Throughout much of Appalachia, the standard remedy when someone has the mollygrubs (feels poorly) is not chicken soup but potato soup. Rich and savory, it’s easily prepared and a welcome dish—sick or not—especially in cold weather.
- Peeled potatoes (figure 1 or 2 per person)
- 1 large sweet onion
- ½ stick butter
- 1 cup chicken broth or stock
- 2 cups whole milk
- Salt and pepper to taste
Cut potatoes into quarter-inch slices and boil until they break apart readily. Meanwhile, as potatoes are cooking, slice the onion and sauté in a pan with half of the butter until translucent. Drain most of the water from the potatoes then add the broth, onion, milk, remaining butter, and seasonings to a large pot. Stir while reheating. Serve piping hot. Serves 4 to 6.
TIPS: (1) If desired, you can gussy the soup up by sprinkling with fresh chives, crumbling bacon bits atop individual servings, or garnishing with grated cheddar cheese. Leftovers reheat well. (2) For a really rich soup, use half and half instead of milk.
—Celebrating Southern Appalachian Food written by Jim Casada and Tipper Pressley
The cooler weather we’ve been having has given me a taste for our favorite soups, stews, and chili. They are good anytime of the year but somehow seem to really hit the spot in the fall and winter months.
There’s a variety of ways to make potato soup and I reckon all of them end up tasting really good.
If you’ve not picked up a copy of our cookbook you can find it here. On November 15, 2025 from 11:00 am till 2:00 pm I will be at the Little Light Christian Books and Gifts store in Granite Falls, NC (3 N Main Street) signing cookbooks. The bookstore will have the books available for purchase.
Last night’s video: Helping Matt Pack for Deer Camp.
Tipper
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I make mine the Same except I add Chicken/apple sausage it a great Soul Warming meal
I love potato soup. My Mom never put broth in it. But she came up hard in a mill village and to give it sustenance her Mother would get a can of corned beef (you know the kind in a weird can with a key on the bottom and you hooked it on and turned it round and round) and broke it up in the soup. I tried it but I’d just rather have the soup with a little cheese and if we were lucky a little dollop of sour cream. I also like mine thick. Thanks for your recipe. I will try the broth some day. My friend puts chicken broth in her green beans and I’ve learned to like it! Have a great week Tipper! 🙂
I love soup and could eat it every day. I made chicken chowder yesterday and had again for lunch today. I make potato soup like your recipe with the addition of a finely chopped carrot.
I don’t have your cookbook but I’m planning on buying one at Granite Falls. Can’t wait to meet you and Matt.
My recipe exactly except I add chopped celery and “droodles”. Droodles are a tiny little noodle made with egg and flour. Add then once the potatoes are almost done. If you want to spruce your soup up even further, top with fried bacon and a little cheese. YUM!
KW said I was “family” to the acorn members. I might be the “Black Sheep” of the family to some of you! I want everyone of you and especially Tipper to know how much I enjoy and look forward to The Blind Pig each day. I cannot put the joy I receive from the BP and the members into words. Words can’t describe the love I had for my wife and how lost I am without her. I have many things, my three boys, other family and friends to still be thankful far, but I will never ever get over the hole left in me when I lost her. It will never heal until I close my eyes for the last time and I will one day get to be with her again.
Randy…So happy you’re getting much needed rain!
I crave potato soup. With stage 3b kidney disease it is a labor of love for sure. I’ve got to peel the potatoes and dice them small/tiny. Then they must be soaked in cold, filtered water for 20 minutes. Drain Rinse and cover with room temp filtered water 2x the depth over the potatoes. Bring water to a boil then boil the potatoes for 5 minutes at a full boil. Drain and rinse. Then put the potatoes into the cleaned pot and add room temp filtered water 2x the depth of the potatoes and boil till cooked tender. Pour that water off. Drain and rinse potatoes. Set aside potatoes. In the clean pot add one TBSP olive oil and one large diced onion. Cook on med heat till onion is clear. Add the potatoes and 1 tbsp mrs dash table blend seasoning. Cover with room temp filtered water 2″ above the potatoes. cook till the water is heated thru. Mash a few of the potatoes with a masher and serve.
