Loaded Baked Potato Soup
This slimmed down version of loaded baked potato soup is a comforting & delicious recipe that’s ready in only 20 minutes! It has everything you love about a baked potato – sour cream, cheddar, bacon and chives, at a fraction of the calories!
Loaded Baked Potato Soup
It’s also easy to make, it takes less than 20 minutes for a creamy, delicious homemade soup the whole family will love.
This has been one of my most popular soup recipes since I first shared in 2011. I had gotten a request to make over traditional baked potato soup (You really like to challenge me, don’t you!) and was a little stumped on how I was going to take something as carb-rich as potatoes, with added fat like sour cream, cheese and bacon, light!
I knew I had to hide a vegetable in this soup to bulk it up without added calories. My first attempt was parsnips, but the flavor was too overwhelming. My second attempt was cauliflower, knowing how much you all love my Creamy cauliflower puree recipe and it was a winner. It really feels like you’re eating a loaded baked potato, without all the guilt. This would also be great topped with broccoli and cheese if you prefer to forgo the bacon.
How Do You Make a Creamy Baked Potato Soup?
In this recipe, I baked the potato in the microwave, then added it to my broth with the vegetables and pureed it. You can use an immersion blender or a regular blender, just be careful not to fill it too much so it doesn’t splatter.
You can see more Soup Recipes here!
Baked Potato Soup
Ingredients
- 2 medium russet potatoes, washed and dried
- 1 small head of cauliflower , 3 1/2 cups or 16 ounces, stem removed cut into florets
- 1 1/2 cups fat free chicken broth
- 1 1/2 cups 1% reduced-fat milk
- salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- 1/2 cup light sour cream
- 10 tbsp reduced-fat shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 6 tbsp chopped chives, divided
- 3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (you can use turkey bacon if you prefer)
Instructions
- Pierce potatoes with a fork; microwave on high for 5 minutes turn over and microwave another 3 - 5 minutes, until tender. Or if you prefer to use your oven, bake at 400F for 1 hour or until tender. Cool. Peel potatoes.
- Meanwhile, steam cauliflower with water in a large covered pot until tender. Drain and return to pot.
- On medium heat, add chicken broth, milk, potatoes and bring to a boil.
- Use an immersion blender to puree until smooth. Add sour cream, half the chives, salt and pepper and cook on low another 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove from heat. Ladle 1 cup soup into each bowl.
- Top each serving with 2 tbsp cheese, remaining chives, and bacon.
Nutrition
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Can I use almond milk?
Omg I have made this before but I forgot how delicious. I did it in the instapot like another person said and I added all the toppings into the soup…I have a toddler and a baby and sometimes they are weird about chunks. I blended everything and it is so delicious!!!
Thanks so much for your delicious recipes! I follow and tell everyone I know about your yummy and lower cal/points meals and I love that they are delicious and easy too!
Thanks!!!
Gina, we make recipes from your website and cookbooks on a weekly basis…but this is our family’s favorite. It is my 4-year-old daugther’s FAVORITE food, and she requests it almost daily. In addition to our family, I took this to a friend yesterday whose husband is undergoing chemo for cancer. He has had no appetite and has sores in his mouth so eating is painful. Not only did he love this soup (I blended even the bacon bits so everything was very smooth), but he ate several servings. It is literally the only thing he has eaten in days! Thank you for always sharing your delicious recipes!
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I made this tonight and my husband LOVED it! Though to be fair, he didn’t know that there was cauliflower in it. Just goes to show how great it is! And, he’ll never find out. hehe
I just made this for the first time and had trouble getting the soup (on it’s own before adding the toppings) to taste like anything. I kept salting and salting and was barely getting anything. Then I had inspiration…my mom always adds Lawry’s to her mashed potatoes (and hers are the BEST), so a added a couple shakes. Fixed instantly. It was exactly what I felt like the soup needed for flavor. Got good reviews from my family! I’ll be making it again.
Could this be done in instant pot?
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So Good! I left the potatoes chunky, just cubed them once they cooled. And my family had no idea about the cauliflower ????..you can’t taste it at all. Will definitely make this again!
Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe! I have made it at least once a month for the past year and it is always a huge hit!
So delicious! I’m obsessed
This is so good! But yet light enough to take for lunch.
Can this be made in an instant pot?
This is one of our favorites! I make it at least once a month!
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I loved this recipe. Quick, easy and delicious!
