How to Make the Best Ranch Potato Soup in 30 Mins

With a few extra minutes to prep your vegetables, you’ll have savory, soul-warming ranch potato soup ready for your family in 30 minutes. Admittedly, it does taste better the longer it simmers. Potatoes, ranch, BACON! What is not to love about this incredible soup? Read on for the recipe.

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Why is Ranch Potato Soup so good?

Ranch. Bacon. Cream. Cheese. That’s why!

What’s not to love?

Starchy potatoes! This recipe is NOT keto-friendly. We don’t do that around here. Around these parts, we feed ourselves good, wholesome, real food. We eat in moderation and we eat to feed our bodies.

This soup is full of delicious cream and is NOT vegan or vegetarian friendly, though it can be made that way!

How can I make this soup vegetarian or vegan?

Many years ago I was a vegetarian because I did not believe in the unethical treatment of animals and slaughter house procedure. In the years since learning that there ARE actual, ethical farmers and meat processors (many of which are small businesses, farmers, processors, and homesteaders), I eat meat again. And lots of it. Regenerative agriculture, in my opinion and the research to prove it, has a very important place in animal husbandry and the meat industry.

With all that said, when I was a vegetarian then pescatarian, I learned how to adapt this recipe to my diet. Swapping chicken broth for vegetable stock, omitting bacon altogether (does alter the flavor of this soup!), and using a soy or almond milk unflavored.

Again, these edits WILL alter the flavor of this fantastic soup but it’s still doable and delicious.

Making this recipe vegan is going to take some creativity on your part but I believe if you try hard enough and are willing to do the research, you’ll figure it out.

The Recipe

Be careful, this one is sure to become a regularly requested meal… even when it’s 90 degrees outside.

Ranch Potato Soup Ingredients

6-8 cubed potatoes (your choice of size and kind)

2 TB dry ranch

8 ounces sour cream

1/2 pound  bacon

1 diced onion

s&p to taste

64 oz chicken broth

1 cup milk

1 TB flour

Shredded cheese

Green onions (optional topping)

Getting started

Start your ranch potato soup by frying the bacon pretty crispy in a soup pot. You want to be able to crumble it later. I use my stainless steel stock pot for this soup so I can fry that bacon first and use the pot for the soup too.

While the bacon is cooking, dice up your onion. Remove all bacon from the pot and pour out most of the bacon grease. Save it in jar to use later for a gravy or as the pan greaser for eggs or even pancakes.

Next, sauté your onions in the leftover bacon grease until translucent in color. While onions are sizzling, let’s multitask and peel and cube potatoes. Be sure to stir onions often.

The meat above, the potatoes below

Wash your potatoes and peel the skin off. Add the skins to your compost pile. Rinse potatoes again then cube into various sizes. I like to do some fairly small so they’ll cook down faster and add a thickness to the soup while leaving a bulk of them chunky to add a chew-factor to the soup.

After you’ve cubed potatoes, add them to your onions. You can add them to the pot even if the onions are not ready yet. Stir the potatoes around and let them cook this way for a minute or two.

Souper Delicious

Next up is adding your chicken broth to the pot. Turn up the heat to high and let the broth come to a boil for about 5 mins, making sure to stir often.

Now, add in your dry ranch and reduce heat to medium-high low.

Cream of the crop

In a bowl, mix together sour cream, milk, and flour with a whisk. Then slowly pour mixture into soup pot while whisking it in. This allows the soup to thicken up without clumps of cream. Allow the soup to cook for 10 minutes before reducing heat to low, covering pot with a lid, and simmering for 15 additional minutes.

Soup’s up!

Ranch potato soup is the best served with bacon crumbles and cheddar cheese on top. Get a little fancy with some chopped green onions on top too. Go ahead and enjoy this soup with crackers of your choice but know there’s a two-bowl minimum with this one. It’s that yummy.

My husband likes this soup better the next day as it has thickened up to be more like a stew by then. I prefer it more brothy like it is the day you make it.

Ranch Potato Soup’s Origin

This ranch potato soup recipe is the most requested at our annual Soup & Sandwich for our Woman’s Missionary Union fundraiser each year.

My mom found this recipe in the newspaper, I believe it was the Virginian Pilot, when I was in the 6th grade along with a Black Forest dessert and it’s been a family favorite for over 20 years now. If you decide to give this one a go, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it! Come back here to comment and/or rate the recipe.

Also, now that I’m thinking about that Black Forest Dessert… BRB- making brownies so I can make some Black Forest dessert real quick. 

Pin and Share

Before you go, if you think you’ll want to give this recipe a try, be sure to Pin it to your Pinterest board and then share it with your friends on social media.

Come back and give it a review here on my blog or leave a comment. It is greatly appreciated!

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