Slow Cooker Cream Cheese and Potato Soup

Slow cooker cream cheese and potato soup is hearty, filling and perfect with crusty bread. Slow cook your way to comfort food this winter.

Today we’re making slow cooker cream cheese and potato soup. This comforting and creamy soup is easy to make and uses only a few simple pantry ingredients. You can use it as a blank canvas and build on it, or enjoy it in all its simplicity with some crusty bread.

Since potatoes take forever to cook, I feel the slow cooker is perfect for the job. Potatoes also work perfectly as a natural thickener with their built-in starch so you can thicken the soup to your liking by mashing as many potatoes as you like until it’s as thick as you want it.

This should be just enough for four to six hearty servings, so you can do it in a small 3qt. slow cooker. I chose to keep it simple and top it with shredded cheddar cheese, bacon bits and fresh dill. As I said earlier, you can load up the soup itself with any kind of protein you like. This is one soup you don’t want to miss. So let’s begin!

SLOW COOKER CREAM CHEESE AND POTATO SOUP RECIPE TIPS

I started by sauteeing the onions and garlic in some butter. You can skip this step and just add them to the slow cooker if you prefer, but I feel sauteeing them beforehand adds more flavor.

You can use russet potatoes, gold or red potatoes either peeled or with skin on. Whatever your preference, cut them into 1″ cubes. The smaller they are, the faster or easier they will cook and the easier it is to break them down for thickening the soup later.

Then we add the potatoes, onions, garlic, seasonings and pour in the chicken broth. Time to cook! Six hours on low is enough time to get the potatoes tender but if you’re at work and leaving it to cook at home, you can do it for eight hours as well.

The potatoes can’t overcook and since you’re mashing them up anyway, you don’t have to worry about them being too tender or falling apart. Once it’s cooked, don’t worry about how thin the soup looks when you unveil it. We’ll be mashing up the potatoes to thicken up the soup and it’ll be creamier once the cream cheese is added.

You can mash it up with a potato masher, blitz it in the blender or use a hand blender if you have one. Break down the potatoes until the soup is as thick as you want it. You can leave some chunks of potatoes alone to add some texture to the soup or blend it into oblivion. The choice is yours.

One final step! Add the cubed cream cheese and cook on high for 30 minutes or until the cheese has melted. I usually add dairy in the last half hour of slow cooking because they tend to curdle if left in there for too long.

If there’s a little cream cheese left after your 30 minutes is up, use a whisk to blend it up nicely. Stir to incorporate all that cheesy goodness into the soup and you are done! Top with some cheddar cheese, bacon bits and your choice of dill, green onions, or chives.

And that’s about it. Enjoy your bowl of soup and let me know how you liked it, what substitutions you made or what you paired it with in the comments below!

MORE SLOW COOKER SOUPS TO TRY

• Slow Cooker Chicken Gnocchi Soup
• Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini Soup
• Slow Cooker Beef Stew
• Slow Cooker Pasta e Fagioli
• Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili

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