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This slow cooker loaded baked potato soup has been a reader favorite for years, and I totally get why. It’s thick, creamy, loaded with tender potatoes, and tastes just like your favorite loaded baked potato. Pile on the bacon, cheese, and green onions, and dinner is done.
Why You’ll Keep Making This Soup
- Easy Slow Cooker Dinner: Add the potatoes, onion, and broth, then let your slow cooker do most of the work.
- Creamy and Cozy: Tender potatoes and a rich, creamy broth make this the ultimate cold-weather comfort food.
- Load It Up: Bacon, cheese, sour cream, green onions, and all your favorite baked potato toppings make every bowl your own.
A Reader’s Review
“Thank you for this recipe! So easy and delicious- perfect for a cold, snowy night in New England. I didn’t even peel the potatoes, and it was perfect.”
Erin
Slow Cooker Loaded Baked Potato Soup Ingredients
- Adjust the Texture: For a smoother soup, mash some of the potatoes with a fork or potato masher. You can also use an immersion blender for an even creamier texture.
- Watch the Salt: Use low-sodium chicken broth and bacon if you want more control over the salt.
- Lighten It Up: Swap the heavy cream for half and half or whole milk.
- Need It Thicker? The butter and flour roux will thicken the soup as it cooks. You can also mix 2 tablespoons cornstarch with 2 tablespoons cold water and add it with the cream and sour cream.
- Don’t Hold Back on Toppings: Try crispy bacon, shredded cheese, sour cream, green onions, chives, cherry tomatoes, jalapeños, or diced avocado.
- Make It a Meal: Serve it with crusty bread or pour it right into a bread bowl.
How to Make Slow Cooker Loaded Baked Potato Soup
This slow cooker loaded baked potato soup is easy to make and perfect for a cozy dinner. If you love creamy soups, try my cheeseburger soup or broccoli cheddar soup, or ham and potato cheddar soup next.
- Cook the Potatoes: Add the russet potatoes, onion, and chicken broth to a 6–8 quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW for 4–6 hours or HIGH for 3–4 hours, until the potatoes are tender.
- Make the Roux: About 30 minutes before serving, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook until the mixture is frothy.
- Make It Creamy: Slowly whisk in the heavy cream and sour cream. Keep whisking until the mixture becomes thick and smooth.
- Thicken the Soup: Stir the cream mixture into the slow cooker. Cover and cook for another 20–30 minutes, until the soup has thickened. Taste and season with salt and ground black pepper as needed. Serve topped with cooked and crumbled bacon, shredded cheddar cheese, and sliced green onions.
Must Have Kitchen Tools
- Slow Cooker: Use a 6–8 quart slow cooker.
- Medium Saucepan: Perfect for making the creamy roux.
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Slow Cooker Loaded Baked Potato Soup
Creamy slow cooker loaded baked potato soup with tender potatoes, bacon, cheddar cheese, and green onions. It's an easy cold-weather dinner!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 cups russet potatoes peeled and diced into 1-inch pieces about 4-5 large potatoes
- 1 cup diced onion about 1 small onion, or half a large onion
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup sour cream additional for topping, if desired
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream or half & half
- salt to taste
- ground black pepper to taste
- cooked and crumbled bacon for topping
- shredded cheddar cheese for topping
- sliced green onions for topping
Instructions
- Add 4 cups russet potatoes peeled and diced into 1-inch pieces, 1 cup diced onion, and 3 cups chicken broth to a 6-8 quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW for 4-6 hours or HIGH for 3-4 hours, until the potatoes are tender.
- About 30 minutes before serving, melt 4 tablespoons unsalted butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, whisk in ¼ cup all-purpose flour and cook until frothy.
- Slowly whisk 1 ½ cups heavy cream and ¼ cup sour cream into the butter and flour. The mixture should thicken up quite a bit as you whisk.
- Stir the cream mixture into the slow cooker. Replace the lid and continue to cook for 20-30 minutes, until thickened.
- Taste and season with salt and ground black pepper to your liking before serving. Serve with cooked and crumbled bacon, shredded cheddar cheese, and sliced green onions on top.
