Easy Creamy Potato Soup Recipe (15 Minutes, 4 Ingredients)

Name: The Budget-Friendly, 15-Minute Soup My Mom Taught Me How to Make
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 15 min
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil or butter; 1 large onion, chopped; 2 (15-ounce) cans peeled whole potatoes, drained; 1 1 /2 cups chicken or vegetable stock; 1 cup cream or half and half; 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste; 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste; Fresh chopped parsley or grated parmesan cheese, optional, for garnish

This creamy potato soup comes together in just 15 minutes using pantry staples.
Using canned potatoes means no peeling, chopping, or scrubbing is required for this recipe.
You can easily customize the recipe with whatever dairy, stock, herbs, or fun toppings you have on hand.

When I was a very little girl, my Mother showed me a neat trick. I was hungry for lunch, so she took out some leftover mashed potatoes and plopped them in a pan, whisked in some of the half and half she kept on hand for coffee, and called it soup. She showed me how to taste it and adjust the salt, and how to season it with herbs and spices from the rack by the stove.

I made the soup myself when she wasn’t around, and felt very grown-up with my creamy dish, sprinkled with dried dill or bacon bits from a jar. I don’t often have leftover mashed potatoes stashed in the fridge now, so instead, I now keep a secret ingredient in the pantry that makes the same kind of almost-instant soup.

Two bowls of creamy potato soup garnished with herbs and accompanied by bread slices on a plate — Simply Recipes / Mihaela Kozaric Sebrek

The Secret Pantry Ingredient

Canned potatoes are one of the easiest (and most overlooked!) pantry ingredients to stock. Grab a few cans, stash them in the cupboard, and you can have a comforting bowl of soup in under 15 minutes.

For $1.09 a can (at Aldi’s), you can keep that food budget under control, while eating a classy, French-styled meal. Using canned potatoes also means no scrubbing, peeling, or chopping potatoes—just drain them and they are good to go.

The Potato, A Peasant Food Staple

The humble potato has always been an inexpensive, satisfying food, and it can be dressed up or down, depending on your mood. My Mom’s mashed potato soup was a way of turning a bit of leftover food into a soup Julia Child might serve, and she knew it.

The classic Potage Parmentier is a warm, creamy potato and leek soup, while Vichyssoise is just a French name for a soup of potatoes and cream, puréed and served cold. Keep my easy version in your back pocket, and you’ll be serving bowls of comfort all winter long.

A bowl of creamy potato soup topped with shredded cheese and chopped herbs served with a spoon — Simply Recipes / Mihaela Kozaric Sebrek

Easy Tweaks

My recipe uses heavy cream and vegetable stock, but you can customize. Whole milk and chicken stock? Half and Half and water? You can even use a non-dairy creamer or milk, as long as it is unsweetened.
This soup is pure white and straight up creamy, but sometimes I add a couple of handfuls of baby spinach to the puréed soup in the processor, pulse to chop it, then stir the soup over medium heat until the spinach wilts.
Got half a bunch of parsley, a few leaves of basil, or other tender herbs languishing in the veggie drawer? Mince them in. A chopped scallion on top of the hot soup looks lovely, as does a sprinkle of shredded cheese.

Bowls of creamy potato soup garnished with herbs and grated cheese served with bread slices on the side — Simply Recipes / Mihaela Kozaric Sebrek

More Quick Soups

15-Minute Creamy Potato Soup

Prep Time 5 mins

Cook Time 10 mins

Total Time 15 mins

Servings 4 servings

Yield 5 cups

Keep Screen Awake

1 tablespoon olive oil or butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 (15-ounce) cans peeled whole potatoes, drained
1 1 /2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup cream or half and half
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
Fresh chopped parsley or grated parmesan cheese, optional, for garnish

Sauté the onions:

In a 2-quart pot, warm the oil or butter over medium heat. Add the chopped onions and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are soft and lightly golden, 5 to 7 minutes.
Blend:

Transfer the onions to a food processor or blender. Add the drained potatoes and the stock. Process until smooth, then add the cream, salt, and pepper and process again to combine.

Return the purée to the soup pot and cook over medium heat until hot throughout, 2 to 3 minutes.
Serve:

Season to taste with more salt and pepper as desired. Serve warm, topped with parsley, parmesan, or other garnish of your choice.

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Love the recipe? Leave us stars and a comment below!

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
208	Calories
5g	Fat
36g	Carbs
6g	Protein

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories	208
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 5g	6%
Saturated Fat 1g	4%
Cholesterol 3mg	1%
Sodium 673mg	29%
Total Carbohydrate 36g	13%
Dietary Fiber 4g	13%
Total Sugars 5g
Protein 6g
Vitamin C 15mg	77%
Calcium 32mg	2%
Iron 2mg	10%
Potassium 908mg	19%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.