Day 77.
I looove baked potato soup, but it’s a pain in the you-know-where to order it out because it’s almost always made with chicken stock or topped/filled with ham or bacon. And it’s just not something they make fresh for you without the bacon at most places (it’s usually sitting in a vat in the back room all day). So, make it at home, right? Well, it’s a tough one to get right. When I saw this version at Stolen Moments Cooking and how she said she’d worked at getting it right for so long, I knew I had to veggie-convert it. I’m so glad I did.
Recipe
Adapted from Loaded Baked Potato Soup recipe.
Ingredients
4 C “bacon”
1 onion, diced
5 large Russet potatoes, cubed
1/4 head cauliflower, grated or finely chopped
3 C vegetable stock
3 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. flour
1 1/2 C milk
3 green onions, sliced (I subbed chives, as they’re up in the garden)
3/4 C shredded cheese, divided (I used mozzarella)
1/2 t. black pepper
Sour cream for garnish, optional
Directions
In a large stock pot, cook the onions in olive oil for about 5 minutes, until tender.
Add potatoes, cauliflower and vegetable stock to pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer about 20 minutes, until potatoes are tender. With a slotted spoon, remove a few scoops of potatoes. Place in a bowl and mash with a fork. Set aside.
In a small sauce pan, melt butter. Stir in flour and cook for 2 minutes. Whisk in milk, bring to a boil and simmer until thickened. Slowly stir in to stock pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer. Stir mashed potatoes back into pot.
Add 1/2 C shredded cheese, three-fourths of the “bacon” and half the sliced green onions (or chives) to pot. Add pepper. Stir to combine. Cook an additional 5 minutes.
To serve, ladle soup into individual bowls and top with some shredded cheese, bacon, green onions and optional sour cream.
The Results
Drool. Seriously. I had two giant bowls and everyone in the family loved this soup. It was stinking fantastic! I would bring this to parties, share with family and friends and recommend it to all potato soup lovers (even those who don’t know it yet). Yum.
What’s your favorite potato dish?
This post shared at Fat Camp Friday, Crafty Friday, Friday Favorites, Potluck Friday, Friday Favorites,·Frugal Fridays,·Friday Favorites and I’m Lovin’ It.
Kristi is a former newspaper reporter and editor who is now a vegetarian mom, married to a meat-eating dad and parenting two undecided kids. Join the family on our journey creating whole foods recipes to suit our blended-eater lifestyle. 
potato soup is one of my favorite comfort foods… but i never make it, and i never order it out (it's always too salty or too something). this is a recipe that's going into my "to-make file" immediately!thanks for linking up to mangia mondays!
I am going to try and make this gluten-free and make it for my daughter! Thanks for linking-up (don't forget to add a link back to THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS, thanks) This is gonna be a fun week, seeing what "secret ingredient" people hide in their recipes!
Just a "sneak peak" for next week, the theme is "HUBBY COOKS". So, we hope to see you again next Monday (and maybe if you don't already have a husband that cooks, you can talk him into making you dinner this week… that's what I have to do!)
http://momscrazycooking.blogspot.com/search/label/THIS%20WEEKS%20CRAVINGS
Love this recipe! Unfortunately I couldn't find any veggie bacon in our local grocery store so I had to go without. (Boo!) I also added some onion salt and cayenne pepper for a bit of a kick.One question I had…am I blind? Where in the recipe do you add the cauliflower? I just added it when I boiled the potatoes and it seemed alright.Thanks for posting!
Hi Moe, it is a super yummy recipe. I'm glad you liked it. While you can use store-bought "bacon," you can also click the link in the post for a recipe for "bacon" bits made from diced mushrooms. And, no, you're not blind. I added the cauliflower last minute and apparently left it off my directions. I believe I threw them in around the same spot you did. I've updated the post to reflect that. Thanks!