Slow Cooker Potato Soup (with frozen potatoes)
This Slow Cooker Potato Soup is so fast to throw together thanks to frozen potatoes. A hearty, thick soup with incredible flavor and easy to make!
A SHORTCUT POTATO SOUP RECIPE
I love potato soup so much! It is one of my family’s favorite comfort foods. I have a Crock Pot Potato Soup recipe where I make it completely from scratch. It’s delicious but some days you just don’t feel like messing with all that, right? This recipe is my shortcut solution to potato soup. You still get fantastic flavor with a few convenience foods used to help you put a delicious meal on the table without too much effort!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Absolutely! It is easily cut in half. However, I tend to make this full batch so that I can have leftovers the next day.
You can use milk.
Cooking up the bacon probably takes the most time in this recipe. So, if you are wanting to make it even faster, feel free to use the store-bought bacon pieces (found in the salad dressing aisle of the grocery store.) They work perfectly fine in this.
This helps them melt faster and smoothly. If it goes in cold, it will stay lumpy in the soup.
Yes. It will just come out much more creamy and smooth without the chunks of potato in it like you get with the cubed.
You can just leave it out. The soup will be a littler thinner and you can add a bit more heavy cream to add more creaminess to the soup. I would also suggest perhaps you make my homemade slow cooker potato soup recipe instead. It doesn’t use any cream soups.
Nope! They go in frozen.
This soup will last in the refrigerator up to five days in a covered dish/airtight container and reheats easily on the stovetop or microwave. It can also be frozen but I caution this as sometimes creamy soups don’t always reheat well after being frozen.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)
- bacon
- frozen hash brown cubes
- onion powder
- garlic powder
- chicken broth
- cream of chicken soup
- cheddar cheese
- cream cheese
- heavy cream
- salt and pepper
- green onions or chives
HOW TO MAKE SLOW COOKER POTATO SOUP (WITH FROZEN POTATOES):
Cook the bacon. Drain excess grease on paper towels. Then crumble up bacon into pieces. Set aside.
Pour the frozen hash brown cubes into the bottom of a 5-6 quart oval slow cooker.
Evenly season potatoes with onion powder, garlic and pepper.
Pour in the chicken broth, cream of chicken soup and ¾ of the cooked and crumbled bacon (reserve the rest of the bacon for serving).
Stir everything until well combined then cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally.
After cooking, use a fork to check the potatoes for doneness. They should be fork tender.
To the slow cooker, add 1 cup of shredded cheese (reserve the rest for topping), cubed cream cheese, heavy cream and stir.
Cover slow cooker and cook on high for another 30-45 minutes or until all of the cheeses are melted. Stirring occasionally. At this point, taste for seasoning. Add additional salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste
When ready, ladle into bowls and top with reserved crumbled bacon, remaining shredded cheese and sliced green onions or chives.
CRAVING MORE RECIPES?
Slow Cooker Potato Soup (with frozen potatoes)
Ingredients
- 1 pound bacon, divided use
- 2 (2 pound) bags frozen hash brown cubes (they do not need to thaw first)
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 48 ounce container chicken broth (6 cups)
- 2 (10 ounce) cans cream of chicken soup
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided use
- 8 ounce block cream cheese, softened to room temperature and cut into cubes
- 1 cup heavy cream
- salt, to taste
- sliced green onions or chives, for topping
Instructions
- Cook the bacon. Drain excess grease on paper towels. Then crumble up bacon into pieces. Set aside.
- Pour the frozen hash brown cubes into the bottom of a 5-6 quart oval slow cooker.
- Evenly season potatoes with onion powder, garlic and pepper.
- Pour in the chicken broth, cream of chicken soup and ¾ of the cooked and crumbled bacon (reserve the rest of the bacon for serving).
- Stir everything until well combined then cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally.
- After cooking, use a fork to check the potatoes for doneness. They should be fork tender.
- To the slow cooker, add 1 cup of shredded cheese (reserve the rest for topping), cubed cream cheese, heavy cream and stir.
- Cover slow cooker and cook on high for another 30-45 minutes or until all of the cheeses are melted. Stirring occasionally. At this point, taste for seasoning. Add additional salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste
- When ready, ladle into bowls and top with reserved crumbled bacon, remaining shredded cheese and sliced green onions or chives.
Notes
- You can use low/no sodium options for the broth and cream of chicken soup.
- This recipe can easily be cut in half.
- If you don’t like the bacon to cook with the soup, just save it to use only as a topping.
- You can use bacon pieces (found in the salad dressing aisle) instead of cooking up the bacon.
- This soup will last in the refrigerator up to five days in a covered dish/airtight container and reheats easily on the stovetop or microwave.
- This recipe calls for double the amount of frozen hash browns than is typical but I found the ratio between potato and liquid to be perfect! However, this recipe can easily be cut in half.
- For a thinner soup, add additional chicken broth or milk.
- Milk can be substituted for the heavy cream.
- Use as little or as much of the cheese as you prefer.
- 2 pounds of hash browns equals 32 ounces. Sometimes the bags will say 2 pounds and sometimes 32 ounces.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Absolutely the best potato soup! Love doing it in the Crock Pot! Many thanks for all these wonderful recipes. The perfect thing to take to a shutin, and perfect thing for anytime! Thank you again!
Thank you for taking the time to comment Cindy! I really appreciate it and am so glad you like it!!
I made this today for 5 of us…the only thing we did different was use the cubed hash browns with peppers and onions. my whole family loves it even my 5 year old.
Thank you Amberlee! I really appreciate you taking the time to come back & comment!
I’m not a fan of cream cheese. Can it be left out?
Absolutely! If you like sour cream, you can stir in a bit of that but it’s not necessary 🙂