Loaded Baked Potato Soup from Baked Potato Bar Leftovers is the way to go! It’s a great way to use up the remaining toppings and the work is mostly done. Especially in the fall after a big football game weekend. Your potatoes are already baked, your toppings chopped or diced, even the cheese is shredded.
Years ago, I had my first loaded baked potato soup. Actually, it hadn’t been a recipe I followed or even leftovers from a baked potato bar. In fact, I simply utilized the leftovers I found in the fridge and decided I could do something with it. Since then, I make it a point to have baked potato bars just so I can make loaded baked potato soup.
Before I go any further, I must advise if you wish to try this recipe, make sure you have about tripled the amount of bacon you think you will use for your baked potato bar! And hide half of it in a container in the refrigerator! Or, if YOU are the Bacon-ista, you may wish to ask your other half to hide it in the fridge for you.
Get Started Making Your Loaded Baked Potato Soup
First, organization and prep is key to successful outcomes. It is a concept and course of action for nearly everything you do. Therefore, it only makes sense to apply the two in the kitchen.
Are you asking yourself, “How do I do this organization and prep in the kitchen? Well, here are the ways I I tackle this and how you can too:
Organize and Prep for Cooking
Decide exactly what is the plan to make; sometimes, concoct.
Get the recipe out and place in a spot to easily see it. Yet, away from potential spills of ingredients.
Create your mis en place.
This is a French term pronounced like MEEZ-ahn-plahs. It means having all your ingredients readily available before you start cooking, including having them sliced, chopped, diced, and shredded. Also, a proper mis en place requires your ingredients be measured and your cooking equipment is set out.
Locate all the cooking equipment you will need and have them ready. For example, to do this LOADED BAKED POTATO SOUP, you will need a large stock pot. Although, you can also use a crock pot (slow cooker) or the genius piece of kitchen love called an Instant Pot. Don’t forget the cutting board and knives and mixing bowls and measuring cups!
Slice, Chop, Dice, Shred. Tackle each ingredient to prepare them for the recipe as directed. Here, it is important when following a recipe to understand the differences in knife cuts.
More Knife Cuts
In addition to those knife cuts in the image above, you will often hear the terms cubed and chiffonade. Cubed is a large version of diced. It is typically a cut uniformly on all sides at approximately 3/4″ size. Chiffonade is a ribbon like cut. This is a fancy way to present your small fine leafy herbs. Plus, it releases the essence of the flavor of the leafy green. Think of basil. It’s ideal for chiffonade and top a tomato soup. YUM!
Wedge and Slice are two more knife cut techniques. Wedge cuts are great for tomatoes in salads. Slices can be thin or thick. Probably the best way to identify between them is to think of a salad sliced red onion (thin) versus an onion ring (thick).
Start Dumping and Cooking
Now that your mis en place is ready, ingredients measured, all your equipment in place, it is time to start cooking. Dumping things together, combining your ingredients.
Start with adding half a stick of butter to your stock pot. Then put it on the stove top on medium. Medium is a safe heat. You can get the job done, especially for warming up a soup from leftovers. Too low and it will take forever. Too high and you could scorch your soup or bubble over.
Once the butter melts, add your diced yellow onion, if that is one of your leftovers. Cook the onion until translucent and tender. Add your milk and half and half. Some folks like to add a bit of flour here and make a roux for extra thickness. To do that, just add an equal amount of flour to the amount of butter used. However, I don’t use the roux for this soup.
Next, dump in your chopped potatoes. Once your potatoes are in the liquid, you can basically dump in the rest of your ingredients, cooked broccoli, shredded cheese, cubed or diced ham, shredded chicken or cooked ground beef (if you have it available). Afterall, remember, this is a soup from leftovers! Except I would reserve part of the bacon crumbles for garnish and all the green onion as garnish.
Stir until soup is warm. Dish, garnish and serve.
What Should Be Served with Loaded Potato Soup?
Lastly, many people like to have more than just soup for their meal. Therefore, what do you pair with a soup? Bread or rolls, salad? Perhaps a sandwich? However, this is a hearty soup. Your veggies are already in it. The potato is plenty for your starch/carbs. Do you really need bread, rolls or a sandwich on top of that?
I recommend pairing it with a tall glass of ice cold milk, a good old-fashioned glass of water, or pair it with a centuries old favorite beverage of many adults, a fine wine. A white Chardonnay is easily your safest choice. However, you can pair it with red or white wines. Personally, I love a Cabernet Sauvignon but a Merlot might be a better pairing for a creamy soup if you prefer reds. Of course, not that I have any “leftover” wine, EVER. I get my wines from a wine club that delivers monthly to my home. They are fabulous wines and the reason I never have leftovers is because they are great for sharing!
HERE’S THE RECIPE:
Loaded Baked Potato Soup from Leftovers
Easily serves 6 to 8. Prep time depends on how much you are truly using from baked potato bar leftovers or are making this same day from start to finish. Measurements are approximate. I literally did a dump it all in and see what happens approach. Cook time, well, when its warm enough to eat but not so hot you burn your tongue.
Ingredients:
- half a stick of butter (equal to 4 tablespoons); salted or unsalted — your preference.
- 1/2 cup of diced yellow (or white) onion
- 4 cups milk
- 3 cups half and half
- 4-5 baked potatoes; rough chopped to bite-size pieces
- 1 cup cheese sauce (or 1 can of cheese sauce or condensed cheese soup)
- 1 cup sour cream (I mix it in but you can use it for garnish dollops instead)
- 2/3 cup of cooked broccoli (steamed or roasted)
- 1/2 cup diced ham (more if you prefer)
- 3/4 cup cooked and crumbled bacon (reserving half for garnish)
- 1-1/2 cups grated (shredded) cheddar cheese
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 1/3 cup green onion; sliced and used for garnish
Cooking Directions:
- Melt butter is stock pot. Add onion and cook until tender and translucent.
- Pour in milk and half-and-half. Dump in potatoes. Stir a lot so it doesn’t burn on the bottom.
- Stir in cheese sauce and sour cream. Add broccoli, ham and bacon. Then add in your shredded cheese. Stir until melted.
- Sprinkle with pinches of salt and pepper to your liking.
Hint: If you like it thicker, smash up more of your leftover potatoes and blend it in. Or a quick fix is adding instant potato flakes. For a less thick soup, simply add a bit of vegetable or chicken broth (or more milk).
To Serve:
- Dish into bowls and top with a dollop of sour cream (if you like), remaining crumbled bacon and fresh sliced green onion.
- Pair with a fine wine.
BAKED POTATO BAR SERIES and RELATED ARTICLES
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