What Is Soup, cream of potato and How Can I Use It?
Soup, cream of potato rewards a little know-how: how to choose it, cook it, store it, and substitute in a pinch. Browse 12 recipes to cook with it.
Key Points
- Condensed canned soup of pureed potato, used as a starchy binder and base.
- The shortcut base for chowders, hash-brown bakes, and breakfast casseroles.
- The potato both thickens and adds a mild flavor, doing two jobs at once.
- Stir gently; overworked or boiled potato starch turns gluey and pasty.
- Diced potato simmered in broth and mashed, or instant flakes, replaces one can.
What is soup, cream of potato?
Cream of potato soup is the starchiest of the condensed canned soups. It is a thick, off-white paste of pureed potato with a little salted dairy and flour, heavy enough to plop rather than pour out of the can.
Most cooks do not treat it as a soup to ladle. They use it as a starchy binder and base: a pre-made potato sauce, already salted, that thickens a dish and adds body in one step.
The potato is doing two jobs at once here. It thickens like the flour in the other soups and it brings a mild, comforting potato flavor of its own.
How to Use It
It is condensed, built to take a canful of milk. Stir in the milk and warm it and you have a quick potato soup; leave most of it out and it binds a casserole instead.
Its sweet spot is anything potato or breakfast. It anchors the egg-and-potato layers of Awesome Breakfast Casserole For Two, thickens the broth in Quick Crab Stew, and binds a salmon-and-potato bake like Salmon-Potato Casserole.
It is also a fast chowder base. Add milk and corn with cooked bacon or fish, and the potato body that makes a chowder feel hearty is already built in.
Heat it gently and stir. The starch is even more prone to scorching than a flour roux, so keep it over medium and do not walk away.
Pairing and Mistakes
It runs with the usual potato crowd: bacon, ham, cheese, corn, onion, and chives. Frozen hash browns and this soup are a classic shortcut base for a cheesy potato bake.
The big mistake is overworking it. Potato starch turns gluey and pasty when it is stirred hard or boiled too long, so warm it gently and stir just enough to keep it smooth.
The other is salt, as with every can in this family. Taste before seasoning, especially next to bacon or ham, which bring their own.
Substitutes
In a casserole, cream of mushroom or cream of celery will bind just as well; you lose the potato note but keep the creamy body.
To make a quick one, simmer 1 cup peeled diced potato in 1 cup broth until soft, then mash it right in the pot. Whisk in ½ cup milk and a tablespoon of butter, season with salt and pepper, and you have a thick potato base in about fifteen minutes.
Instant mashed potato flakes whisked into warm milk make an even faster stand-in when you only need the thickening.
Buying and Storing
A standard can runs about 10.5 ounces (roughly 298 grams), the "one can" most recipes mean. Some brands sell it as cream of potato and others as potato soup, condensed; both behave the same in a bake. Skip any can that is dented on a seam, bulging, or rusty.
Unopened, it keeps a year or more in the pantry, usually past the printed date. After opening, move leftovers to a sealed container and use within three to four days, since the dairy and potato spoil faster than a stock-based soup.
Quick facts
Where to find soup, cream of potato: Soup, cream of potato is usually found in the canned goods section or aisle of the grocery store or supermarket.
- In Chinese
- 汤，奶油土豆
- British (UK) term
- Soup, cream of potato
- en français
- crème de pomme de terre, conserve, condensée
- en español
- crema de sopa de patatas, en lata, condensada
Recipes using soup, cream of potato
There are 12 recipes that contain this ingredient.
Chicken Pot-pie
Easy chicken pot pie that skips the roux: cream of potato soup, mixed vegetables, and cooked chicken baked between two flaky crusts with thyme. A fast way to use up leftover meat.
Awesome Breakfast Casserole For Two
A scrumptious hash brown breakfast casserole with sausage (or bacon) that’s perfectly sized for two servings.
Easy Bacon Potato Soup
Easy bacon potato soup doctors up canned cream of potato soup with crispy bacon, onion sauteed in the drippings, and a pinch of cayenne. A creamy, smoky bowl ready in about 15 minutes.
Red Beanshepherd's Pie
Vegetarian red bean shepherd's pie with sliced potato layers, garbanzos, red beans, green peas, and bell pepper seasoned with cumin and coriander. A meatless, comforting casserole.
Hearty Fish Stew
Hearty fish stew with white fish fillets, bacon, green beans, carrots, tomatoes, and creamy potato soup base. The one-pot Midwestern fish chowder.
Simply Chowder Soup for a Crowd
Seafood chowder for a crowd with sole fillets, canned clams, shrimp, and cream of potato soup. Feeds 20 people in 30 minutes using mostly pantry and freezer staples. Freezes well.
Chilled Watercress Bisque
A 3-ingredient chilled bisque that blends frozen cream of potato soup with peppery fresh watercress and milk into a smooth, elegant cold soup. Ready in minutes, no cooking required.
Cheese & Potato Wild Rice Soup
Thick, cheesy wild rice and potato soup loaded with crispy bacon and melted American cheese. A Midwestern comfort soup that's hearty enough to be the whole meal.
Salmon-Potato Casserole
Salmon potato casserole combines canned salmon with cream of potato soup, evaporated milk, and a crunchy shredded wheat topping browned under the broiler. A pantry-friendly weeknight casserole ready in 25 minutes.
Elegant Potato Spam Casserole
Spam and potato casserole with cream of potato soup, sherry, and Parmesan baked until bubbly and golden. A quick comfort food dinner from pantry staples.
Quick Crab Stew
Definitely a lazy way to make a crab stew, but I was surprised by how great it came out, and it was so quick and easy too.