Awesome! I started craving potato soup after a family member served it during the holidays. This skinny version was better than her full calorie soup. I read the reviews of those who didn’t own an immersion blender, and neither did I. I cooled the potatoes and cauliflower, and tossed them along with the milk and chicken broth into my blender. Puree until smooth, then pour back into the pot and continue with the recipe directions. I’m low sodium, so I did season with dried minced onion and garlic, along with some salt free seasoning. This soup is so good! If you don’t tell anyone about the cauliflower, they will never guess.
this is great! used goat cheese instead of SC. Even hubbs eats it
This was delicious. One change. I did not have chives. Just blended some green onions in with the potatoes and cauliflower. Then simmered them. Definitely will make this again. I did bake the potatoes and then just scooped the potato out. Easier than peeling.
I love this soup. You can eat a lot of it and still feel like you ate a light meal.
I finally made this and was really impressed! I did use full fat milk, sour cream, and cheese, but am sure it would be great as written or without topping with cheese and bacon. Thank you for lightening up something that would have been prohibitively high in carbs before!
I didn’t steam the cauliflower (for whatever reason I’ve never mastered steaming anything). Instead I cut up the cauliflower into bite size pieces, added some water to the bowl, covered it with plastic wrap, and microwaved on the fresh vegetable setting until very tender. I don’t have an immersion blender, so I removed the solids and blended them in a blender pitcher before pouring in the liquids and blending until smooth. Definitely worth a little mess to have this tasty, lower carb soup on the table tonight.
@Stephanie: I made it using skim milk, fat free sour cream and fat free cheese. It still tasted rich and full bodied. This is a great recipe.
I have been making this soup, following all directions, except one for over 4 years. We didn’t like the texture the first time (personal preference for bits of potato in potato soup). I reserve one potato and chop it and add after the blender step. It is a bit “soupier”, but still rich, thick and satisfying! We LOVE your recipes Gina! I lost 49 pounds using your methods over a year and have kept the weight off without feeling deprived. Keep them coming!
That’s awesome Julie! So glad you enjoy the soup!
I love your soups that have stealthy cauliflower in them, and am not even going to mention the “secret” ingredient to my kids. Picky toddler is currently on her fourth serving, and I had to show hubs the recipe because he was certain that something this tasty couldn’t be healthy. Thank you!
🙂
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We really like this soup and I’d love to try it in a slow cooker. Any tips?
I absolutely love this recipe. It is such a delicious comfort food!
Yum Yum Yum! Looks delicious!
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This is WONDERFUL! My husband is adamant about eating meat with every meal. I baked two chicken breasts, diced them up and mixed them in. DELISH. Can’t taste a trace of cauliflower.
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Love this soup! Added a white sweet potato to it and did it all in the Instant Pot, following another comments instructions and it came together in no time!
Gina- How would you recommend making this if I were to use a slow cooker/Crockpot?? I like this recipe a lot but unsure of what steps i’d take and in what order if i were to choose not using the stove top. Thank you!
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Can this soup be canned?
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Has anyone made this soup with red potatoes? That’s all I have on hand right now.
Can you use pre-packaged cauliflower rice in place of steamed cauliflower?
Sure
I cannot say enough about how awesome this recipe is! This soup was so rich and creamy. It is amazing that the soup actually tasted like potato and not cauliflower. My whole family loved it. I did use skim milk, and fat free Greek yogurt (in place of sour cream.) With those substitutions it would be 3 smart points per cup, minus the cheese and bacon. YUM! I can’t wait to make again!
🙂
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Thanks for another family pleasing recipe, Gina! With 4 kids who aren’t veggie lovers, I was quite happy to get the cauliflower in (and none of them had any idea). You’ve made watching our waists so easy with small kids. Thank you!
That’s great! LOL, I won’t tell if you don’t!
Do you think almond milk we be okay instead of regular milk?
Such a fantastic recipe – thank you for sharing, Gina! We cut up the russets and steamed them with the cauliflower and threw in a couple sprigs of fresh rosemary and thyme with the steam, then caramelized some onions in lieu of the bacon and it was seriously delicious! I think I even prefer the taste of this recipe over the traditional ones – then add to it that it’s WW friendly and it’s a total win!
Sounds good Caitlin!
So good! I was craving a comfort food such as this but really didn’t want the added calories and fat that is usually involved! Thank you so much for sharing this lighter and healthier version. I will make this again for sure:) I added roasted broccoli florets to the topping instead of the bacon, as suggested. This recipe is highly recommended!!!
Love this recipe and got my friends hooked on it! Question: has anyone tried this recipe in a crock pot? Last time I made it stovetop, I roasted the cauliflower and potatoes and it had a richer flavor.
