Slow Cooker Baked Potato Soup is one of the best soups to make in the slow cooker!
This recipe makes a big batch of soup, great for the entire week! My other favorite big batch soup recipes are French Dip Soup and Buffalo 15 Bean Soup.
Baked Potato Soup is my all time favorite, I order it at every restaurant when it is available. You can’t beat how creamy this soup is, and how great the toppings blend in. You will see in this recipe I am not actually baking the potatoes, just peeling and dicing raw potatoes. I’ve made baked potato soup before with leftover baked potatoes and it can tend to be gluey.
This recipe for Slow Cooker Baked Potato Soup, has a bit of prep work, but it is really worth the time. You can peel and dice your potatoes the night before, just place them in water, and refrigerate. Drain off the water before starting the recipe.
How to make Slow Cooker Baked Potato Soup:
- Peel and dice the potatoes, add them to the slow cooker. Pour over chicken broth and add diced onion, whole garlic, and black pepper. I like to keep the garlic whole in this recipe. It keeps it from getting pungent.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 8-10 hours or on HIGH for 5 hours. When the cooking time is up, add the soup into a blender and pulse along with the cream cheese, you may have to do this in batches. Alternatively, if you have an immersion you can add the cream cheese to the slow cooker and blend right in the slow cooker.
What do I top the soup with?
Serve this soup buffet style because not every guest will like all the toppings. Serve these toppings as a choice along with the soup:
- Sour cream
- Green onions or chives
- Cooked and crumbled bacon (or store-bought bacon bits if you are short on time).
- Shredded cheddar cheese
How can I make this recipe low fat
- Fat-free or low-fat cream cheese
- Turkey Bacon
- Low-fat sour cream and cheese (or leave off, still good without!)
Feeding a large crowd?
I often make this recipe for a large crowd and cooking enough bacon is almost impossible, it goes quickly as a topping for this soup. My solution for that is to cook and crumble one pound of bacon and stir it into the soup after cooking, then everyone gets an equal amount.
Can I freeze this soup?
- Most of my recipes can be put in the freezer after cooking but sadly this recipe does not work well.
- The texture of the potatoes turn grainy and mealy and cream turns foamy.
- If this recipe seems too big for you to finish up, cut the recipe in half. Or package up right away for a family who lives in another household.
More baked potato inspired recipe you will love!
- Twice Baked Potatoes – Recipe by Spend with Pennies
- Loaded Baked Potato Pizza – Recipe by Nutmeg Nanny
- Loaded Potato Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole – Recipe by the Country Cook
- Slow Cooker Baked Potato Casserole
- Loaded Baked Potato Salad – Recipe by the Southern Bite
Love making soup in your slow cooker? Try another one of my soup recipes:
- Slow Cooker Pizza and Pasta Soup
- Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup
- Slow Cooker Curried Chicken Noodle
- Slow Cooker Cauliflower Cheese Soup
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Slow Cooker Baked Potato Soup
Equipment Needed:
- Slow Cooker- 6 quart or larger
Ingredients:
- 4 lbs. russet potatoes
- 1 white onion, diced
- 5 whole garlic cloves (keep them whole) or 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 7 cups Chicken broth
- ¼ tsp. Black Pepper
- 16 oz. Cream cheese (2 blocks total)
Toppings
- Sour Cream
- Cheddar cheese grated
- Green Onion or chives sliced
- Cooked Bacon crumbled
Instructions:
- Peel, and dice your potatoes in a small dice. Add potatoes, garlic, onion, black pepper and chicken broth to slow cooker.
- Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours or HIGH for 5 hours without opening the lid during the cooking time.
- You are now going to blend about 2/3's of the soup with the cream cheese in your blender, you may need to do this in batches. Or use an immersion blender right in your slow cooker.
- Season the soup with salt to taste.
- Serve with desired toppings.
How to Video:
Recipe Notes:
- Fat-free or low-fat cream cheese
- Turkey Bacon
- Low-fat sour cream and cheese (or leave off, still good without!)
- Most of my recipes can be put in the freezer after cooking but sadly this recipe does not work well.
- The texture of the potatoes turn grainy and mealy and cream turns foamy.
- If this recipe seems too big for you to finish up, cut the recipe in half. Or package up right away for a family member who lives in another household.
This is THE best potato soup I’ve eaten. Made it without any changes to the original recipe. I will be making this often Thank you!
