Creamy Potato Soup with Crispy Garlic
Moving into the fall season means embracing cozy, comforting dishes, like this Creamy Potato Soup with Crispy Garlic. We make our potato soup with Yukon Gold potatoes, but you can make this soup with any potato. Keep in mind that the color of your soup will change if you use, for instance, the Adirondack Blue variety. Also, because we use organic potatoes grown right here on our farm, we choose not to peel these potatoes. This not only speeds up the prep process, but also adds more fiber to this soup. Yay!
We use bacon fat and chicken stock in our soup to add layers of flavor, but we think this soup is still tasty vegetarian. Switch out the bacon fat for butter (or olive oil for a vegan soup), and replace the chicken stock with water. Make sure you’re using high quality potatoes and tasting as you go since you may need more salt.
The chives and crispy garlic provide the finishing flavor touches for this soup. When crisping the garlic, be sure to stir or shake the skillet frequently for even cooking. I can tell you from personal experience that if you don’t watch the garlic carefully, you’ll likely end up with a combo of burned and under-cooked garlic. No thank you!
The building blocks of this recipe come from the wise and wonderful Deborah Madison in her book Vegetable Literacy. I recommend this book for any veggie lover’s library! Local customers and CSA members, I keep this book in the farm stand if you want to take a look before buying, and you can also find it at our local public library.
Creamy Potato Soup with Crispy Garlic
Equipment
- soup pot or Dutch oven
- cutting board
- chef's knife
- skillet
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp bacon fat, butter, olive oil (or fat of your choice) divided
- 1 medium yellow onion chopped
- 3/4 pound potatoes (we used Yukon Gold) thinly sliced
- 1.5 tsp kosher salt divided
- 1.5 cups chicken stock
- 1.5 cups water
- 1/4 cup chives or scallions minced
- 1 bulb garlic peeled and minced
Instructions
- Heat 1 Tbsp bacon fat in soup pot over medium heat. Once oil is hot, add chopped onion. Saute 5-7 minutes, or until onions just begin to brown.
- Add thinly sliced potatoes and 1 tsp salt to soup pot. Stir to combine. Saute 5-6 minutes, or until potatoes just begin to brown.
- Add one cup chicken stock to deglaze soup. Add the remaining stock and water. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer and partially cover. Cook until the potatoes are tender, 15-20 minutes.
- While the soup is simmering, make the crispy garlic. Heat 1 Tbsp bacon fat in heavy duty skillet over medium heat. Once oil is hot, evenly sprinkle minced garlic and 1/2 tsp salt into the skillet. Saute until garlic is a toasty brown, stirring or shaking skillet frequenly to prevent burning. Set aside.
- Once potatoes are tender, remove soup from heat and let cool briefly. Puree in blender until soup is smooth. Return to pot and gently reheat. Taste. Add more salt if desired. Serve hot, topped with minced chives and croutons and/or crusty bread. Enjoy!