Video
Notes
Leftover Instructions
- Refrigerator: Let the soup cool, then store it in an airtight container for 3–4 days.
- Freezer: Freeze cooled soup in an airtight container or freezer bag for up to 3 months. Thaw it in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours before reheating.
- To Reheat: Warm the soup over medium heat on the stove, stirring often, or heat it in the slow cooker until it reaches 165°F. Add a splash of cream or chicken broth if it gets too thick.
- Make Ahead: Add the potatoes, onion, and broth to the slow cooker the night before and refrigerate it covered. The potatoes may turn slightly brown as they sit, but this won’t affect the flavor. Keeping them covered with broth will help reduce browning
Nutrition
Calories: 303kcalCarbohydrates: 20gProtein: 4gFat: 23gSaturated Fat: 15gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 71mgSodium: 347mgPotassium: 415mgFiber: 1gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 879IUVitamin C: 6mgCalcium: 57mgIron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Tried this recipe?Mention @alyssa_therecipecritic or tag #therecipecritic!
Yummy. Made this tonight for dinner. So good! We added a can of cheddar cheese soup to make it a little cheesier! Loved it. Will be making it often. Thanks for the recipe.
I used an immersion blender in the potato mixture before I added the cream mixture. I like my potato soup to be creamy and it would have been too chunky. Great recipe though!
May we reprint the recipe portion in our school newspaper? The students used this recipe for their science at home class. We are a residential Deaf school and publish four times a year.
what happened to the Cream Cheese that was supposed to be added to this, you do not have anything about cream cheese in your recipe,
Reread the recipe, there is no cream cheese in it!
Carla, The only times I’ve made this soup have been on high and it has cooked pretty well. The recipe makes it a little bit chunky, but not like a stew. I added more cream and it made it more manageable to eat as a clam chowder-ish consistency. How big did you dice the potatoes? They might be too thick.
Nats, there are some cooking time conversions on Pinterest if you wanted to make it in a soup pot on the stovetop. Try looking at those to see what you can find!
OMG!!! this looks divine!! I want to make this but I do not have a slow cooker. Can I use a pressure cooker instead? or bake it in the oven? In either case how much would the cooking time be?
This looks amazing. Would a double recipe fit in a 5 qt slow cooker?
This soup is going on it’s 5th hour and my potatoes are still not soft enough to mash. Are the potatoes supposed to be firm? Whats the consistency supposed to be for this soup? Chunky? Debating if I should let it cook for 6 hours on low? Can anyone advise?? I’ve never made potato soup before so not sure what to expect! Thank you!
I diced the potatoes fairly small and cooked them in my slow cooker on high for 1 hour, and then on low for 5. The potatoes still had shape and were soft, but not mashed.
I cut my potatoes into small chunks (about 1 cm), had them in the crock pot on high for 4.5 hours, and they are not yet soft. I can bite through them, but they still crunch a bit. Quite disappointed in this recipe. Sticking to my recipe from college.
Using russet potatoes might make a big difference
Have it in the crock pot right now!! Smelling really good, I know it’s going to be delicious 🙂
I tried this recipe and it was amazing! The only thing we changed was to add a whole pint of half and half instead of what the recipe said, and also used pre-cooked bacon from the store. It turned out much creamier and the flavor was awesome! Definitely keeping this recipe. My husband loved it from the first spoonful.
It’s so nice and colorful. Should not look at such a recipe when I’m very hungry!
This was the first time I ever made bake potato soup, and it was amazing. The whole family enjoyed it, even the pickiest 10 year old you will ever meet. I mixed the bacon and cheese right in!!
This looks so yummy! And seriously– these photos are GORGEOUS! Perfect lighting!!
I had to read the recipe twice because it’s SO easy I thought I was missing something! Pinned =)
I tried one almost the same only difference more potatoes where used it was excellent I made it again as my husband even liked it.
I’m freezing! This soup looks wonderful! You can also substitute cream with evaporated milk. I do it all the time and I’ve never noticed the difference.