We have several rainy days in the forecast. I’m going to put this in the CP for one of those days. But my family doesn’t care much for cream cheese. I think I’m going to try it with Velveeta, instead. It has kind of the same consistency. Hoping it works!
I’m looking to do freezer meals for the arrival of my first baby. Would this one be able to be frozen after cooked and reheat well?
Hi Stephanie. Great question. Potatoes don’t do well in the freezer, they get really mealy. I’ve tried it with this recipe, and it was not good!
Is there an alternative for using cream cheese? (i.e. heavy cream, etc)?
You could use heavy cream, but the soup will be thinner 🙂
Is there one potato better suited for this soup?
I use Russet Potatoes 🙂
I like cheese baked potato soup can I put a different cheese in it
Yep! Use any cheese you like 🙂
This looks so good! I have a 5 quart slow cooker. Would it be big enough to hold everything?
I think it would over flow after adding the cream cheese. This recipe makes a lot of soup.
Use an immersion blender & you don’t have to remove it from the crockpot to blend!
Great tip! I need to get one of those!
I can’t wait to try this recipe today.
Send all you got.
This potato soup sounds amazing! I am looking for new ways to incorporate more kale into my diet. Could I add fresh kale to this recipe? If so, at what point during the cooking process would you reccomend adding it?
Here are my 2 ideas. Add the kale during the last 1.5 hours, and scoop around it to get the liquid and potatoes out to blend up the cream cheese with (after the cooking time is up). OR boil kale separate for about 3-4 minutes on the stove top.
This looks amazing! Can it be done in a 4qt crock pot?
I’m positive it wouldn’t fit. You could halve the recipe and it would work 🙂
Just wondering if you have tried using pre-shredded hash browns and wondering if that would work OK. It’s what I have on hand…..thanks!
Those may work ok. I have seen a Paula Deen Potato Soup recipe that uses the cubed frozen potatoes, and everyone raves about it.
I made this soup today and we loved it! So creamy and hearty. I prepped everything last night and just threw it all in this morning and tada! I used an emerson blender to blend the cream cheese and it was super easy.
when the soup is done and we blend the cheese in do we blend the garlic with it.
Yes blend the garlic in when you blend the cream cheese 🙂
So it says to leave the garlic cloves whole. I’m afraid that someone will get a whole clove of garlic at the end. Please explain.
You can place them on top, and make sure to fish them out and blend at the end.
Not understanding the cream cheese mixture. Do you blend and add after the soup is done and/or do you have to cook it a bit longer after you add the cream cheese mixture?
You blend the part of the soup when it is done with the cream cheese. Stir that mixture back into the soup that’s still in the crock, stir and serve 🙂
Im making this soup this weekend. My question is, can i freeze the leftovers?
I leave for work at 7 in the morning and am looking for recipes that I can let cook from 7 in the morning until about 6 or 7 at night. Is there any way to make this recipe in a way where it has to cook for longer?
Is there anyone home at the 8-10 hour mark? if they could set it to warm until you get home? if not, you could try cooking for 11-12 hours, the potatoes will be pretty tender, but if you top the soup with crispy bacon it would be good!
Try using a standard light timer to delay the start time. Set up the crockpot then set the timer to power it up a few hours later. Some newer models have this a programmable feature.
Only use this for short delays <3 hours. Not recommended for recipes with meat or other high perishable ingredients.
Is it possible to substitute plain/greek yogurt for the cream cheese? If so, would the measurements be the same? While I do like cream cheese on my bagels and in cheesecakes, I’m not a huge fan of it elsewhere – also the yogurt would be a healthier alternative… so I was just curious!
Angie, the Greek yogurt may work good. It would make for a little runnier soup, but would be healthier!
Great, I will have to try it then. I’ll let you know how it turns out when I do 🙂
My mom uses sour cream as her secret ingredient in her stove top potato soup. (My dad hates sour cream. It’s been a real challenge over the last 10+ years to make his favorite soup and keep him in the dark about how it’s made. She uses no more than half a container of sour cream for a large pot of soup. (Not sure if she starts with a large container or small container of sour cream.)
I’m making this soup today, it sounds amazing.
your recipe for potato soup was the bestest….tried it last night ….and i am about to burst…just to good to put the spoon down….thanks for shareing…..I LOVED IT!!!!