This creamy, cheesy Spanish Potato Soup is pure cozy comfort in a bowl. The soup includes buttery potatoes and tender pork carnitas swimming in a rich broth flavored with onion, red pepper, garlic, cumin, oregano, and paprika.

Photo byRebecca Blackwell/ ofbatteranddough.com

"This soup is absolutely amazing!! My parents will spend all day crafting carnitas for a fine dinner on its own, and then beg me to make this soup with the leftovers. The soup gets all the glory and love. I feel like I'm practically cheating because they did all the hard work the day before. I just swoop in with potatoes, cheese, bacon, and broth." - Mike

Photo byRebecca Blackwell/ ofbatteranddough.com

Additions and substitutions

• To make this soup gluten free substitute cornstarch, arrowroot flour, or sweet rice flour for the all-purpose flour. Sweet rice flour can be used in the same amount as all-purpose flour. If using cornstarch or arrowroot flour use half as much as all-purpose flour in this recipe - 1 tablespoon cornstarch or arrowroot flour instead of 2 tablespoons of flour. You can also toss a handful of uncooked white rice into the pan right after adding the broth. As the rice breaks down the starch will help to thicken the broth.
• To make a lighter version of the soup, leave out the sour cream and cheese - or reduce their amounts.
• To make a vegetarian version of this soup replace the carnitas with a can of black beans (pictured below).
• To make a vegan version of this soup, replace the sour cream with vegan sour cream, replace the carnitas with black beans or vegan taco meat, use vegetable broth, vegan cheese, and additional oil or vegan butter instead of dairy-based butter.
• Instead of carnitas: Leave the meat out altogether, or purchase some pre-cooked pork roast at your local market and add that in place of the Carnitas. Cooked crispy bacon, chorizo sausage, rotisserie chicken or roast chicken also make great substitutes for carnitas in this soup.
• In addition to carnitas: Some crispy fried bacon is, as you can imagine, an incredibly delicious addition to this soup. Other great additions include a can or two of chopped green chilies, any kind of beans, and chorizo sausage (or any kind of sausage).

Photo byRebecca Blackwell/ ofbatteranddough.com

What to serve with Spanish potato soup

Add even more smoky chili flavor by serving bowls of this soup with a drizzle of Aleppo pepper oil. I pretty much always have a container of the stuff on my countertop because it's one of the easiest and most delicious ways I know to add chili flavor to anything.

My favorite thing to serve with warm bowls of this creamy, cheesy, potato soup are warm homemade flour tortillas. Homemade tortillas are much easier to make than you might think and incomparably better than anything you'll find in any supermarket.

Soft homemade dinner rolls are also a delicious choice for this soup as are flaky buttermilk biscuits.

To add some crunch to this creamy soup, crumble some homemade tortilla chips over bowls of soup right before serving.

My two favorite salads to serve with this soup are jicama salad with apples and honey lime dressing and Israeli salad.

And for dessert, I usually opt for something that can match the comfort level of this soup. Giant oatmeal raisin cookies, gooey chocolate chip pecan cookies, or thick slices of chocolate loaf cake topped with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge are a few of my favorites.

Recipe: Spanish Potato Soup

For step-by-step photos showing how to make this soup, please see the original recipe: Spanish Potato Soup

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (or vegetable, canola, avocado, or coconut oil)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 large yellow onion, peeled and diced
• 1 red bell pepper, seeds and stem removed, and diced
• 1 tablespoon diced garlic (3-4 cloves)
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper, more to taste
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt, more to taste (Or, 1 teaspoon table salt)
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 4-6 cups chicken or vegetable broth, OR Better Than Bouillon vegetable or chicken base combined with water
• 3 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 to 1 & ½ inch chunks
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 ½ cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
• 2-3 cups Pork Carnitas (See note below for substitutions)
• 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Instructions

1. Add the oil and butter to a large heavy bottomed saucepan or dutch oven and set over medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the diced onion and red pepper. Cook until softened, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the garlic, cumin, oregano, paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper to the vegetables and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute longer.
3. Sprinkle in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 - 2 minutes.
4. Pour the broth in slowly, stirring constantly to prevent lumps from forming. Start by adding 4 cups of broth then add as much more as you like to achieve the consistency you desire. Add less broth for a thick soup or add more broth for a brothy soup. Turn up the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil.
5. Add the potatoes and turn down the heat to medium-low. Let the potatoes simmer gently until they are fork tender, about 10 minutes.
6. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Ladle about 1 cup of liquid from the soup pot into a bowl. Slowly stir in the sour cream until completely incorporated. Stir back into the soup pot.
7. Add the cheese, and stir until melted and completely incorporated into the soup. Stir in the Carnitas. Set back over low heat and cook, stirring, just until the carnitas are heated through.
8. Sprinkle with the chopped cilantro and serve.

More Popular Soup Recipes:

Chicken Tortilla Soup ~ Quick and Easy! - This Chicken Tortilla Soup is one of those fast cooking, super satisfying recipes that has a guaranteed spot on permanent meal time rotation at our house.Pre-roasted chicken and black beans are simmered in a red chili broth flavored with garlic, onions, oregano, and cumin.

Then, come the toppings... Pile your bowl with tortilla chips, avocado, lime, green onions, jalapeños, cilantro, and sour cream. The soup is an hearty, mouthwatering weeknight meal that will be on the table in just over 30 minutes.

Green Chili with Pork Ribs and Hatch Chilies - This Green Chili Recipe is the result of years of tweaking and testing (and eating!), until it was packed with as much rich, meaty green chili flavor as I could cram in there.

Photo byRebecca Blackwell/ alittleandlot.com

Red Lentil Soup with Ham and Aleppo Pepper - Red lentil soup with ham is one of those simple recipes that's perfect for lazy evenings when you want a hot, comforting, nutritious meal in under an hour, with very little effort.

Potato Corn Chowder - This creamy potato corn chowder is packed with vegetables and spices, and of course, bacon. If you're a vegetarian, or simply interested in making a meal that doesn't include any meat, just leave the bacon out and add a bit more cumin to add some additional smokiness.

Photo byRebecca Blackwell/ alittleandlot.com

For more of my recipes, visit alittleandalot.com and ofbatteranddough.com.

Photo byRebecca Blackwell/ rebeccablackwell.com

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