Brunswick stew, in the style of Mrs. Fearnow’s, is a favorite with us. Our supermarkets don’t carry Mrs. Fearnow’s (nor Neese’s liver pudding) so we have to make our own.
I buy a baked chicken and pulled pork at the supermarket these days for convenience, but I’ve made it for years from chickens I’ve stewed or smoked and pork pulled from smoked pork butts. The rest of the ingredients are corn, butterbeans, okra, (all frozen) canned tomatoes, small dice potatoes, tomato paste, and a bit of your favorite barbecue or hot sauce to taste. A crockpot makes it super easy. I usually double the recipe and freeze it in quarts which seems to be the right amount for 2 old folks (84). If I had a canner, I’d can it. There are lots of recipes online. Find one you like and try it.
We grew up on Poor Man’s Soup. It’s my favorite comfort meal.
Potatoes
Hamburger (ground beef)
Onions
Stock(beef, chicken, vegetable)or water
Seasoning to taste
Cube potatoes into large chunks, start to cook in stock or water. Brown hamburger & onions. Add to potatoes… let cook on simmer all day. I mash some of the potatoes to thicken the soup up. Season to taste. I just use salt, pepper & garlic. My mom & sister add rice, but I like it better without. You can really add whatever you like… celery, bell peppers, peas. & I have made huge batches & small pots… it’s always good, but even better the next day.
Potato soup is one of my favorites and I like it gussied up. With the chill in the air, today is a good day for soup.
It’s hard to follow a recipe when you are cooking for one, but I think I’ll give this one a try today. It’s a perfect day for it here. Dark and dreary with temperature in the 40s and rain. We needed the rain but not the gloom that came with it.
Save that water you pour off the taters. No need to waste all that tater flavor. It can be made into a light soup itself or can be used as a base for other soups.
I have started over the years adding a couple of diced or shredded carrots when I add the onion to saute it. It adds a really good flavor and other health benefits. I have an adult (30yr old) autistic son who refuses to eat. So I have learned to sneak in veggies anyway I can. We really like the flavor and we do use half and half a long with milk as groceries have gotten so high.
Leta, my youngest grandson is autistic, he turned 20 years old last week. It mostly affects him socially, most people would think he is extremely shy. He has overcame a lot of it, but if you are close to him you can see he is different. I feel for you.
I’ve already been on the soup train for the past month or so. You’re right it really hits the spot when this cooler weather arrives! I’ve made vegetable soup, tater soup, and a big pot of chili beans so far. For tater soup I like to use red taters…no certain reason I just like them better for soup. I peel and cut the whole 5lb bag into small chunks then cook them with a large box of chicken broth. Once they’re tender I add one large can of cream of chicken soup and one small can, stir those in and let it simmer for another 15 minutes or so. Then I serve it on top of crumbled up cornbread with shredded sharp cheddar cheese and crumbled bacon on top. Super quick and easy and so good! I’ll have to try your recipe but without the onion…I know I’m strange but I’ve never liked onions, I like the flavor but it’s a consistency/texture thing for me. I’ll use onion powder instead and see how that turns out.
Potato soup is always made when somebody in my familyis feeling sick. My mom makes a very good potato soup, but the best I ever ate was from our school cafeteria in elementary. It was potato soup perfection, and I have never been able to replicate it. I always crave it this time of year, but none of my children like it nor my husband, so I don’t make it often just for myself. Maybe I should freeze a big batch in small bags so it can be used in single servings
Praying for you all! ❤️
Good ole tater soup! 🙂 Ate it a lot growing up. Sometimes with the addition of bacon bits or grated cheddar cheese. Mama switched it up at times with some canned kernel or creamed corn added in. A quick, comforting meal for sure and I still make it often today.
My husband made a potato and sausage soup yesterday so we could have it for dinner one night this week. So good.
Like you have said before we really do love the great dishes our Mother’s made for us when we were growing up. If I am feeling kind of puny I long for my Mother’s delicious home-made Vegetable Soup. It was made with tomatoes, corn, okrie, and I think a little barley. Oh my it was soooo good!! I especially loved the okrie in it:)
I ordered your cookbook last year or the year before, and you signed it, but if I lived closer I sure would have loved to drive down and meet ya all in Granite Falls. Praying for Granny and ya all!!
