Slow Cooker Creamy Potato Bacon Soup (Gluten-Free)

This slow cooker creamy potato bacon soup is going to be a new family-friendly favorite. It’s easy to make so it’s perfect for a weeknight dinner, and reheats really well so it’s great for meal prep. This crock pot ground beef soup is also gluten-free and loaded with vegetables like potatoes, carrots, onion, celery and tomatoes. It’s full of flavor and one of our go-to recipes for fall and winter.

Creamy Potato Bacon Soup Ingredients

Don’t let the ingredient list fool you, this really is a simple recipe to make, and it will for sure be a new family favorite! While the ingredient list looks long, it can be broken down into three types of items you’ll need: fresh ingredients, pantry staples you probably already have, and spices.

For the fresh ingredients, you’ll need russet potatoes. I prefer to peel the potatoes, but if you don’t mind the peels and want to save time, you can definitely leave them on and just dice up the potatoes. You’ll also need shredded carrots, shredded cheese, diced onion and celery, ground beef and bacon.

The staple items that are commonly already around the kitchen that this recipe uses include chicken broth, 1 can of diced tomatoes, butter, flour (or gluten-free 1:1 flour), and half and half. This also goes hand in hand with the spices you’ll need. Those are basic ones like basil, garlic powder, dried parsley and salt.

Step by Step Cooking Instructions

This slow cooker creamy potato bacon soup recipe is incredibly easy to make, with there only being 4 main steps. The first is to get your slow cooker started. Do this by adding the broth, canned tomatoes, potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, and the spices (parsley, garlic, basil, salt and pepper) into the slow cooker insert.

Then you’ll cover it with the lid and cook the soup on high for 3 to 4 hours, or on low for 6 to 8 hours. You will need to get your bacon cooked up at some point. You can do this one of two ways. The first is to fry it in a skillet, ideally the same one you brown the ground beef in just prior to the soup being done cooking.

Alternatively, you can bake your bacon slices on a sheet pan at any point while the soup is cooking and set it aside for later. I find that one easiest because it’s less hands-on time. Use this recipe/method for baking bacon in your oven.

About 30 minutes prior to the soup being done or you being ready to eat, brown the ground beef. You’ll want to drain the grease and then add the cooked beef and bacon into your slow cooker soup.

The next step is to quickly wipe out the skillet to remove overly excess amounts of grease, and then melt your butter in the skillet. Once the butter is melted, whisk in the flour and continue whisking until it’s all combined. This won’t take more than a minute or two.

Once the flour is combined with the butter, whisk in the half and half and continue whisking as they incorporate together and begin to thicken a bit. This will take about 2 to 3 minutes. Pour the half and half into the potato bacon soup and stir it in well.

Lastly, you’ll add in the shredded cheese and give it another good stir. Put the cover back on your slow cooker for a few minutes, just to give the cheese a little bit of time to melt. Just prior to serving, stir it once more a few times to make sure the cheese has melted and incorporated in with the soup.

Taste a small bite and adjust any of the seasonings if needed according to your preference. Garlic powder and salt and the two that I most frequently adjust and add. We don’t add much salt at the beginning because each type of bacon and each type of broth you can find in stores will vary with how salty they are depending on the brand.

Serving and Storing Your Creamy Potato Bacon Soup

This soup is great topped with diced green onions, or even finely diced white onions. Reserving a few tablespoons of the chopped bacon to top the soup with is also a tasty option. Extra shredded cheese, chopped parsley, fresh black pepper or a small dollop of sour cream are good garnishes as well.

Before you store your soup in the refrigerator, allow it time to cool completely. You can store it in one large container, or use individual meal prep containers. Which ever you use should have air tight lids or covers. You can store this soup in the fridge for up to 5 days.

My Favorite Freezer Safe & Meal Prep Storage Containers:

• Ello Glass Container Set
• Prep Naturals Container Set
• Pyrex Simply Store Set

Other Slow Cooker Recipes You’ll Love:

Chicken & Chickpea Tikka Masala

Slow Cooker Lemonade Chicken

Slow Cooker Mexican Corn Chicken Soup

Crock Pot Shipwreck Stew

Slow Cooker Vegetable Curry

Slow Cooker Chicken Alfredo Pasta

Creamy Sausage Gnocchi Soup

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