Cheesy and creamy, filled with chunks of wonderfully tender potato, rich without being heavy and just a delight for a cool dark evening or a lunch on a blustery day. To make things even better, it is over the moon yum when you throw on some extra toppings to make it a whole loaded potato soup, truly fit for a hearty meal. Want even MORE reasons to whip this up and enjoy? It’s easy, it’s fast, and it’s so convincingly cheddar-y that you could totally fool your friends. How fun is THAT?
If you’ve read the post for the mac and cheese (not cheese) then a lot of this will feel pretty familiar, they use a lot of the same ingredients to achieve that wonderful creamy, gooey, cheddar yum. Cashews provide the bulk of the creaminess, as well as the fatty element for the soup, also bringing in some richness and a little sweetness, and some tapioca starch to provide some of that wonderful chees-y goo texture. Shallots and red bell pepper bring in some more sweetness and depth, with the bell pepper adding to the smoothness and adding some nice colour. Nooch for cheesiness, umami, and nuttiness, garlic for some pep and depth, miso for that fermented tang and saltiness, a wee bit of prepared yellow mustard for tang and zip. For the herbs and spices we have smoked paprika and chipotle for smokiness, colour and a punch of flavour. Thyme, marjoram, sage, and bay to help round things out with some herbal and woodsy notes, pulling everything together and highlighting the other flavours. We have vegetable broth (just a standard vegge broth, not too dark) and water for the liquid, and of course, potatoes. I used yukon golds this round because i had them on hand and i like the buttery flavour they provide, if you prefer more of a baked potato style soup, use russets for their heartier flavour and flaky texture. Finally (not pictured above) you can use instant potato flakes AFTER the cook to thicken the soup if you like it more chowder-y (which we do) and still avoid the horror of scorching during cooking.
This is awesomely simply to make, it’s pretty darn low effort here. You blend your base ingredients (it should be pretty watery at this point, like milk), throw them in the pot with the potatoes, cook for 12 minutes on high pressure (i’ll provide stovetop directions for the pressure cooker challenged out there), switch the pot to sautee (low) add your starch and potato flakes (if you’re using), simmer just a bit and done. super, crazy easy. A little trick to help speed things along, do your base before cutting your potatoes, then you can put the base into the pot and go ahead and turn it on to start warming up while you cut the potatoes, this will shave a few minutes off your total time. You’re welcome. Also, it is very likely you will have some sticking on the bottom, probably a light amber colour, just stir this into the soup before adding your starch and flakes so it doesn’t fully scorch.
Look. At. That. so very many rumbles in my belly staring at it. You can add as little or as much potato flake at the end as you like, keep in mind when you’re stirring it in it will thicken more as it sits a few minutes and hydrates. If you over thicken it, don’t worry, simply stir in some water or milk of choice to thin it back out a little and don’t mention it. No one will know. You can enjoy it totally plain, or….take it to the next level and throw on a motley assortment of toppings to make a loaded soup. For mine i used diced steamed broccoli, a “pico” (made of tomato, scallion, onion, and red bell pepper, with a little smoked salt, pepper and olive oil), some sour cream and some mad exquisite bacon made of king oyster mushrooms! (recipe here)….i just don’t have any more words to describe…it. is. that. good. [make it. make it now.]
2 comments
Made this tonight, delicious!! I used russet potatoes and it was plenty thick without adding potato flakes. Thanks for sharing!
So happy you enjoyed it!! Russets tend to break down a little more than the yukons we used, so I’m not surprised you didn’t have to thicken it. Next time I’m going to try using them myself 🙂
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