Creamy Potato Soup

Ingredients

6 strips (uncooked) bacon cut into small pieces
3 TBSP butter unsalted or salted will work
1 medium yellow onion chopped (about 1½ cup/200g)
3 large garlic cloves minced
⅓ C all-purpose flour (42g)
2 ½ lbs gold potatoes peeled and diced into pieces no larger than 1” (this was about 6 Large potatoes for me/1.15kg)
4 C chicken broth (945ml)
2 C milk (475ml)
⅔ C half-n-half (155ml)
1 ½ tsp* salt
1 tsp ground pepper
¼-½ tsp ancho chili powder**
⅔ C sour cream (160g)
Shredded cheddar cheese, chives, and additional sour cream and bacon for topping optional

Directions

Place bacon pieces in a large Dutch Oven or soup pot over medium heat and cook until bacon is crisp and browned.
Remove bacon pieces and set aside, leaving the fat in the pot.
Add butter and chopped onion and cook over medium heat until onions are tender (3-5 minutes).
Add garlic and cook until fragrant (about 30 seconds).
Sprinkle the flour over the ingredients in the pot and stir until smooth (use whisk if needed).
Add diced potatoes to the pot along with chicken broth, milk, heavy cream, salt, pepper, and ancho chili powder. Stir well.
Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork (about 10 minutes).
Reduce heat to simmer and remove approximately half*** of the soup to a blender (be careful, it will be hot!) and puree until smooth (half is about 5 cups of soup, but just eyeballing the amount will be fine. Alternatively you can use an immersion blender.).
Return the pureed soup to the pot and add sour cream and reserved bacon pieces, stir well.
Allow soup to simmer for 15 minutes before serving.
Top with additional sour cream, bacon, cheddar cheese, or chives. Enjoy!

Notes

*I recommend starting with a more reserved amount of salt and then adding more as needed, the amount of salt needed will vary depending on the type/brand of broth you use
**If you have not used ancho chili powder before, I recommend starting with ¼ teaspoon and then taste-testing before increasing to ½ teaspoon if you like the taste.
***If you want a completely creamy soup you can puree all of it, just puree in batches, about half of the soup at a time. I prefer my potato soup with actual chunks of potatoes and prefer to puree just half of it.