No Regret Baked Potato Soup

Photo from Cooking Light

This is a recipe perfect for game day or any party.  It originated at Cooking Light magazine but I tweaked it a bit to fit us.  We used it at our Holiday Open House this year as a vegetarian option 

and it was gone, baby, gone!

The amazing thing about this recipe is that it not only tastes good, it is actually, unbelievably, good for you too!  There is not one speck of butter or one drop of cream, but you'd never know it.  My estimate is about 250 calories per cup including a tablespoon of each garnish.  (for comparison, Outback Steakhouse's baked potato soup is over 500 calories a cup!)   It would be even lower if you substituted chicken broth for the milk (Weight Watchers and Panera both do this and it shaves 100+ calories off the total) but then it wouldn't be vegetarian, or as creamy.

1/26/12 - UPDATE!
I thinned out my soup for leftovers this week with vegetable broth and it was DELICIOUS!
Possibly even better than the original!
Next time I make it from scratch I'm going to cut the milk in half and add 3C broth, saving 90 calories per serving - WOOT!!

So the next time you have potatoes for supper, make a little extra and save it for some baked potato soup later in the week!!

No Regret Baked Potato Soup

2/3 Cup All-Purpose Flour

6 Cups 2% reduced fat milk
OR 3 Cups Milk and 3 Cups Vegetable Broth (See Update above)

4 Russet Potatoes, baked and mashed

(reserve the skins for another use)

1 Cup reduced fat shredded sharp cheddar

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1C reduced fat sour cream

1/2C chopped green onions

In a bowl whisk together flour and milk(and broth, if using) until no lumps remain.  Pour into a large pot, and whisking frequently cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly (8-10 minutes).  


Watch your soup carefully through this stage!  The price to pay for not starting with a buttery roux is that the milk wants to stick to the bottom of your pot.  So every minute or two whisk the heck out of it while it's cooking and lower the heat if it's starting to stick.

Once thickened, add the potatoes. I'm a big fan of my immersion blender (and my kids are weirded out by lumps) so I like to whizz it up a bit to smooth it out, but it's not necessary.  In fact, if you're a fan of lumps, you can cube some of your potatoes with the skin still on and add them in that way.

Add salt, pepper and cheese, stirring until the cheese melts.  Reduce heat to LOW and stir in sour cream and green onions.  Simmer on low heat for 10 minutes (do not boil).

Serve with extra cheese, green onion, sour cream and crumbled bacon for garnish.

Common Sense Reminder:  If you put bacon on top of your soup, it's no longer vegetarian. ;-)

Speaking of bacon, crumbled bacon from Coscto has changed our lives!  It tastes real because it IS real, and it's got no nasty preservatives or fillers like imitation bacon bits.  I'm sure one could argue that bacon by it's very nature is full of preservatives, but I'm in my happy bacon bubble and I can't hear you (lalalalala, fingers in my ears)!!  It's so great with this recipe because you don't have to coat your kitchen in bacon grease to have that little pop of WOW! on top of your soup.