Crockpot Potato Soup is a warm, hearty meal that will put a delicious dinner on the table with little to no effort on your part. Thick, soft chunks of potatoes and crumbles of bacon are lathered in a savory cream soup base and can be topped with all of your favorite toppings. This crockpot potato soup with hash browns has everything you need and want in a soup. Don’t pass this one up!
Reasons You’ll Love This Recipe
Easy Ingredients – The ingredients in this hash brown potato soup are so simple, it’s impressive how good this turns out. Thanks to frozen hash browns you can skip peeling and chopping potatoes.
Slow Cooker – Whoever invented the slow cooker deserves an award for saving the day when it comes to weeknight dinners.
Toppings Person – If you love to load up your soup with ALL the toppings, this is the perfect recipe for you!
Dump and Stir – Cooking a delicious meal has never been easier when all you really have to do is throw in some ingredients, stir, and check up on it. So easy it feels suspicious!
Comfort Food – Bacon, potatoes, cheese and more cheese? That’s like comfort food at its best.
It’s the potato soup you know and love, just made in the Crockpot! This recipes produces a huge portion and also makes great leftovers for the rest of the week. You’ll be scraping the bottom of the slow cooker to get every last drop!
While I love to make my homemade Sausage Potato Soup, it does take a bit of time to make. Sometimes you want that that delicious comfort food soup, but with a little less work. This Crock Pot Potato Soup delivers just that!
Ingredients and Substitutions
Recipe Discussion
Let’s discuss how to make this Crockpot Potato Soup recipe, as well as the ingredients that are needed. Please take note that below you will find discussion, expert tips, and answers to frequently asked questions about this recipe to help you recreate it in your kitchen. If you *just* want the recipe itself, scroll down. The full printable recipe itself, with exact measurements and instructions, is found at the bottom of this page.
- Chicken Broth – Chicken broth or chicken stock will be best for this recipe. You can also use chicken bouillon cubes dissolved in water, however your end product may be a little saltier and also have a unique flavor to it.
- Bacon – You’ll want to cook your bacon strips before adding it to the soup. You’ll also want to break up the bacon AFTER cooking it. This is a great recipe to use up that leftover bacon from breakfast.
- Heavy Cream – Heavy cream or heavy whipping cream will work for this recipe. Both are essentially the same thing.
- Hash Brown Potatoes – This recipe calls for the frozen kind, and ends up making a thicker, heartier soup. I find the diced or cubed hash brown potatoes are perfect.
- Cream of Chicken Soup – Just add the can of soup to the Crockpot, don’t add any extra milk or water.
- Cream Cheese – Make sure the cream cheese is softened. It will be easier to use a block of cream cheese compared to the tub because you’ll need to cut it into cubes. I recommend cutting the cream cheese into cubes before letting it soften because you’ll have an easier time slicing it up.
- Cheddar Cheese – Who doesn’t love a good cheese pull in their soup! Freshly grated cheese makes a huge difference compared to pre-shredded cheese, but do what works for you. If you don’t have regular cheddar, use white cheddar, extra sharp cheddar, Colby, Monterey Jack, Swiss, or even Pepper Jack if you like a little extra flavor and spice. You can also use a blend of a few different kids.
- Seasonings – You will need the following seasonings for this recipe: onion powder, garlic powder, seasoning salt and black pepper.
How To Make Crockpot Potato Soup
- Begin by cooking the bacon to your liking, chop it up into bite sized pieces, then set them aside.
- Grab your slow cooker, then add the frozen hash brown potatoes to the bottom of the dish. To the frozen potatoes add the garlic powder, onion powder, seasoning salt and pepper. Stir that around until the frozen potatoes are coated evenly.
- To the seasoned frozen potatoes, pour in the chicken broth and cream of chicken soup. Save about a fourth of your cooked bacon for garnishing, and pour the rest of the bacon into the crockpot.
- Stir the mixture together until thoroughly combined, put the lid on the crockpot, then cook the soup for about 3 hours on high or for 6 hours on low. Stir occasionally throughout the cooking period.
- After the cooking time is up, use a fork to check the doneness of the potatoes to make sure they are tender and not frozen on the inside.
- To the soup, add the freshly shredded cheddar cheese, cubed cream cheese, heavy cream and stir until combined.
- Let the soup cook for another 30-45 minutes, stirring every once in a while. Once the cheese has melted completely, you’re ready to serve. Garnish the soup with some of your favorite toppings like bacon, shredded cheese, green onion, chives, fresh parsley, sour cream, bread crumbs or crushed up crackers and so much more. Enjoy!
Recipe Tips and Advice
Storage – Soups make great leftovers, and arguably taste even better the next day! Store the leftover soup in the fridge in an airtight container for about 5 days. To reheat, just scoop yourself a serving and microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring after each time.
