This creamy, comforting potato and bacon soup will warm you up on a cold winter’s day. Full tender chunks of potato and bacon and finished with fresh, flat-leaf parsley, this is sure to become a firm family favourite.
Ingredients
Method
Put a little oil in a large saucepan. Turn the stove on to medium heat and heat the pan. Add the bacon and garlic to the pan; stir with a wooden spoon until the bacon is crisp.
Add the water, potato and stock; turn up the heat to high and boil the soup. Turn down the heat. Put a lid on the saucepan; let the soup simmer for about 10 minutes or until the potato is tender.
Add the sour cream to the soup; stir until the cream is just heated through (do not let it boil or the soup may curdle). Take the saucepan off the stove. Stir in the parsley. Serve the soup topped with extra parsley leaves.
Potato and bacon soup ingredients
Made fresh, using flavoursome ingredients and served, steaming and aromatic in generous bowls, this potato and bacon soup is both nourishing and satisfying, easy to share, easy to digest and deeply soothing, especially in winter.
Potatoes: Choose a variety such as kipfler (small, finger-shaped, nutty flavour), pontiac (large, red skin, deep eyes, white flesh), sebago (white skin, oval) or chat potatoes. Store potatoes in a cool, dark, dry place.
Chicken stock: Use good-quality supermarket stock or make your own with this recipe. The addition of homemade stock can elevate a soup from delicious to sublime.
Rindless bacon slices: Also known as bacon rashers, made from cured and smoked pork side. Middle-cut rashers have a round eye of lean meat at one end and a streaky tail. Short-cut rashers are middle rashers with most of the fatty tail removed. You can use either for this recipe.
Garlic: Pan-frying garlic with the bacon gives a rich yet sweet flavour boost to the soup.
Sour cream: Add creaminess and tang to the soup by stirring through sour cream to finish.
Flat-leaf parsley: A versatile herb with a fresh, earthy flavour. The flat-leaf variety (also called continental or Italian parsley) is stronger in flavour and darker in colour than curly varieties.
Cooking techniques in this recipe
Pan-fry (Step 1): To cook food in a small amount of butter or oil at a temperature high enough to brown the food.
Simmer (Step 2): When the surface shudders and bubbles rise to the surface one at a time.
Do you need to cook potatoes before putting them in soup?
No, this classic potato and bacon soup is so simple and easy to cook in one saucepan. The potatoes will cook until perfectly tender in the water and stock soup base.
What to serve with potato and bacon soup
Keep it simple: a sprinkling of chopped parsley and a side of crusty bread, like sourdough, rye or sliced baguette, to mop up every last drop. Or, croutons!
Add crunch with croutons
How to make croutons
Remove the crusts from thickly sliced bread then cut into small cubes. Fry bread cubes in a mixture of oil and butter until golden. Drain croutons on absorbent paper then store in an airtight container. Briefly reheat croutons in a moderate oven.
How to store leftover potato and bacon soup
Transfer soup to a shallow airtight container as this will allow it to cool faster. Store leftover soup containers in the fridge for 2-4 days and reheat until steaming hot, according to food safety guidelines from healthdirect.gov.au.
