Dairy Free Potato Chowder
I don’t know about you but a bowl of potato soup is up there in my comforting cravings. There is something so home-y and wonderful about the humble potato and in a soup, it becomes even better. We are mostly dairy free in our house because my youngest girlie is allergic to dairy so I knew I wanted to make a creamy soup without the dairy to make it creamy. Thank goodness there are amazing dairy free products like dairy free cream cheese and quality almond milk, making this was easy. If dairy is cool with your digestion, use the real deal in this too, throw some chedda’ on top for a cheesy goodness. This soup can be totally vegan too, just use some good plant-based bacon and you have a wonderful vegan soup. This can be modified to be Keto/low carb if that is your jam too, just swap the taters for cauliflower, oldest low carb trick in the book!
Dairy Free Potato Chowder
1 pound bacon, diced (plant-based if vegan)
1 medium onion, diced
5 small carrots, diced
5 celery stalks, sliced
6 russet potatoes, diced (substitute 6 cups cauliflower for low carb)
2 cups milk of choice (I used almond)
2 cups broth of choice (I used chicken)
8 oz cream cheese (I used vegan/dairy free)
3 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons pepper
Toppings - cheese, green onions, sour cream
- In a large pot, cook the bacon until crispy, scoop out bacon to drain on a paper-towel lined plate. Remove all but 2 Tablespoons of bacon drippings. Use oil if using plant-based bacon and there are no drippings.
- To the pot, add onions, celery, carrots, salt, and pepper; cook until softened and slightly browned. Add the potatoes or cauliflower and stir in the pot for a minute.
- Pour in the milk and broth and bring to a boil. Once the potatoes or cauliflower is tender, lower the heat to low.
- With a potato masher, mash part of the soup, not all, leaving some chunks. This will thicken the soup and still retain some texture.
- Stir in the cream cheese until it is all melted and combined. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
- Top with the reserved crispy bacon and your desired toppings.
Bacon isn’t absolutely necessary but you probably want to top your soup with crispy bacon and those drippings add such good flavor.
I mean, COME ON! While these little babies cook, you can chop all the vegetables.
The elements of a basic mirepoix, basically a good flavor base to anything, carrots, celery, and onion.
Get those vegetables in the drippings or oil and season with salt and pepper. You want to get these all tender and slightly browned.
Then drop in those potatoes or cauliflower and stir with the vegetables for a minute, this helps speed up the potato cooking time and adds some flavor.
Broth and milk go in and you bring it to a boil to cook the potatoes. Once those taters are tender, you are practically done!
Now bust out a potato masher or an immersion blender and puree some of the soup. You don’t want to over-do it because those chunks add such great texture. Doing this will thicken the soup naturally too.
Last thing is that cream cheese to give it the ultimate creaminess and there are so many choices in this area. I used the Trader Joe’s vegan cream cheese, it is soy based but is nut free. Another great option is Kite Hill which is made with almonds. Or if dairy is your jam, just a block of good ole Philly will do. Just stir it in until it is all melted and combined.
And that’s the soup. Grab your favorite toppings and ladle this bad boy into a bowl. You can see my kids were OBSESSED with this soup and couldn’t wait for the photos to be done to dig in.