Equipment – For this recipe you’ll need a Crockpot or slow cooker and something to stir with.
Crock Pot Consistency – I own three different crock pots, and they all cook at different heat levels. One slow cooker’s “low” is another cooker’s “high”. If your crock pot tends to cook on the hot or cool side, you’ll need to adjust your cook time accordingly.
Soup Consistency – This recipe has a ton of hash brown potatoes in it, but the liquid to potato ratio is perfect in my opinion! If you’re not a fan of chunky soups and prefer a more liquid-y soup you can cut the amount of hash brown potatoes in half, add 4 cups of broth instead of 5, and use only 1 can of cream of chicken soup.
Crockpot soup like a pro
Soup connoisseurs know that sometimes, to make a good soup, you gotta give it time to marinate in all those wonderful flavors for it to really shine! I recommend cooking it for 6 hours on low instead of 3 hours on high just so the flavors have a chance to really blend together.
Recipe FAQs
The potatoes shouldn’t over cook because you’ll add them to the crockpot frozen. Keep in mind though, the potatoes will eventually get softer the longer they sit in the broth. If you like that, then this recipe is perfect for you.
This might be happening for a couple reasons, either your Crockpot isn’t hot enough, you aren’t stirring occasionally, or you used a different kind of potatoes that weren’t frozen hash brown potatoes.
What To Serve With Potato Soup
No soup is complete without something to dip into it! Try these homemade dinner rolls, or the best Jiffy Cornbread on the side. If you wanna get fancy, these garlic knots or this broccoli cornbread recipe makes a fun dipper for your fantastic soup. Make it a whole meal and serve with a salad of your choosing
More Soup Recipes
Crockpot Potato Soup
Equipment
- 1 Crock Pot
Ingredients
- 10 slices of bacon divided after cooking
- 64 ounces Frozen Hash Brown Cubes
- 5 cups chicken broth
- 20 ounces cream of chicken soup
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon seasoning salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 4 cups grated cheddar cheese divided into 3 cups and 1 cup
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened and cut into cubes
- 1 cup heavy cream or heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Cook the bacon, then crumble and set aside.
- Pour the frozen hash browns into the bottom of the slow cooker then sprinkle on the dry ingredients: garlic powder, onion powder, seasoning salt and pepper and mix together.
- Next pour in the chicken broth, cream of chicken soup and 3/4 of the crumbled bacon. Reserve the rest for topping later.
- Stir hash browns, liquids,spices and bacon together until well combined then cover and cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 6 hours, stirring occasionally.
- After 3 or 6 hours, use a fork to check the potatoes to make sure they are fork tender and cooked through.
- Add 3 cups of shredded cheese, cream cheese (softened and cubed), and 1 cup of heavy cream to the slow cooker and thoroughly stir together. Continue to cook on high for another 15-30 minutes or until all of the cheeses are melted. Make sure to stir occasionally.
- Serve warm with bacon, cheese, chives, crackers and sour cream as optional toppings.
Notes
Nutrition
Disclaimer
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Carol Hampton says
Can you substitute a different kind of soup?. While I can get by with sneaking chicken broth into a recipe I can’t sneak cream of chicken because it has bits of chicken and my husband won’t eat it.
I was thinking cream of celery (it goes well with potatoes) or cream of poblano (a little zip)
Christi Johnstone says
Sure!
Crystal says
Made today. Only thing different was didn’t have the full 5 cups of broth. So, used one cup of water, 1 Tbsp of butter and a little more salt. Fantastic recipe and so good. First time ever making potato soup. Even husband liked who usually doesn’t like potato soup.
Toni says
I really want to try this recipe. My husband isn’t a cheese fan in his soups, can I leave it out and only use it for toppings?
Judy says
Have you ever made this up ahead of time and cooked 36 hrs later?
Christi Johnstone says
No, I would just make it ahead of time then reheat when needed.
Mary M says
Just wondering- Someone in my family does not like cream cheese can I sub sour cream and also whole milk for the cream ?
I’ve been online searching for 3 days for a potato soup recipe that doesn’t require peeling and chopping this one looks like it’s the one I’ve been searching for! just wondering about those two substitutions ?
Thank you !
Christi Johnstone says
I haven’t tried that. If you do, let us know how it turns out!
Trisha hern says
Same question …is it really 64 Oz of potatoes? If so do you think halving is an option?
Christi Johnstone says
Yes, 64, and I’m guessing you are fine to cut the recipe in half.
Marie says
Is it really 64 oz of potatoes??
Carol says
Delicious and so easy to prepare!
Definitely a keeper!
Sheila says
A really easy and great soup to make and OH so cheesy. Wonderful.