Loaded Baked Potato Soup

There is this great soup, salad, and sandwich place on campus called Croutons that I frequent for lunch.  A few weeks ago they had a delicious loaded baked potato soup on the menu that I just had to try and I've been craving it ever since.  They haven't served it again so I had to take matters into my own hands - here is what I came up with.

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

For the soup:

3 Tbsp butter
4 strips of bacon, diced
1 white onion, diced
5 russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
5 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup half and half

For the toppings:

6 slices of cooked bacon, crumbled (or bacon bits)
grated cheddar cheese
sour cream
chopped chives

Melt 2 Tbsp butter in large stock pot over medium heat:

Add diced bacon and cook until crispy (5 to 10 minutes):

Add onions and cook until translucent (about 10 minutes):

While the bacon and onions are cooking, peel 5 large russet potatoes:

Cube potatoes and add to the cooked onions and bacon.  Cook for 10 minutes, stirring often to coat potatoes with bacon and onion and to prevent potatoes from sticking to the pot and burning:

Add chicken stock (it should just cover the potatoes):

Cover pot and cook for 30 to 40 minutes (or until potatoes are tender).  Stir in cream, half and half, and remaining Tbsp butter and cook for another 3 minutes:

Ladle half of soup into blender and mix well.  It should come out looking something like this:

Ladle non-blended soup over blended soup until you achieve the desired texture (I did this because I like having some potato chunks in my soup - if you prefer your soup to have a smooth texture, you can use an immersion blender to blend all of the soup in the pot together):

Top with all of the things you like to eat on a baked potato (I used sour cream, crumbled bacon, chives, and cheddar) and serve.  Enjoy!