I caught Katie’s video late yesterday, she is a wonderful teacher of “His Word!”
I also have precious memories of following my Daddy as he hunted even though I never carried a gun I sure had a love for the outdoors. I could see the excitement in Matt’s face as he could hardly wait to get on the road to meet his Daddy at their hunting camp. Yay for them!!!
Growing up in my part of Appalachia (NC/VA area) my mother always fixed us soft boiled eggs and toast; chicken noodle soup or chicken and dumplings; plenty of oranges; hot tea; and Dr. Pepper or ginger ale. All these were for the head and chest colds. At night we’d have oil of eucalyptus rubbed into our chests.
If it was a funny tummy bug we’d be on toast and jam (no butter) only along with Dr. Pepper and/or ginger ale. I never cared for the ginger ale and always chose Dr. Pepper. If it was a really bad tummy flu, out would come the kaopectate. I despised that stuff. It was like taking liquid chalk. To this day just thinking about it I get a gag reflex going.
Mom never made potato soup when I was growing up. As far as I can remember, she never made any soup. That is baffling now that I think about it, as we had most of the necessary ingredients in the garden. I love vegetable and potato soup, with Mexican Beef Stew being my favorite soup/stew recipe. Neither is worth eating unless they are served with cornbread.
Praying for Granny & Norman’s brother Bennnie.
My younger son, daughter and I love potato soup, but I only make it once or twice a year. The recipe I make is full of calories, but it is so good. I use diced up celery, onions, and carrots, salute them in bacon grease. I also use a couple of tablespoons of “Better Than Bouillion” and some water along with half and half, and cream. I bake about ten medium potatoes and cut them up into bite size pieces. At the end I make a little roue made with flour and butter. Mash up some of the potatoes and its ready. I also add plenty of pepper, some salt and garlic powder.
Morning everyone, Miss Tipper, this is one of our favorite soups. Warms you to the bone on those cold winter days and nights too. I like to also add celery mb? diced up small and shredded carrots too. Yummy! Hope Matt had a successful hunting season and y’all are set for this year’s venison. Not a fan of it, but I’m sure y’all have the best. Have a blessed day and a great week ahead. Give Miss Louzine lots of care, and love from me and hope y’all take care too. Gid bless everyone today, tomorrow and always.
You must be psychic Tipper. Or maybe it is an Appalachian thing. My wife made potato soup on Saturday for Sunday (out mealtimes get shuffled because of church times on Sunday). Like you, when it starts getting cold she wants certain comfort foods, potato soup being one. Myself I’m likely to want chili or Brunswick stew. One of the great things about potato soup – as you mention – is how well it lends itself to dressing up with add-ons like cheese, fresh herbs, diced ham etc. By the way, that town name Granite Falls sounds like it is straight out of a Hallmark Christmas movie. Hope all goes very well for you there and you make some new friends. And Randy, you and I grew up in a time, a way and a place in which not doing something physical was being lazy ’cause there was always physical work needing to be done. Yeah, I feel that to. But Henry Ford is quoted as saying, “Thinking is hard work. That’s why so few people do it.”
Ron, I am not Henry Ford but thinking gives me a headache! I worked at “ public work” all of my working life. I noticed and remember my grandparents and others of the older generations always doing something either outside or inside depending on the weather. My family life when I was young was very much like the lyrics in Alabama’s song “High Cotton.” The only day my parents and many others didn’t work was Sunday. We went to church on that day.
Potato soup sounds so yummy on a chilly day, and this is gonna be one. I saute’ chopped celery with my onion when making it, along with celery seed and parsley. Occasionally I add some bits of ham for a different flavor, and we always have oyster crackers. Our other favorites are vegetable beef, chicken vegetable, and chili macaroni soup. I am not crazy about pasta in my chili bean soup, but my hubby just loves it that way…so I add it for him. I am always ready to try new soup recipes…my favorite thing to cook all winter. It feeds a crowd…or just us two for a couple days. I think it’s definitely gonna be a potato soup day!!
I like to boil the onions with the potatoes. There’s a lot of flavor in the potato water and I always save about a cup of it to add to the soup. The final sprinkle is celery seed. A big YUM>.
