Bacon & Fennel Potato Soup

Enjoy a creamy and savory soup that is as rich as it is delicious.

Absolutely delcious

A rich, creamy soup with layers of flavor is hard to come by but when you manage to find it, it leaves a mouthwatering, lasting impression. This soup checks off all the right boxes and the best part about it is that it's inexpensive to make and fairly easy to cook, so let's get started.

Bacon & Fennel Potato Soup

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients

• 5 Yukon gold potatoes

• 1 1/2 cup heavy cream

• 5 cups chicken stock

• 3-4 large carrots

• 3 large stalks of celery

• 2 medium onions

• 1/4 cup chopped fennel

• 4 thick strips of bacon

• 4 cloves of garlic

• 1 bay leaf

• 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano

• 1 tsp pepper

• 2 tsp onion powder

• 3 Tbsp butter

• 3 Tbsp Whiskey

• 2 Tbsp flour

• 2 tsp hot sauce

• 2 Tbsp cooking oil (I recommend a neutral flavor like vegetable, canola, or safflower oil but it's your choice)

• pinch of nutmeg

• salt to taste

• water as needed

• 2 Tbsp Cornstarch + 2 Tbsp Water (Slurry)

Directions

1. First get all of your ingredients prepped. Dice onions, celery, potatoes, bacon, and carrots. Mince your garlic. (Make sure you peel your carrots first before dicing.)

2. Set your burner to medium heat and let your soup pot warm up for a couple of minutes before adding your bacon. Sauté until slightly crispy and then add your onions, carrots, and celery to the pot. Turn the heat down slightly to a medium-low heat. Stir every minute or so and let those sauté for about 7-8 minutes. Then leave the vegetables for about 2 minutes so they get a good sear on one side, So a total of about 9-10 minutes. (Save a few onions to deep fry and use for garnish.)

3. Add minced garlic and sauté for about one minute before you deglaze the pan with 3 Tbsp of whiskey. Pour the whiskey in and stir, make sure you get all of the delicious crispy bits off the bottom of the pan. That's where all the flavor is! This is also why we turned the heat down a bit, so it caramelizes without burning.

4. Add the butter to the pan and after it melts, immediately add the flour. Stir everything together and keep stirring for about 1-2 minutes as the roux forms with all of the vegetables.

5. Add chicken stock to the pan. It should cover the ingredients in the pan, if it doesn't add some water until it does. Add some salt, and all of your other dry seasonings (onion powder, garlic powder, bay leaf, & oregano) except for the nutmeg. Also add 1/3rd of your chopped potatoes now. These will break down as the soup cooks and thicken your broth naturally and add to the flavor.

6. Simmer your soup on a medium-low heat. It should simmer, not boil. Let this simmer for 35-40 minutes. After the first 15-20 minutes, add the rest of the potatoes. If it reduces in liquid too much you can always add some water if needed but you want it to cook down, this is where the flavor comes from. Make sure you stir every few minutes so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan and burn, if this happens it will ruin the flavor of the entire pot of soup.

7. After 35-40 minutes the potatoes should be soft and the soup should be a lot more flavorful, but it will probably need more salt but wait until after you add the rest of the ingredients. At this point add your heavy cream and then after about 30 seconds of stirring add your hot sauce and ground nutmeg. Now taste the soup and add more salt until the flavor is perfect.

8. Add corn starch slurry and continue to stir until the soup thickens to a nice consistency. Let cook for another 2-3 minutes to remove any of the flavors from the cornstarch and taste one more time to make sure the seasoning doesn't need to be adjusted once more. Garnish with fried, crispy onions. Now, you are done, so enjoy!