Vegan Baked Potato Soup Recipe

Published: March 12, 2024. Last Updated: May 6, 2024 by: Ginny McMeans

Baked Potato Soup is hearty, creamy, easy, vegan, and this recipe is a little different. It's plant-based, and carrots are added for just a hint of sweetness.

Soups on! That is one of the most inviting and comforting statements out there. Even if you whisper it to yourself, you will probably have a smile on your face.

There is such gratification when looking at a big pot of homemade soup. Luckily, it is actually easy to do.

I have heard that if you can make a great soup from scratch, then you are a good cook.

Just put a big pot on the stovetop and get to it. When you are ringing the dinner bell, people will come running.

It's hard to have a better soup than loaded baked potato soup made from scratch!

Table of Contents

Ingredients

Russet potatoes - You’ll need to end up with about 7 cups of diced potato, which should be equal to about 5 large russet potatoes.
Carrots - Aim for about 1 ½ cups of chopped carrots. This will be about 4 large carrots or an equal amount of baby carrots will work too.
Vegan butter - Use your favorite plant based butter, or check out our Best Vegan Butter taste test and review for some suggestions!
Onion - Half of a medium sized onion should produce the ½ cup of diced onion you need for this recipe.
All-purpose flour - This is the ingredient that will make your vegan potato soup thick and creamy! Using all-purpose flour as opposed to flour blends or nut flours is important here. If you need a gluten free alternative, you can omit the four and use a cornstarch slurry instead, but the texture may end up a bit more gummy.
Non dairy milk - Make sure to choose an unsweetened, unflavored plant based milk for this savory recipe. I find that plain almond milk works exceptionally well, as well as soy milk or oat milk! Using coconut milk is great for texture, but it does impart a coconutty flavor that I don’t think pairs well with the other ingredients.
Vegetable broth/stock - The richer the better! If you’re in a pinch, you can use water but the flavor will not be as tasty.
Paprika - I like using smoked paprika as it is more mellow, but if you like it spicy, try adding hot paprika instead.
Dried thyme - If you have fresh thyme, feel free to use that instead. Keep in mind that dried herbs are more concentrated so if you go with the fresh stuff, you can use up to 3x as much as the recipe calls for of the dried version.
Sea salt - To enhance the flavors! If you are using veggie broth or stock that is already salted, you may want to hold off from adding any more until you finish the soup and taste it at the end.
Ground black pepper - Freshly cracked black pepper is one of my favorite garnishes. In addition to adding some to the soup as it cooks, I also like to give each bowl a nice healthy shower of it at the end.

How to Make Vegan Baked Potato Soup

1. Preheat and prep. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Scrub your potatoes clean and pat them dry with a kitchen towel. Use the tines of a fork to poke each potato in several places all around, as this will allow steam to escape, preventing any in-oven potato explosions!

2. Bake the potatoes. Place the potatoes on a baking sheet and cook in the oven until easily pierced with a fork, about 1 hour. Remove from the heat and set aside until they are cool enough to handle.

3. Cook the carrots. While the potatoes are in the oven, place the chopped carrots in a saucepan and add water until they are just covered. Bring to a boil on high heat and reduce to simmer over medium heat until tender but not falling apart, about 20 minutes. Drain them and set aside.

4. Peel the potatoes. Once the baked potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel them. The skins should slip off easily enough by hand, or you can use a small paring knife to help things along.

5. Cube the potatoes. Cut the peeled, cooked potatoes into bite sized chunks, then set aside.

6. Melt the butter. Add the vegan butter to a stock pot and cook over medium heat until just melted.

7. Saute the onion. Add the diced onion and saute, stirring often, until tender and translucent, about 10 minutes.

8. Add the flour. Sprinkle the flour over the cooked onions and stir until well combined. Continue cooking--stirring constantly--until the raw flour smell dissipates, about 2 minutes.

9. Add the liquids. Turn the heat up to high, then slowly add the non-dairy milk and vegetable broth. Stirring or whisking constantly during this step will help to prevent the flour from clumping.

10. Thicken the soup. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium. This activates the thickening power of your all-purpose flour. If you find that your soup seems a bit too thick, you can add more vegetable broth to make it your preferred consistency. I recommend adding just ¼ cup at a time so that you don't accidentally make it too watery.

11. Season the soup. Stir in the paprika, thyme, salt, and black pepper.

12. Add the veggies. Add in your cooked potatoes and carrots, stirring gently to prevent them from breaking up too much.

13. Heat and serve! Once the veggies are warmed through, this soup is ready to serve! I love it with a few grinds of freshly cracked black pepper on top.

Watch Us Make Vegan Baked Potato Soup

What potatoes bake best

Truly, russet potatoes are the best for baking.
The small, colorful baby potatoes on the market now have many pretty color varieties with their purple, red, and gold skins, but they are small and hard to handle.
Yukon Gold potatoes are yellow and aren't as starchy as russets. Starchy is good for baked potatoes, though.
Russets taste fantastic, but you may need to clean up their skins a bit.
Fingerling potatoes have nutty or earthy flavors, with different varieties also being in different colors. It's not great for baking but great for roasting.

Great homemade soups

Navy Bean Soup is a classic favorite, and this recipe is hands-off with the use of a crockpot.
You need to try a Corn Chowder if you have never before. This one is rich, and you're going to love it.
This Vegan Split Pea Soup tastes just like Anderson's, and I kid you not.
I can go on and on with fabulous soup recipes that live here on this blog, but I'll just add one more. French Onion Soup is made fast, and the richness is a dream.

How to Store Vegan Baked Potato Soup

Refrigerating. Keep any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Freezing. I don’t recommend freezing this soup as there are too many components in it which will change in texture after being in the freezer. Potatoes have a tendency to get mealy after being frozen and depending on which non-dairy milk you use, it could split or become otherwise unpleasantly textured.

Reheating. To reheat, simply warm your soup in a saucepan over low-medium heat, stirring frequently to ensure that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot. One warmed through, take a moment to check its consistency. If it seems too thick (which may happen as it sits in the fridge) add a splash of vegetable broth, non dairy milk, or water to thin it out again.

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