I’m not sure if the way I eat a baked potato is normal. While it’s still really hot, I add my toppings (usually just a dab of butter and some grated cheese) and then I basically just mash it into oblivion. The skin stays intact, but the middle just becomes a messy heap of gooey mashed potato. It’s ace. It’s also the reason I can’t order baked potatoes in public. Does anyone else do this?

The point of loaded baked potato soup is that it kind of ends up resembling my mash – a thick potatoey soup, loaded with your preferred baked potato toppings, ready to all be mashed together.

Baked potato soup is what I would call ‘the most comforting thing ever’ – soup is always pretty good to have on a cold day, but make that carb-loaded soup and you’ve taken it to the next level. I suppose the potatoes in this soup aren’t technically baked, but that’s neither here nor there. And in fact, making this soup in the slow cooker makes it even better than if you’d had to faff around with your oven for hours (the only downside of normal baked potatoes) – I chopped a few potatoes before I went to bed, and by the time I woke up, I had soup!

(Disclaimer: it does take a tiny bit more effort than that. But only a little.)

You can top this soup with whatever you like (I love soups that need topping) – I went for cheese, spring onions and a bit of sweetcorn. Think of what sort of things you enjoy on a real baked potato and go from there. I’m thinking, crumbled (veggie!) bacon, chives, maybe a dollop of sour cream? Let me know if you come up with any amazing combinations!

My soup is fairly dark in colour because I left the skins on my potatoes. That’s where most of the nutrients are, so I try not to remove them if I can avoid it (plus I’m lazy and leaving the skins on means one less job to do). If you want a lighter soup, though, you can just peel your potatoes first.

By the way – you’ll notice I cooked this on low for around 9 hours. This was because I wanted to get a good night’s sleep while it was cooking. If it suits you better though, you could probably cook it on medium for a little less time instead. As long as the potatoes get nice and soft it’ll be fine.

Slow cooker loaded baked potato soup Recipe Type : Soup Author: Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 9 hours Total time: 9 hours 10 mins Serves: 4 Ingredients 1kg potatoes (around 5 medium potatoes)

500ml vegetable stock

1 onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

50g cheddar cheese, grated

30g butter

Salt

Black pepper

Toppings of your choice: I used cheese, spring onions and corn Instructions Cut the potatoes into chunks, and add them to the slow cooker along with the stock, onion and garlic. Mix to combine, and cook on low for 8-9 hours. Using an immersion blender, blend the soup until it is smooth. Add the grated cheese and butter, and cook for a further twenty minutes or so until the cheese has all melted. Season to taste (be generous!) Serve topped with your choice of toppings – I used a little more grated cheddar, some sliced spring onions, and some sweetcorn. 3.2.1255

Note: this soup should keep for a few days, but it will thicken up a lot as it cools. To reheat, just add it to a pan with a good splash of water and it should thin down again as it gets warm.