Basic Potato Soup Recipe

Today I learned what three weeks of waking up every hour to nurse Little Elf looks like… a migraine. I’d say there’s pretty lights involved except that for me, there aren’t. Mostly everything just hurts and I want a quiet dark room and some extra sleep. I discovered several years ago that migraine medication doesn’t work for me, but I have discovered some triggers; dehydration, too little sleep, stress, and oddly enough, my blood sugar levels. For a long time I couldn’t eat homemade pizza before I went to bed because there simply wasn’t enough protein and fats to stick with me through the night.

In any case, I wasn’t up for making an elaborate dinner tonight. It’s snowing here and has been for the past couple of days (yay!) so hot soup is a welcome meal. I thought I’d share my basic potato soup recipe with you.

[recipe title=”Basic Potato Soup” servings=”4-6″ time=”45mins” difficulty=”easy”]

Basic Potato Soup Recipe | DakotaMidnyght.comIngredients:

  • 6 medium russet potatoes, chopped
  • 2 medium sized leeks, sliced
  • 5 garlic cloves, diced or halved
  • 3 medium carrots, sliced
  • 1 quart chicken stock (or veggie stock if making vegetarian)
  • 2 Tbs butter
  • 1 tsp Kosher salt
  • 1/4 – 1/2 lb bacon, cooked & chopped
  • grated cheddar cheese
  • thinly sliced green onions
  • Greek Yogurt

1. Thinly slice and dice the leeks, garlic cloves, and carrots. Melt the butter in a large sauce pot and sauté on medium heat until the onions are translucent. Don’t worry if they get a tad brown, it will add flavor to the soup.

2. While the other ingredients are sautéing, chop your potatoes. I like to make them about 3/4″ squares.

3. When the vegetables are finished, add the chicken stock, potatoes and salt to the pot. Make sure the liquid covers the potatoes. If the amount is insufficient, you can either add water or more chicken stock. If there is a significant amount of liquid that needs to be added (it depends on how much potato you add!) I’d use chicken stock to maintain the flavor. Turn the heat to medium and let the potatoes cook until soft, usually 20 – 30 minutes.

4. While the potatoes are cooking, cook the bacon with your preferred method. I like to do mine under the broiler in the oven or toaster oven, but watch out! Bacon cooks under a broiler super fast, so keep an eye on it. After it is cooked to your preferred level, dice the bacon.

5. Grate your cheese and slice your green onions.

6. After the potatoes are done cooking, it’s time to use a blender. I like to remove about a quarter of the potato chunks before using an immersion blender to keep some texture in the finished product. If you don’t like chunky soup, skip removing the potatoes. Use an immersion blender or a regular blender to purée the soup. If you have removed some potato chunks, add them back in after this step.

Note: If you like your soup more creamy, you can add in a cup of milk. Also, depending on the number of carrots you’ve added, your soup may have an orange tint to it. (I like to add lots of carrots to sneak some veggies into my preschooler’s diet. Mwhahahahah!)

7. Top with the cheese, bacon and greek yogurt and serve! (You can also use sour cream, but I’m allergic to it so I use greek yogurt as a straight across substitute.)

To make vegetarian, substitute veggie stock for the chicken stock, and substitute or leave out the cheese and yogurt.

[/recipe]

Enjoy! If you have any questions, please leave a comment. 🙂

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