Loaded Potato Soup

Now that I look at this again, I'm thinking, this might be my best "food photography" attempt yet!

I was reminded of a potato soup recipe I had from Cooking Light magazine, that I wanted to try because it was olive oil-based instead of butter. I wasn't sure how you make a creamy soup without producing the traditional base of a butter and flour roux. But you can. It's easy. And lower cal. And deliciously satisfying. Kids loved it. Without the "weird green things" of course. I would never try and "torture" them with such flavor enhanced goodness...

This shows doubled ingredients. Recipe as written below serves 4. We needed extra.

What you need:
4 red or any kind of potatoes
2 tsp. olive oil
1/2 C. onions, chopped
1 ¼ C. low sodium chicken broth
3 T. flour (GF all-purpose or rice flour for gluten-free)
2 C. milk*, divided (recipe calls for 1%, which I used)
1/4 C. sour cream, reduced-fat
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 bacon slices, halved (I had bacon bits that I used instead)
1/3 C. shredded cheddar cheese
4 tsp. green onions, sliced thinly
*you can use rice milk or unsweetened almond/coconut milk as well.

How you make it:


If you don't use leftover baked potatoes: Wash and scrub potatoes. Pierce potatoes with a fork. Microwave on high 13 minutes or until tender. Cut in half; cool slightly.


While potatoes cook, heat oil in a saucepan or large stock pot over medium high heat. Add onion; sauté 3 minutes. Add broth. Combine flour and 1/2 C. milk. Add to pan with 1 ½ C. milk. Bring to boil, stirring often. Cook 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream, salt and pepper.


If you aren't using pre-cooked bacon bits: Arrange bacon on a paper towel on a microwave safe plate. Cover with a paper towel; microwave on high for 4 min. Crumble bacon. 


Discard potato skins. (I like some skins in the soup, so I kept half of them on.)
Coarsely mash potatoes into soup. Top with cheese, green onions, and bacon. 
4 servings at about 1 ¼ C. each.


Served with a green salad. And some crusty french bread would be wonderful too. But this woman wasn't that ambitious to bake up some gluten-free bread of her own this time. Truth be told, the starchiness of the potatoes was enough for me.