Best Chunky Carrot and Potato Soup - No Fuss Kitchen (2024)

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Whether you’re looking for a solution to a cold evening or you want a soup that actually feels like you’re eating a meal rather than drinking a broth, this carrot and potato soup is a homerun every time.

Not only is the base creamy and thick, but the veggies are added in such a way that you really have something to chew/munch on instead of just slurp down.

The iconic combo of garlic, onion, and butter gives the soup a rich flavor and honestly makes it smell amazing in the kitchen so everyone will be excited for dinner, and the salt, pepper, and chicken broth makes sure that your bland soup days are over.

It’s totally kid-friendly with no hard-to-source or exotic ingredients, and you don’t need to blend or pulverize any of the ingredients (ie, it’s mostly a case of just dumping in ingredients!)

The recipe is adapted from Joanna Gaines’ Country Potato Soup found in her Magnolia Table cookbook.

Ingredients

To make this carrot, potato, and leek soup, you’ll need:

• crispy bacon (optional) – this is used as a topping option to give your soup a bit of crunch and saltiness

• salted butter – the fat from the butter will give our soup a rich flavor and make it more robust

• garlic cloves – garlic will give our soup flavor (an amazing one, I might add)

• white onion – used for the umami flavor and the incredibly nutritional value

• carrots – an essential component of carrot and potato soup and acts as one of our main vegetables!

• leek – the soft texture of leek goes great with the chunkier carrot and potato and adds flavor

• all-purpose flour – flour makes our soup creamier and helps it thicken as it cooks

• white potatoes – the star of the show in this soup!

• chicken broth – the liquid base of our soup that will help us bring all of the vegetables and spices together

• salt – for flavor

• black pepper – for flavor

• bay leaf – adds a more earthy flavor and subtle bitterness that keeps the soup from feeling too heavy

• whole milk – helps make our soup creamy (if you don’t have whole, just use any kind of milk you have)

• grated cheese (optional) – used for topping, and once melting into the soup as you eat, will add an extra layer of sharpness and creaminess

How to Make Chunky Carrot and Potato Soup

First things first, cook your bacon in your preferred method (I’ve got a whole guide on how to cook bacon in the oven, but you can cook it in the microwave using this awesome microwave bacon cooker!).

Drain / cool the bacon on a paper towel and set aside.

Mince the garlic, dice the white onion, cut the carrots (slices and then in quarters), and dice up the leek.

Chop the potatoes into chunks about 1 inch squared, and put aside in separate pile.

Put your butter in a large pot on medium heat to melt.

Once melted, add all of the vegetables aside from the potatoes (so this is: garlic, onion, carrots, leek) into the butter and stir regularly for 10 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

Add the flour to the vegetables and mix constantly for two minutes.

Add the potatoes, chicken broth, salt, pepper, and bay leaf.

Bring the soup to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.

Let simmer until the potatoes are soft enough to be pierced with a fork, but not so soft that they are falling apart (about 15 minutes).

Take out the bay leaf, then pour in the milk.

Continue simmering for another 15 or so minutes until the potatoes are fully cooked and the soup has somewhat thickened.

Serve in a bowl with crumbled bacon and grated cheese on top.

Enjoy!

Tips for Cooking

• Because of how fast this can come together and the stirring required, it’s best to have all of your ingredients chopped and ready to go before you start cooking. It can be very stressful to try and get the potatoes chopped and washed in the 10 minutes you have in the recipe if you don’t have fast knife skills.
  
• You can either use prepackaged chicken broth or you can make your own with broth cubes or homemade chicken broth made from actual chicken, whatever works for you.
  
• This is a fun soup to make your own. Generally you can chop the vegetables to whatever size you want and have a great outcome. Just make sure to keep checking the doneness of the potatoes at the end.
  
• To test if the potatoes are done, I take one out with a spoon and wait for it to cool for a minute before eating it. Yes, that is a true no-fuss way to decide if your potatoes are done! Did it taste good? If so, you’re ready!

Substitution Options

Vegetarian options: to make potato and carrot soup fully vegetarian, leave out the bacon as a topping and use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth (easy!)

If you don’t have leek, you can substitute celery.

If you’re lactose intolerant, leave out the milk and you’ll have a little bit less of a creamy final product, but still delicious.

You can use 1% milk or semi-skimmed milk instead of whole milk, and you can have your potatoes either peeled or with skin on.

Storage Tips

Store this leek, potato, and carrot soup in a covered container (a glass bowl like this is usually the safest and healthiest).

You can store it in the fridge for 4-5 days, but don’t leave it out at room temperature after cooking because it does have milk, chicken broth, etc.

You can freeze the entire batch or individual portions for around 3 months for the best flavor. Use these glass freezer containers for ease and food safety.

If you leave it longer than that, it won’t be harmful to eat, but may have lost some of its flavor.

Always reheat until it’s piping hot either in the microwave or on the oven in a pan on a medium heat.

What to Serve with Carrot and Potato Soup

Because this potato and carrot soup is very chunky, it is a fantastic meal in and of itself and doesn’t necessarily require a side.

However, if you’re feeling like you need some other textures, this soup served with a thick slice of rustic bread and butter!