During my call for recipes, I got emails from Jennifer, Jenny, Jenny Y., Julie, and Charlotte asking if I had made a baked potato soup in the slow cooker. I had not. I did make a potato-leek soup last year, but that's not really the same thing. It's definitely healthier, though!
Panera bakery evidently has a very good baked potato soup, but I've never stepped foot into a Panera, so I hadn't had their soup as a reference. So I googled it, and found a copycat recipe on RecipeZaar and adapted it to fit our family.
We all really liked this soup---the kids ate a ton, and we have a bunch leftover. I made a big batch so we'd have leftovers in the freezer. I'd guess this serves 10.
The Ingredients.
--5 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced in 1 to 2-inch chunks
--1 teeny onion, diced
--4 cloves garlic, minced
--1 teaspoon seasoned salt
--1/2 teaspoon black pepper
--1/2 teaspoon red pepper
--2 quarts chicken broth
--2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, to add at the end
--crumbled bacon and green onion or chives as garnish (optional)
The Directions.
Use a 6 quart or larger slow cooker. Peel and dice the potatoes, and put them into the stoneware. Add onion and garlic. Sprinkle in the seasonings, and pour in the broth. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4. The potatoes should be fork-tender. You can use a potato masher to mash the potatoes in the soup, or a hand-held immersible blender. I suppose you can also leave the potatoes in chunks, if you really wanted, but I wanted a smooth soup.
After smashing the potatoes, crumble in both packages of cream cheese, and put the lid back on. Cook on high for about 30 minutes, or until the cream cheese is completely dissolved. Stir a few times during the 30 minutes.
Garnish with crumbled bacon, green onion or chives, and I'd assume cheddar cheese would be just delightful.
The Verdict.
When I first started hanging out on the internet, I was surprised at how much bacon talk there was. Everywhere I turned (clicked), it seemed there was somebody else going on and on and on some more about their love for bacon. Since I don't eat pork, I really didn't get it, and just figured it was a weird internet thing.
But yesterday I figured out the secret to really good turkey bacon. Fry it in a ton of butter. Now I think I might sort of get it. Although I'm not terribly pleased with how messy it is....
anyhow, this is a fantastic soup, and the bacon on top really seals the deal. My kids both ate a bowl when it was first finished around 4pm, and another later in the evening.
We're going to have BLT's with the leftover bacon for lunch. or maybe breakfast. I'm excited.
other great soups:
Jamaican Pumpkin
Thai Coconut
Corn Chowder
Harvest Stew
French Onion
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