There are soups designed to make you feel virtuous. This is not one of them.
This is the soup you make when somebody looks at a baked potato covered in cheese, bacon and sour cream and says, “You know what would improve this? A bowl.” Captain Moonboot approves of this kind of forward thinking.
⏱️ Recipe Information
Servings: 4–6
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 30–35 minutes
Total Time: 45–50 minutes
The cooking time includes frying the bacon, sautéing the onions and garlic, simmering the potatoes until tender, and stirring in the cheese and sour cream.
Ingredients
- 5 medium potatoes, peeled or scrubbed and diced
- 6 slices bacon, chopped
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 1½ cups milk
- 1 cup shredded old cheddar
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp flour
- ½ tsp black pepper
- Salt to taste
- 2 green onions, sliced
Method: Cook the bacon in a large pot until crisp. Remove it and set it aside, leaving about a tablespoon of bacon drippings in the pot.
Add the onion and cook for 4–5 minutes until softened. Add the garlic for another 30 seconds.
Stir in the butter, then the flour, and cook for about a minute. Slowly stir in the broth, followed by the potatoes. Bring to a gentle boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 15–20 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.
Mash some of the potatoes directly in the pot while leaving plenty of chunks. Stir in the milk and warm gently for another few minutes.
Turn the heat to low and stir in the cheddar until melted, followed by the sour cream. Season with pepper and enough salt to suit you.
Ladle into bowls and top with bacon, green onions and a little more cheddar.
Moonboot Modification: If you have leftover ham, cooked sausage or chicken in the fridge, chop some up and throw it in. At World HQ this is known as inventory management and should not be confused with having forgotten what was in the refrigerator.
For a thicker soup, mash more potatoes. For a lighter version, simply don't tell anybody how much cheese you used.
And because we've already visited the potato department with the jalapeño boats, this one earns its place by taking us properly into soups and comfort food—exactly the sort of category Making Salsa: Recipes & Other Bad Decisions from Captain Moonboot needs.
🚨 WORLD HQ FILING NOTICE: Recipe #5 belongs in the Moonboot Recipe Bank → Captain Moonboot Project. Director of Records Management remains annoyingly attentive. 😁🍲