This tine I’d like to roast them again but then add everything to crock pot and cook on high for 4 hours. Will that work?
Perfect idea, thanks!! I loved this recipe but feel it needs a boost. I was going to decrease my cauliflower a bit to help boost the potato flavor, and I was thinking I can cook the bacon in bottom of soup pot-but I think roasting the veggies is a great idea!
Made this tonight and it is SOOOOOO YUMMY! We will make this again! This is our SUPER BOWL soup tonight!
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Just finished eating this after making it this evening. I steamed tha cauliflower for 45 minutes after reading a comment here. This soup was delicious and best of all and simple. Thank you!
Has anyone made this in the slow cooker or have any thoughts on how to do it?
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Looks SO YUMMY!!! Can you keep this in the fridge or does it need to be eaten right away?
Leftovers heat up great!
Could you do this in the slow cooker ?
Haven’t tried
Meant to say ‘hear’ milk based soups don’t freeze well?
Does this freeze well? Have any recipes that have milk might not be good to freeze? Thank you
This is delicious! I used water in place of broth and plain Greek yogurt in place of sour cream because I was out and it is still amazing! Thanks Gina!
Has anyone made this without the sour cream? Does it still turn out delicious? Thank you!
How much does the calorie count change if you use turkey bacon?
Made this in the crockpot. Very good
Did you do anything different to make this in the crockpot?
Im not much of a cook but my honey was out of town so I made this last night for me and my little vegetarian! So easy and so very delicious! I used turkey bacon on the top of mine (yum) and added the tiniest bit of chicken boullion ( which I figured was okay because my broth was low sodium! Just adding the sodium back in I guess!)
Im not much of a cook but my honey was out of town so I made this last night for me and my little vegetarian! So easy and so very delicious! I used turkey bacon on the top of mine (yum) and added the tiniest bit of chicken boullion ( which I figured was okay because my broth was low sodium! Just adding the sodium back in I guess!)
Can I use vegetable stock instead? I have a friend that is a vegetarian and have been looking for good meals to serve when she is over. Thanks!
I used vegetable stock and it was just as good. I’ve made it with both. Winner each time.
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Great soup. Did not like microwaving the taters and then peeling. Next time I will peel and small dice the potatoes and steam along with cauliflower. Also, immersion blender did not work well until I used a potato masher to break down the cauliflower and potatoes. Next time I shall try in my blender or food processor. Other than that, a terrific recipe.
Laughing out loud about comments of the guys that can’t abide by a vegetarian recipe and have to add meat. Sounds so much like my own hubby! I may have to make suggested changes to satisfy my own carnivore when he gets here next week.
Bought Gina’s book last week and have so far made Slow Cooker Sante Fe Chicken soup, chicken pot pie soup, slow cooker enchilada soup, and now this one! All were terrific. Gina, love your recipes and photography. Keep it coming!
I am a self described foodie and have four shelves in our library dedicated to cookbooks. Gina’s first cookbook is now one of my favorites. I often read a cookbook like a novel.
Sharon
Thank you so much Sharon!
I kept the peels on and it was great. More nutrition that way too.
Made this for dinner tonight… needless to say it was a huge hit!! My daughter loved it. The small portion goes a long way!! Also, as ive noticed servings have been varying, per comments. Mine made 7 cups and was 4 points per serving (included cheese, not bacon). We will be making this again, very very soon (especially with the upcoming wi ter/cold). Only question is…. can this be frozen?
I don’t like sour cream. Can I omit it? Add a little extra milk? Cheese?
I used plain Greek yogurt and it was great.
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I made this tonight. It was so good. My picky 6&7 yr olds ate it up. Maybe it was the bacon and cheese they liked, but with the amount of cauliflower they ate I’m happy!!
Made this last week and love it every time that I make it! One of my favorite soup recipes. You don’t even know there is cauliflower in it. Tastes delicious and so easy to make. I subsitute precooked bacon bits from Oscar Meyer so that I don’t have to cook bacon. Definitely one of my go to fall recipes. Love all your recipes Gina! Thank you and keep them coming!
I LOVE the taste of this soup. You can’t taste cauliflower. But. I can’t get over the texture. Help. Anyone have tips on how to make the cauliflower smoother? The grainy texture is awful to me. I used a Ninja blender. I don’t have an immersion blender.
