Always Grab This Fridge Staple For The Creamiest Potato Soup

If the first chilly breeze of the season always has you reaching for your classic creamy potato soup recipe, there's a way to make the dish even creamier and cozier that you absolutely need to know about. Stirring cubed cream cheese into a delicious pot of herby soup not only makes the end result impossibly richer and denser, it also adds a boatload of flavor. You may already know that cream cheese is the secret to tangy, silky mashed potatoes, and the principle is exactly the same when it comes to soup.

Since cream cheese is soft and melts so readily, it almost immediately emulsifies together with your soup's broth to create a rich, almost sauce-like base. That classic cream cheese tanginess also mingles beautifully with flavors like garlic, leek, and savory chicken broth to add just a touch of acidity. That sharp contrast brings nuance to the recipe that elevates and emphasizes the other flavors, preventing them from getting lost or muddled as everything simmers together.

This is also a great way to use up leftover cream cheese, as you can easily add it to your cooking pot near the end of the cooking process to thicken up a suspiciously thin-looking soup. You can either cut it up into cubes, as mentioned, or scoop it one dollop at a time into your pot, stirring to mix thoroughly. The second method works especially well if you're not sure how much you need to get to your preferred texture.

As mentioned, the best time to add cream cheese to your potato soup is when it's a handful of minutes from being finished. Adding it earlier in the process when the broth is still cold could interrupt the melting process and make it harder to stir and fully emulsify it into the soup. Even waiting until the soup is simmering isn't the best idea, as the cream cheese could overcook, seize, and start to stick to the inside of your pot, resulting in a clumpy mess.

The extra texture it adds also makes it harder to do things like partially mash the potatoes or use an immersion blender to break them up. Each method produces one of the two classic potato soup textures: silky smoothie or pleasantly lumpy. Adding extra density to the mixture too early could make it harder to achieve whichever of those textures you prefer. That's why it's best to have it cubed and ready to go on the counter, ensuring it's relatively soft and will melt quickly and easily as you stir.

Other than the luscious texture, one of the perks of adding cream cheese to potato soup is the interesting seasonings it can inspire you to use. In addition to the expected (and delicious) crumbled bacon, you can garnish with everything bagel seasoning and toasted bagel chips. Or, if you prefer to make this a full meal, whip up some tangy avocado toast topped with savory smoked salmon to serve along with it.