Loaded Potato Soup with Roasted Garlic

BY CASSANDRA HAMMERSTONE

January 2024

If you’re willing to spend just a little time waiting for whole garlic cloves to roast until they are sweet and jammy, you’ll be rewarded with my secret to loaded potato soup. You’ll love this for all the reasons you love roasted garlic mashed potatoes, and then add the decadence of all your favorite loaded baked potato toppings. It’s simple and comforting, and easy to prepare.

This is the soup I want to cozy up with on cold Sunday afternoons in the Autumn and Winter. You’ll notice that the recipe serves four, but it can easily be scaled up for a crowd, or just to make sure you have a little left over for later in the week.

Roasting garlic takes out the sharp bite and leaves you with creamy, sweet, jammy cloves that add richness to this soup that will belie the short cooking time. Peel four large cloves of garlic and give them a good smash, to increase the surface area of the clove. Then cover with about a quarter cup of olive oil – just enough to cover them completely. Bake the garlic in the oven at 300° for thirty minutes, or until the cloves begin to brown and soften completely. You may want to pop into the oven around half way through cooking and give the cloves a turn with a spoon to ensure they are cooking evenly.

Remove the cloves from the oil and smash with the back of spoon or large knife to make a paste. You can reuse the olive oil, but be sure to put it in the refrigerator immediately to cool it down and use it within a few days. Once you’ve cooked anything in olive oil, it will spoil and become unsafe to eat very quickly. This is why I tend to only make as much roasted garlic as I need, because I’m also only making enough delicious roasted garlic olive oil as I know I can use in a short period of time.

Now for the soup: Melt the butter in a 3½ quart pot and sweat the onion until it's soft and translucent, being careful not to let the onion brown. Stir the garlic into the onions.

Roasting garlic takes out the sharp bite and leaves you with creamy, sweet, jammy cloves that add richness to this soup that will belie the short cooking time.

Add the peeled and cubed potatoes to the pot and cover with chicken stock. The stock should just cover the potatoes. When in doubt, leave some stock behind. It will be easier to add it later if you need to thin the soup. It should take about 10 to 15 minutes for the potatoes to become soft enough to pierce with a fork. As long as you are using salted chicken stock, it should add enough seasoning at this stage.

Turn off the heat, or remove the pot from the heat, and stir in the cream, then puree with an immersion blender until the soup is completely smooth. You could also transition the soup in batches to a traditional blender.

For this soup, I prefer yellow or Yukon Gold potatoes. They are lower in starch, so they're less likely to get gummy in a mash or a soup. And they have a beautiful, buttery flavor.

Stir in the cheese until its completely melted, and season the soup to taste. Colby Jack is my cheese of choice in this recipe, since it's mild and melts without being grainy. It's important to grate your own cheese, or the starch and additives that are present with pre-grated packaged cheese could impact the texture of the soup.

Top with your favorite loaded potato toppings, like bacon crumbles, shredded cheese, sour cream or – my favorite – crème fraiche and cracked black pepper.

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Loaded Potato Soup with ROasted Garlic

Season: Autumn, Winter

Serves: 4

ingredients

4 whole garlic cloves, peeled and smashed

¼ cup olive oil

2 tbsp butter

1 medium onion, chopped (about one cup)

3 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and chopped into one inch pieces

3 cups chicken stock

1 cup cream

1 cup Colby Jack cheese blend, shredded

Optional Toppings

Crumbled bacon

Chives or scallions

Sour cream or crème fraiche

Shredded Colby Jack cheese

PREPARATION

Roast the garlic: Heat the oven to 300 degrees. In a small oven safe ramekin, place four large whole, peeled and slightly smashed garlic cloves and cover completely with olive oil. Bake in the oven for 30-45 minutes, or until the cloves begin to brown and soften completely. Turn cloves with a spoon at least once during cooking. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Prepare the soup: Melt the butter in a 5 quart soup pot over medium heat and sweat the onion until is soft and translucent. Smash or roughly chop the garlic cloves and add to the onions.

Add the peeled and cubed potatoes to the pot and cover with the chicken stock. The stock should just cover the potatoes. Simmer until the potatoes are soft and easily pierced with a fork, about 15 minutes.

Take the pot off the heat, add the cream and puree with an immersion blender until completely smooth, or use a high-powered stand blender. Add the cheese and stir until it’s completely melted. Do not bring the soup back to a boil, as it could impact the texture of the cheese.

Salt to taste, and serve topped with your choice of bacon, shredded cheese, sour cream or crème fraiche and cracked black pepper.

Recipe notes: Unless otherwise indicated, all recipes are developed with Kerrygold salted butter and Diamond Kosher salt. If you prefer to use unsalted butter, adjust the seasoning to your taste. If you use table salt, decrease recommended quantities of salt by around half.