Potato Cheese Soup

My family has been making this recipe for years, and it's certainly one of our favorite dishes.  It's fairly easy to make and travels well in a crock pot to take to a common meal with friends.

My family lovingly refers to this cheesy potato dish as "Potato Cheese Stuff."  This is because it was originally called Potato Cheese Casserole when my mom happened upon it, but it's more like a soup when piping hot, so my friends started calling it soup.  Sometimes, I thin it and serve it as soup, other times I don't add the milk and use it as a side dish.  More often than not, I take it to a pot-luck style meal where it's considered soup, so that's how I'm presenting it to you!  This recipe gets all 9's on the Melnarik rating scale.

To begin, I peel and cut the potatoes and boil them.  People boil spuds in all sorts of ways, but I've found the fastest way is to cut them into chunks that are no thicker than about 1/2 inch.  The thicker the pieces, the longer it takes to cook to the center of each piece.  

After cutting them, I place them in a Dutch oven, which I've filled about 1/3 with water.   I actually turn the heat on high as soon as I add the first potato, to save on cooking time.  As I add each potato, it brings the temperature down a bit, so the pot never begins to boil until a few minutes after I add the last spud.  The picture above was taken just after I added the last one.  Once the pot comes to a full boil, I cook the potatoes for 10 minutes.  While the potatoes are cooking, I melt the butter in the microwave and shred the extra-sharp cheddar cheese.

Once the potatoes are fully cooked (I test them by sticking a fork into them to determine if they are tender), I drain the water and place them in a large bowl.  I then add the melted butter and toss gently.  As ingredients get added, the chunks get smaller as the potatoes get broken up a bit.  We like to have some small pieces in the final product, so we mix gently as we combine the rest of the ingredients.

Next, I add the shredded cheese, and again toss lightly.  My cheese of choice for this dish is Cracker Barrel Extra-Sharp Cheddar Cheese.  I've used other brands in the past and have to add more cheese to get the great cheesy flavor that one brick of the Cracker Barrel gives this soup.  The sharpness of the cheese (the amount of aging time) gives more flavor without having to use more cheese than the recipe calls for.  My rule of thumb is the sharper, the better.

The heat of the potatoes will begin to melt the cheese while I take care of the next step, which is to combine the cream of chicken soup, sour cream, green onions, salt and pepper in a medium bowl.

The soup mixture then gets added to the potato and cheese mixture, again combining gently.  At this point, there are three choices for how to finish up the dish.  If I was taking it to a gathering, I would put it in a crock pot and cook it on low for 4 hours.  (It can also be made to this point, put in the crock of a crock pot, covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated until ready to cook.  I remove the plastic and cover it before beginning to cook.)  About 1/2 hr. before serving, I add the milk if I'm serving it as soup in bowls.  The second option, which was the cooking method suggested on the original recipe, is to transfer it to a casserole dish and bake it in the oven at 350°F for 25 minutes.  This would be the option to choose if you wanted it to be thicker and served as a side dish.  The third option, which is the fastest method and the one I chose this time, is to transfer the mixture to a Dutch oven to cook.

I did use the same Dutch oven that I had cooked the potatoes in initially; I just washed it before using it again.  You can see how thick the mixture is at this point.

I turned the heat on to a medium setting, where I began to heat the soup.  I stirred it frequently so it didn't stick to the bottom of the pot.  Once heated through, you can see that the cheese has completely melted and it's not as thick as it was before.  It can be served as a side dish at this point, because it won't run all over the plate.

To make it a better consistency to be served as soup, I add 1 cup of milk, stirring in 1/2 cup at a time to make sure it is fully incorporated.  Because I've added cold milk, I let it cook another 5 minutes or so until it is heated through.

When comparing the picture above to the one before adding the milk, you can tell it's much thinner.  Even the side of the pan is evidence of that.  The soup is still on the thick and hearty side, which is the way we like it.  If you prefer a thinner soup, add more milk in 1/2 cup increments until you get your desired consistency.

This hearty, cheesy soup is great on it's own, but we love to have it with Broccoli Supreme (already posted on this blog) and ham.  Also, you will always get compliments if you take this dish to any common meal you attend!  Enjoy!

Potato Cheese Soup

6 large Russet potatoes, boiled

¼ cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted

2 cups (8 oz.) extra-sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

1 can cream of chicken soup

2 cups (16 oz.) sour cream

½ cup green onions, chopped

1 tablespoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

1 cup milk

Place cooked potatoes in a large bowl; add melted butter and mix lightly.  Add shredded cheese; mix lightly.  In a medium bowl, combine soup, sour cream, green onions and seasonings.  Add soup mixture to potatoes, mixing lightly to combine.

Cooking options:

·Place in casserole dish and bake at 350°F for 25 minutes (serve as side dish).

·Place in 5 qt. crock pot and cook on low for 4 hours, adding milk ½ hour before serving.

·Place in Dutch oven and cook over medium heat until cheese is melted and mixture is heated through.  Add milk ½ cup at a time to thin to soup consistency, heat through.