Brandi I didn’t have an immersion blender either, so I just made it with my food chopper/processor thingy. It took a while because I had to do a scoop at a time and it still came out gritty. And very messy! lol So I ran over to Kohl’s and bought an immersion blender for $20, and used it on the cooled off pot…bam! No more “grit”. Definitely worth the purchase. But a friend of mine did say that if you steam the cauliflower long enough (like 40 minutes) it will be almost mush and that step won’t be necessary. I didn’t steam mine that long, so that was part of the problem for sure. Don’t give up! It tastes amazing once you get the texture fixed. 🙂
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How could you make it a little chunky, for those of us who like chunk in our soup?
Just don’t puree it all.
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I think the nutritional information yield count is off. This lists 7 cups worth of ingredients before even adding 2 whole potatoes, but it says it only yields five 1-cup servings. I made it and counted about 9 cups. Otherwise LOVED it! Decided to go ultra low-cal and do light sour cream, skim milk, fat free cheese, and turkey bacon. Both my husband and I thought it was great.
Have been making this for several years after ” discovering” it. It is delicious and my husband doesn’t know the cauliflower is in it.
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I’m torn on this recipe. I made it for the family and it tasted like eating watered down mashed potatoes. My husband loves baked potato soup and I never eat it when we are out because I have celiac disease and eat gluten free. I thought this would be a good gluten free recipe to make at home but my husband said it was a totally different consistency from the baked potato soups he eats at restaurants.
I’m afraid I have to agree. It didn’t really have as much taste as I had expected. Had to add more salt that I should have and pepper too. Sour cream even curdled a bit. Every other skinny taste recipe I’ve tried I love.
I’m surprised you hated it that much — this is one of my FAVORITE Skinnytaste recipes and I think it tastes amazing. I’m even a cauliflower hater and this recipe changed that for me 🙂
Delicious and guilt free!!
This was super easy and delicious! I bought riced cauliflower at wegmans and it turned out great! Will be great again in the middle of winter!
This was delicious, my entire family loved it including my kids. Will make again!
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I’ve been sending my son to the dance studio each night with one of your recipes. He is the envy of all of his friends. He even picked out 3 recipes from your website for me to prepare this week. We are making this a family event and a great learning experience on eating healthier. I think he’s going to love this soup tonight!
Can’t wait to make this! Is this freezer friendly?
Yes.
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This is really good! I made it in my Instant Pot pressure cooker and it was very simple to do. I peeled and cubed the potatoes and put them, along with the cauliflower florets and chicken broth, into the instant pot and cooked them on high pressure for 8 minutes (I wanted them very soft, but probably 6 minutes would have worked) with quick release. I then used the immersion blender right in the instant pot and finished the rest of the recipe per the instructions using the SAUTE LESS function on the Instant Pot. I cooked the bacon in the microwave. Couldn’t have been any easier.
Thanks for the instapot instructions! I was just thinking on how to adapt it for instapot. 🙂
Anna, you’re a hero for including the IP instructions, I am so bad at converting!
Thanks for the IP conversion. I’ve only had mine for about a month or so now and make pretty much everything in it (on days I have time to cook!).
Yay! Thank you for this. Really appreciate it.
Thanks, Anna, for the IP directions. It was so easy and so good!
What can u do if you don’t have an immersion blender?
I put the cooked potatoes and cauliflower right in my Ninja blender with the other ingredients, blend it all up then pour it in a pot and continue heating. Works great. I also throw in a whole head of roasted garlic.
Did you have to let it cool down prior to putting it in the Ninja?
I used my breville blender and it was still pretty hot, but I was short on time. I’d let it cool if you have time to spare. I had to blend in portions too, but that’s because I
made a double batch.
I really want to make this but I can’t eat cauliflower. Is there something I could use instead?
I just doubled the potatoes 🙂 came out great!
Can you use almond milk in place of real milk?
Haven’t tried, it might be fine
I’ve made it several times with almond milk. Can’t tell the difference. Great recipe!
What do you use to replace sour cream? Or do you? Dairy allergies here
Can you freeze it?
Yes.
Just made the soup and it was DELICIOUS! Then took a cup of the leftovers and added an egg, a pinch of baking powder, tbsp of whole wheat flour and made AMAZING potato pancakes!
That is a brilliant idea! Trying this with my leftovers tomorrow, thanks!
This is honestly the best damn soup I’ve ever eaten… and as a sufferer of chronic tonsillitis, I’ve eaten A LOT of soup in my day
Delicious!
Does the 6 so’s include the bacon and cheese?
Thank you!!
Made this tonight! It’s a keeper and picky eater approved! 🙂
This was fantastic! My family had no idea there was cauliflower in it. So tasty, it doesn’t even need the toppings…..but I used them…..(;
🙂
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Made this for lunches this week and it’s so good! Thanks for a winner, Gina 🙂
So glad you enjoyed it!
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