Potato Soup with Spinach — And Lots of Bacon!

This easy and filling potato soup recipe is a bacon lover’s dream! If your favorite part of potato soup is the little bacon garnish on top, Potato Soup with Spinach — And Lots of Bacon might just be the one for you.

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Mr. 10 loves potato soup, but always complains there’s not enough bacon in his. So, Mr. 10, this one’s for you and for all the other bacon lovers out there: Potato Soup With Spinach — And Lots of Bacon! (And how about these festive colors paired with a traditional comfort food to help get you into the December holiday spirit?)

This potato soup with spinach edition of Sunday Scratchups (your weekly recipe from scratch around grocery sales & affordable ingredients) was inspired by a seasonal ALDI find plus a pack of clearance bacon. My impulse buy at ALDI this week is again your gain. This Happy Farms Preferred garlic & herb spreadable cheese is a seasonal buy, so take advantage while it’s available in stores this month — it’s similar to the name brand garlic & herb Alouette or Boursin spreadable cheeses, but runs just $2.69 (at my store).

I also threw some spinach into this batch of soup for some extra contrast in texture, color, and flavor, but chopped kale would work really nicely here as well (and would stand up a little better, if you’re planning to save some of the soup to reheat later).

Potato Soup With Spinach — And Lots of Bacon!

Ingredients

12 oz bacon
1/2 a medium yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
32 oz box chicken broth
1 cup water
2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes, diced (see Notes)
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
Black pepper, to taste
5 oz fresh baby spinach
6.5 oz garlic & herb spreadable cheese
Chopped green onions, for garnish (optional)

Directions

Cook bacon in two batches in a large soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pot onto a paper towel-lined plate, then drain all but about a Tbsp of bacon grease from the pot. Saute onion and garlic in the reserved bacon grease over medium heat for about five minutes, stirring occasionally, or until onions are browned and begin to soften.

Add broth, water, and potatoes to your pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are fork tender, about 10 minutes.

While the potatoes are simmering, crumble your cooked bacon. Once potatoes are tender, mash them right into the soup with a potato masher until the soup is at your desired consistency (see Notes), then add the crushed red pepper and pepper and stir in spinach until wilted.

Stir in the garlic & herb cheese, as well as half of the bacon. Continue to simmer and stir until the cheese is completely incorporated, then serve your potato soup topped with reserved crumbled bacon + green onions (optional).

Notes: I don’t bother to peel Yukon Gold potatoes for soup because the skin is so thin you don’t notice it in there — so why lose the nutrients? Instead of using a potato masher, you can also blend the soup with an immersion blender if you prefer your potato soup less chunky or wilt in the spinach and then blend everything together if you want a green & creamy soup. I find that mashing with the potato masher, however, is enough to give a great potato flavor and texture to the broth — while still leaving chunks of potato in there for a heartier soup.

Potato-y Garlicky Good

Sauteing the onion and garlic in just a little bit of the bacon fat kicks up the flavor here considerably — and using the garlic & herb cheese to thicken the broth makes the soup amazingly garlicky, creamy, and good. This easy and filling potato soup recipe is a bacon lover’s dream!

The point of this particular potato soup recipe with spinach and lots of bacon is really to punch up the flavor with lots of bacon, but if you want to cut down on the amount of bacon you use for budgetary (or dietary) reasons, about four slices should give you a good punch of bacon-y flavor. 🙂

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Potato Soup With Spinach — And Lots of Bacon!

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The point of this particular potato soup recipe with spinach and lots of bacon is really to punch up the flavor with lots of bacon, but if you want to cut down on the amount of bacon here for budgetary (or dietary) reasons, about four slices should give you a good punch of bacon-y flavor. 🙂

Course dinner

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 6

Author Rachel Singer

Ingredients

• 12 oz bacon
• 1/2 a medium yellow onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 32 oz box chicken broth
• 1 cup water
• 2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes, diced (see Notes)
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
• Black pepper, to taste
• 5 oz fresh baby spinach
• 6.5 oz garlic & herb spreadable cheese
• Chopped green onions, for garnish (optional)

Instructions

• Cook bacon in two batches in a large soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pot onto a paper towel-lined plate, then drain all but about a Tbsp of bacon grease from the pot.
•  Saute onion and garlic in the reserved bacon grease over medium heat for about five minutes, stirring occasionally, or until onions are browned and begin to soften.
• Add broth, water, and potatoes to your pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are fork tender, about 10 minutes.
• While the potatoes are simmering, crumble your cooked bacon. Once potatoes are tender, mash them right into the soup with a potato masher until the soup is at your desired consistency (see Notes), then add the crushed red pepper and pepper and stir in spinach until wilted.
• Stir in the garlic & herb cheese, as well as half of the bacon. Continue to simmer and stir until the cheese is completely incorporated, then serve your potato soup topped with reserved crumbled bacon + green onions (optional).

Notes

I don’t bother to peel Yukon Gold potatoes for soup because the skin is so thin you don’t notice it in there — so why lose the nutrients? Instead of using a potato masher, you can also blend the soup with an immersion blender if you prefer your potato soup less chunky or wilt in the spinach and then blend everything together if you want a green & creamy soup. I find that mashing with the potato masher, however, is enough to give a great potato flavor and texture to the broth — while still leaving chunks of potato in there for a heartier soup.

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