I was think about making cheesy hamburger potato soup this week. It’s the same as potato soup, but just add browned hamburger and lots of cheese to the potato soup mix. I watched a lady on YouTube make it and it looked delicious. I plan on first making a huge pot of potato soup, then the next day I can add lots of the cheese to make it cheesy potato soup and the next day add the cooked ground beef to make it the cheesy hamburger potato soup. I thought this will be a good way to have three different tasting soups out of one basic potato soup. Plus I won’t have to use as much cheese, or cooked ground beef. I’m trying to stretch my budget on making meals, but not having the exact same tasting leftovers everyday will help, plus save on cooking time. I’m serving crackers with the basic potato soup on the first night, garlic rolls with the cheesy potato soup on the second night and cornbread or Mexican cornbread with the cheesy hamburger potato soup to finish it off. If there is any leftover the third night, I’ll freeze it in single serving freezer bowl(s) with soup name and date so it can be enjoyed some other month for lunch.
We have about one serving of potato soup left for tonight. We made a big pot last week just like your recipe except without the onion. Onions mess up my sugar so much that my wife doesn’t want any of it.
(That’s lip-a-lated sugar, not granulated.)
I love potato soup and will have to put it in my soup rotation. So far we’ve already had chicken soup, oyster stew with wild rice, bean soup, vegetable soup yesterday and some of the store bought canned soups, which don’t taste near as good as homemade.
Now we get to start our day dealing with furnace issues, ugh….. At least it’s not in the middle of winter, but our son told us we may have a cracked heat exchanger to deal with and he told us it’s repairable versus replacing the whole furnace. I am so thankful that our son is a union HVAC man. He can’t do the repair job due to his work schedule, but he lets us know if our system needs to be replaced or if it can be repaired before a residential company comes in and tries to upsell us.
I made a pot of vegetable soup on Saturday with the last quart of our homegrown tomatoes from 2023. I had been saving them for a special occasion and we were hosting a couple from the Pacific Northwest who are traveling around the country for 9 months to speak about peace. They spoke at Second Hour of our Quaker Meeting yesterday. The potatoes that went in the soup were grown by us this year and I even found 2 pods of okra in our garden to add to what I bought (at a startling price!) but the soup is just better with okra. Everyone enjoyed 2 bowls of it, so I feel like I did my mother’s recipe justice.
Potato soup is on my list for this week. I too have been hankering for it and I like it gussied up. I’m also looking forward to squash apple soup! Love soups and stews when the weather cools off.
Bless y’all
or add chopped pickles, pickle juice and fresh dill on top for delicious pickle soup.
It was not potato soup but I made a pot of salmon stew last night that seemed to be real good and to hit the spot. Yesterday would have been my 51st wedding anniversary if my wife was still alive. I told my son 51 years ago me and your mother were each eating a 3 piece KFC meal. Today (27th) we went to Chimney Rock and Lake Lure, we didn’t have enough money to buy tickets to go into the park and up on the rock, we just walk around looking in the shops but not buying. These areas have always been special to me, I wish I could go back and see how much has changed because of Hurricane Helene. I am now afraid to go very far by myself in case of having car trouble such as with tires.
Saturday, we talked about dogs and hunting, some of us wrote about rabbit hunting and the tradition for some of the men in our families to hunt on Thanksgiving morning while the ladies would cook the Thanksgiving dinner – mid day meal to many southerners. Yesterday I read a story about rabbit hunting and family traditions. It was titled Uncle Earl’s Shotgun and was on the Sporting Classics Daily website, it is easy to find by googling it. Debbie, I think you would find it real enjoyable.
Tipper and other members, I am laying here listening to it rain this morning. This is the first real good rain we have had in almost 2 months. I plan on being “energy efficient” today, some people would call it plain lazy. Us older folks have earned the right to do this.
Randy, I have always appreciated your stories about you and your beloved wife and your growing up and your whole family. I just felt that you needed to know how much you are ‘family’ in this acorn group.
You have a way of expressing deep feelings that are being felt deep in my spirit. I pray that the Lord will help you throughout the rest of your days on this earth until you are reunited with your beloved wife.
I enjoyed the article, Randy! Thank you for sharing. Enjoy your rainy day. Nothing better than hearing those comforting sounds, especially after a long period of little to no rain like you’ve experienced.