Simple Potato Soup

Sometimes you don’t need 15 ingredients to make a great soup. This simple potato soup uses just potatoes, onions, water, milk, thyme, and a single clove. That’s it. Simmered for an hour and pushed through a sieve, it becomes a velvety, warming bowl that lets the honest flavor of potatoes shine.

A full pound of onions simmered alongside 2 ½ pounds of potatoes gives the soup a natural sweetness and body that stock or broth would only mask. The onions break down completely during the long simmer, melting into the potato base and creating depth without any added fat.

The single whole clove is a quiet genius move. It adds a warm, faintly spicy note that you can’t quite identify in the finished soup but would miss if it weren’t there. Combined with a pinch of thyme, it gives the soup a subtle complexity that belies the short ingredient list.

Passing the soup through a sieve rather than using a blender gives you a smoother, more refined texture. It removes any fibrous bits of onion or potato that a blender would just chop smaller but not eliminate.

Stir in the milk after sieving and heat gently without boiling. Boiling milk in the soup will cause it to curdle and separate.

Kitchen Tips

• Use starchy potatoes like Russets or Yukon Golds. They break down during simmering and create a naturally thick soup without any flour or cream
• Don’t rush the hour-long simmer. The potatoes need to be completely soft for easy sieving
• A food mill works even better than a sieve if you have one. It pushes everything through quickly and catches the fibrous bits
• Serve with crusty bread and a pat of butter floated on top for a richer finish

Variations

• Stir in a tablespoon of butter after adding the milk for a slightly richer version
• Top with crispy bacon bits and chives for a loaded potato soup feel
• Add a leek alongside the onions for a potato-leek soup twist