberg back in 1977 and 1978 for retreats. I was stationed at Ramstein AB and this is where I met my husband. So many happy memories there in Beatenberg. The food was simple but so delicious and the coffee was the absolute best. Thanks for sharing
I make my potato soup, (I add celery and carrots) and then add shredded chicken and corn for a chicken-corn chowder. You can also add chopped up polish sausage and green beans. Both make a great “meal in one” option!
If you add a teaspoon (the kind you eat off of) of Better than Bouillon to your broths it adds so much flavor. Taste before adding salt because I think there is salt in it. It’s very flavorful and comes in veg, beef and chicken flavors.
Better than bouillon gives great flavor to almost anything! Several flavors available!
How many ounces is the box of broth?
I occasionally chunks of turkey ham to mine.
Hi Marian,
I too am a soup girl. This one is great. I added a bit of tumeric for the health benefits. It may sound odd, but soup is my go-to breakfast. I like a hot breakfast but don’t always have the time to cook. I’m more of a savory person rather than a sweet one, so that can limit breakfast selections. One morning I spied some leftover soup in the fridge and heated it up for breakfast. Hot, tasty, and healthy. What a great way to start the day. Now I make soups and freeze them in one portion servings and breakfast is super easy.