A few Sundays ago, the youth at our church held a soup luncheon to raise funds for a mission trip. Each youth family was asked to contribute a pot of soup for the event. Before I even asked my son what he wanted to take, I knew he would say potato soup.
Given his answer, you might think my son had always liked potato soup. However, he never cared for my tried and true crock-pot potato soup recipe, or my mother's stove top version. What he did like, though, was the potato soup served at one of his favorite restaurants. I found a copycat recipe online and, although my son thought the soup tasted good, I didn't think it tasted anything like the restaurant version. I had to plan ahead of time to make the soup since it required a lot of prep work. Once the prep work was done, I had to keep a close eye on the soup to ensure it didn't stick while cooking. In my opinion, the finished dish wasn't worth the amount of effort involved.
Last year, while skimming through my box of untried recipes looking for inspiration, I spotted a potato soup recipe a friend had given me. Although my friend's recipe used several of the same ingredients as the copycat recipe, it also used some time saving shortcuts. I decided to make a batch hoping my son would like the soup. Not only did he think it was good, he thought this soup was better than the copycat recipe!
The soup starts with cans of sliced potatoes, a huge time saver since there's no need to peel and dice a bag of potatoes. If the potato slices are too large, I take a few minutes and cut them into four or six pieces, depending on the size of the potato.
The potatoes and remaining ingredients -- canned potato soup, water and heavy whipping cream -- are mixed in the pot the soup is cooked in which, for this recipe, is a crock-pot. Using a crock-pot eliminates the need to keep an eye on the soup and stir it periodically. While my tried and true crock-pot potato soup recipe made with raw potatoes takes eight hours to cook, this version is ready in two hours. The short cooking time stems from the fact the canned potatoes are already cooked. The ingredients just need to be cooked long enough to be heated thoroughly. When the soup's ready, ladle it into bowls and add your favorite toppings. Around here, that would be cheese and bacon.
You may have noticed there's no seasoning added to the soup. I don't add salt because both canned items -- potatoes and potato soup -- have salt as do the cheese and bacon. I put salt and pepper shakers on the table and let everyone season their soup to taste.
The luncheon was held on a beautiful, unseasonably warm Sunday afternoon. All the soups were a hit and I came home with an empty crock-pot. I made the soup for supper recently on a rainy Friday night. While just as delicious, this time there were leftovers for Sunday.
Easy Crock-Pot Potato Soup
6 Servings
2 (15 oz.) cans sliced potatoes
2 (10 1/2 oz.) cans cream of potato soup (undiluted)
1 soup can water
1 soup can water
2 cups heavy whipping cream
bacon, cheese, chives (optional; for topping)
Cut sliced potatoes into smaller pieces, if necessary. Combine potatoes, soup, water and whipping cream in a crock-pot. Cover and cook on low 2 hours. Ladle into bowls and add desired toppings.
© Margaret's Morsels
