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Creamy, chunky, and easy, this 5-ingredient Slow Cooker potato soup brings all the loaded-potato comfort with almost no fuss. Carola potatoes, cream cheese, and cheddar make it taste richer than it has any right to be. The Slow Cooker does the heavy lifting, leaving a warm bowl ready for toppings like bacon, green onions, and sour cream.
Why You’ll Love It
- Hands-off cooking — the slow cooker handles the long stretch, with just a little mashing and cheese stirring at the end.
- Naturally buttery flavor — Carola potatoes bring soft texture and a mild buttery taste.
- Creamy without extra fuss — cream cheese gives the soup a velvety texture.
- Loaded-potato flexibility — bacon, green onions, sour cream, and extra cheddar all work beautifully on top.
- Feeds six — a comforting dinner with warm bread or biscuits.
Ingredient Notes
Carola potatoes are worth looking for here. They’re yellow, creamy potatoes with a mild buttery flavor, and they break down beautifully after a long cook. If your grocery store doesn’t carry them, they may take a little extra searching.
Use chicken broth, as written. It gives the potatoes a little more backbone than water ever could. This soup only has a handful of ingredients, so each one needs to pull its weight.
For cream cheese, the regular block-style kind is what you want. Not the whipped tub in the refrigerator case. It looks convenient, but it does not melt the same way.
Shredded cheddar can be mild or sharp. Sharp cheddar gives the soup a little tang, while mild cheddar keeps the flavor softer.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds cubed Carola potatoes, peeled if you prefer, though I don’t get precious about it
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 8 ounces cream cheese, cubed so it melts without making you stand there fussing
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, sharp or mild—whatever is in the cheese drawer
- Salt and black pepper, to taste at the end
Instructions
Add the cubed Carola potatoes and finely chopped onion to your slow cooker, then pour in the 4 cups of chicken broth. Give it a little nudge with a spoon if the potatoes are piled up funny, but don’t worry about making it look perfect. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 7 hours or on high for 3 to 4 hours, until the potatoes are very tender.
Once the potatoes are soft enough to mash easily, use a potato masher right in the slow cooker to mash some of them. Not all of them. Leave plenty of chunks behind, because that’s what makes this feel like loaded potato soup instead of baby food. A few firm presses around the pot is usually enough.
Add the cubed cream cheese and the shredded cheddar cheese to the mashed potato mixture. Stir as best you can, cover the slow cooker again, and let it cook for another 15 to 20 minutes so the cheeses can melt. The cream cheese sometimes sits there looking stubborn at first. Let it be stubborn. It comes around.
Stir the soup again until it is smooth, creamy, and velvety, with those nice little potato pieces still floating around. Taste it before seasoning; chicken broths vary wildly, and some are saltier than others. Add salt and black pepper as needed.
Ladle the soup into bowls and serve it hot. For the Full loaded-potato situation, set out crumbled bacon, sliced green onions, sour cream, and extra cheddar. No need to make a production out of it, though sometimes a little production is exactly what gets dinner to the table.
Variations
Cooked crumbled bacon stirred in at the end, followed by green onions and sour cream on top, makes the soup more like steakhouse potato soup.
For a smoother texture, use an immersion blender for a few quick pulses after the potatoes are tender. Just a few. Too much blending creates something closer to a cheese-and-potato puree. It tastes fine, but it has the visual appeal of wallpaper paste.
A splash of heavy cream or a spoonful of butter stirred in at the end will make the soup richer. It isn’t necessary—not even a little—but sometimes “necessary” is not the point.
Storage & Reheating
Leftover potato soup keeps well in the refrigerator for a few days in a covered container. It will thicken up quite a bit overnight, so the soup may look more like a dip than soup. Just warm it slowly on the stove or in the microwave and stir in a little chicken broth until it loosens back up.
Reheat it on low heat in a saucepan because cream cheese soups can get a little cranky if blasted. It is still delicious reheated in the microwave.
If adding bacon or green onions, store those separately if possible.
Final Notes
There’s something almost old-fashioned about a pot of potato soup waiting at the end of the day. Not old-fashioned in a precious way—nobody needs that—but in the way certain smells evoke familiar kitchens.
This one is different. Easier, for one thing. A little richer. Better suited to busy evenings and barking delivery trucks.
Still, with a warm bowl and that soft, cheesy potato smell hanging around the kitchen, things settle. Not forever. Dinner dishes still need doing.
But for a little while… well. That’s enough.
5-Ingredient Slow Cooker Loaded Potato Soup
Ingredients
- 2 pounds Carola potatoes Cubed; peeled if preferred
- 1 medium Yellow onion Finely chopped
- 4 cups Chicken broth
- 8 ounces Cream cheese Cubed; use regular block-style cream cheese
- 1 1/2 cups Cheddar cheese Shredded; sharp or mild
- Salt and black pepper To taste at the end
Instructions
- Add the cubed Carola potatoes and finely chopped onion to the slow cooker, then pour in the chicken broth.
- Cover and cook on low for 6 to 7 hours or on high for 3 to 4 hours, until the potatoes are very tender.
- Use a potato masher right in the slow cooker to mash some of the potatoes, leaving plenty of chunks behind.
- Add the cubed cream cheese and shredded cheddar cheese, stir, cover, and cook for another 15 to 20 minutes so the cheeses can melt.
- Stir the soup until smooth and creamy while keeping the potato pieces intact, then taste and add salt and black pepper as needed.
- Ladle the soup into bowls and serve hot with optional crumbled bacon, sliced green onions, sour cream, and extra cheddar.