Easy Homemade Baked Potato Soup

I love soup of all kinds, but potato soup is my favorite. I have been trying to find a comparable soup to Outback Steakhouse's Baked Potato Soup for years. This is the closest I have come to it, so I wanted to share my recipe with you. Of course you can always tweak this how you like it. This is a very thick soup. Yummy!

PREP TIME: 30 minutes

COOK TIME: 30 minutes

TOTAL TIMES: 1 hour

SERVINGS: 8

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups of While Milk

4 cups of Chicken Broth or Chicken Stock

1 large Onion, diced finely

1 package Bacon, fried and chopped, save the bacon grease

1 teaspoon Black Pepper

1 teaspoon Salt

3/4 cup Butter

3/4 cup All-Purpose Flour

3 cloves Garlic, minced

3 pounds Potatoes, scrubbed clean, skins on

8 ounce bag of Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese

2 stalks Celery, diced

Sour Cream, if desired

Sliced Green Onions, if desired

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Bake your potatoes until they are soft, just as if you were making a baked potato. I did mine in the microwave. (Don't forget to pierce them so they don't explode.) Set them aside to cool so you can dice them (and peel them if you'd like).

2. Cook your bacon in a large Soup Pot on low-medium heat. Leave the grease in the pan after cooking the bacon.

3. Saute your onions in the bacon grease until they become translucent, add in the garlic, celery, salt, and pepper.

4. Pour in 3 cups of milk, stir.

5. In a separate sauce pan, melt the butter, add in the flour while whisking to make a roux. Let this cook for a minute or so, do not let it burn.

6. Whisk in 1 cup of the milk to the sauce pan, don't stop whisking or it will be lumpy. You are making the thickening agent to the soup. Once this has thickened, pour into the large soup pot while whisking in the soup pot.

7. In a separate bowl, peel the skins off of your potatoes (if desired. I leave the peels on.). Cube your potatoes, and mash about 1/2 of them. Throw them into the soup pot.

8. Once that comes together, pour in the entire 8 ounce bag of cheese.

9. Stir, taste, and add seasoning as needed. I also add about 1/3 of the chopped cooked bacon at this point.

10. Serve in a bowl with additional cheese, bacon, green onions, and sour cream, as desired.

11. Enjoy!