Rich and Creamy Potato Soup

 

I do love a good bowl of soup on a chilly day and potato soup holds a special place in my heart because my mom made it a lot when I was growing up. While this version is very different from the one she used to make it is a wonderful hug in a bowl. This recipe is designed to go in small (1 ½ quart) slow cooker. If you don’t have one of these small slow cookers I highly recommend grabbing one at your first opportunity. They are so handy especially when cooking just one or two people. That being said I had one when I still had 4 kids at home and I used it often then too. Now I use it exclusively back then I used it for side dishes and desserts.

This soup comes out very rich and very creamy with not too many ingredients and not a lot of prep before the slow cooker takes over. Then about 6 hours in the slow cooker and a few minutes to do the final details and dinner is ready.

To begin we need to cook part of the potatoes, the recipe calls for 2 ¾ cups of cubed potatoes. The first step is to cook 2 cups of them in water until tender then to mash them along with their cooking liquid before adding them (water and all) into the slow cooker. This gives us the both the broth and the thickening for our soup.

While the potatoes are cooking add the rest of the potatoes,  the ham, veggies, and the seasonings to the slow cooker.

 

 

Once the potatoes are cooked and mashed and the butter melted in their liquid they are stirred in.

Finally add the cubed cheese to the top, put the lid on and set the slow cooker to low and let it do all the work for about 6 hours.

Once the 6 hours is up put the sour cream into a small bowl add a ladle of the hot soup broth and whisk these together. Then stir this mixture into the slow cooker and allow it to heat back up.

That is really all there is to this one. So easy but so yummy and so comforting.

You can find a downloadable/printable version of this recipe here.

Rich and Creamy Potato Soup

2 ¾ cups peeled, cubed potatoes (divided)

1 1/3 cups water

2 Tablespoons butter, cubed

2/3 cup cubed fully cooked ham

1/3 cup chopped carrot

1/3 cup chopped celery

1/3 cup chopped onion

1 clove garlic minced

¼ teaspoon paprika

dash of pepper

¼ pound Velveeta, cubed

1/3 cup sour cream

In a medium saucepan cook 2 cups of the diced potatoes in the water until tender, about 10-15 minutes. DO NOT DRAIN!!! Mash the potatoes and their cooking liquid together.

Add the butter and stir to melt the butter.

 

Meanwhile place the remaining diced potatoes, diced ham, carrots, celery, garlic and seasonings in a 1 ½ quart slow cooker.

 

 

 

Add the mashed potato mixture to the slow cooker and stir to combine.

 

 

 

 

Add the cubed cheese to the top, cover and cook on low for 6 hours.

 

 

 

After 6 hours put the sour cream into a small bowl, then whisk in a ladle of the liquid from the slow cooker. This will thin the sour cream making it much easier to incorporate it into the soup without breaking up the veggies too much.

 

Carefully stir the sour cream mixture into the slow cooker. Put the lid back on the slow cooker and give a couple of minutes to come up to temperature again. Taste for seasonings and adjust as needed.

 

 

Ladle into 2 soup bowls and enjoy.