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Your search is finally over. I have scoured all of my restaurant recipes resources and found a very close, if not exact, copy of the Outback potato soup recipe. This comes straight from one of the former cooks at Outback™, so I know it’s authentic.
Too many people are making this with Valvetta cheese because of the cheesy flavor of the soup. That’s wrong. The base for thickening this up is rather simple. Try this recipe at home and you’ll be amazed at how close it tastes. Please comment below to let me know what you think.
Ingredients
- Potatoes (6-8 depending on the size)
- 1 Onion, diced
- 4 14oz cans of chicken broth
- 2 cups water
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
- 1 dash of basil
- 1 dash of sugar
- 2 sticks of butter
- 3/4 cup of flour
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
Garnish
- 4-6 pieces of cooked bacon, chopped
- Chopped chives (amount depends on your preference – I like a lot)
- 2 cups shredded Monterrey Jack / Cheddar cheese blend.
Directions
- Boil the potatoes, peel and set aside
- In a large soup pot, melt the butter over a low to medium heat, being careful not to burn it.
- Add the onion and cook until softened.
- Add the flour and stir while it cooks for about 3 minutes.
- Slowly add the chicken broth, water, salt, pepper, basil and sugar.
- Bring to a boil, stirring often with a wire whisk.
- Gradually add the heavy cream until you’ve reached the proper consistency.
- Chop the potatoes into bite sized cubes and add to the soup.
- Simmer for approximately 5 minutes to bring the potatoes to temperature.
- Ladle the soup into individual bowls and garnish with chopped bacon, chives and the cheese blend.
- Enjoy!
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(36 votes, average: 3.78 out of 5)






Hello,
My husband loves the potato soup at the Outback. We recently moved to Florida. It is cold here right now with mornings in the low 40’s. It was a soup day yesterday..so I went on line and searched for the potato soup recipe. I came upon your website. I made the soup last night and OMG it was Yummy! I was so pleased with this recipe..we all enjoyed it so much, and were glad to have plenty for leftovers. I did change a couple of things, I used red potatoes and didn’t peel them, I used scallions instead of chives, and I used a carton of College Inn broth that was 48 oz instead of 4 cans which would have been I think 56 oz. You did a great job with this recipe. I can’t wait to try the Coconut shrimp now, my other favorite at Outback restaurants. Thanks again for posting this recipe.
Outback Potato Soup Recipe is awesome…delish! I used red potatoes and left the skins on, and I used 48 oz of chicken broth and I used scallions instead of chives….unbelievable soup – wonderful recipe. Thank you for posting it.
Excellent recipe. It think it was a little heavy on the chicken broth, but still very close to the original.
Boil the onions with the potatoes? Says nothing about when to use the diced onion.
Thank you very much. I also noticed Amy commented at the top that she used a little less broth. If everyone agrees this is better, I will change the recipe above.
One option would be to cook down the broth a little bit before adding the cream. This will concentrate the chicken flavor a bit more and increase the thickness of the soup. That way you don’t lose any flavor. Thanks again!
I’m so sorry. I didn’t even realize I overlooked that. I’ve added in the step where you cook the onions. Thanks for pointing this out.
We bought Velveeta while at the store, trying to guess the ingredients in Outback’s potato soup. After reading the above recipe and comments, we decided to go ahead and try this without the Velveeta. It is an excellent soup. I don’t think we got it quite as creamy as Outback’s, but it was enjoyable nonetheless, and a few minor tweaks will probably get us really close to the original. The major modification we did was to not add quite as much chicken broth as called for. Thanks so much for the recipe.
Thanks. Make sure you come back and let us all know if you make any other improvements to the recipe. Most of these recipes have been a collaborative effort, so bring it on. Thanks for the kinds words.
I made this soup shortly after eating it at the Outback and it was pretty close. However, it still didn’t taste quite the same. It seems to be missing the “tang.” However, this was the BEST recipe I have found thus far. Thanks!
this soup is really good!!!!! and belive me this soup is made it with valvetta cheese you know why??????? because I worked there.
and another secret is if you want a really good flavor you have to bake the potatoes never boiled.
My boyfriend, parents, and brother loved this! I used 3 cans of chicken broth instead of 4. I used valveeta chesse, but I used too much the first time and it was too chessy. I also mashed half of the potatoes and it had a very creamy texture, yum ^_^ and my brother said it tasted better than Outback’s
I haven’t tried this yet, but will ASAP. Tomorrow night, probably. One thing I’ll probably add: sage, as I’ve heard others who worked at Outback said this herb was in there.
Thanks so much for all your effort! And to the commenters for adding their experience!
This soup was excellent and very much like Outback’s. There is a spice that Outback puts in there I can’t identify. I added a little bacon grease and reduced the butter to give it a little bacon flavoring. Yummy. Will make this again.
The only thing I changed was putting less chicken broth like so many of you said. This soup was good, don’t get me wrong, but nothing like Outback Potato Soup. I’ll keep looking.
This recipe really is great. This is my 2nd time making it and its still irresistable. I do agree with everyone in saying it is too heavy on the broth but I have never found a recipe that was so ON THE MONEY as this one. Thanks a lot.
Oh & Nelly just sounds entirely negative and I feel that comment was so unnecessary.
My hubbie is picky, (on the annoying side of picky!) and he only will eat the potato soup from the outback, I have tried 2 other times to make it and both times absolutely flopped, well, this one was a complete success….. even with my father in law, whom by the way, my husband got his pickiness from!! It was a 5 out of 6 at the dinner table on Saturday night!! 5 yr old daughter is too much like her father, but even our one year old luved it!! Thank you thank you thank you!!
this is a VERY close potato soup, but…..the thickness comes from the rue made with the flour that showed up in the ingredients but not in the instructions. There is only basil and salt(someone mentioned that there was sage).
Avery simple soup to make and still draws complaints from the prep cooks when its on the list…:)
ps…..absolutely no Velveeta.
Hey, I don’t know if it makes a big difference, but at the outback they bake the potatoes, not boil them.
(i used to work there) Happy Cooking!
Thanks. I’m going to try this and update the recipe if it works out well.
I found the suggestion on another website to bake the potatoes instead of boiling them – this makes a huge difference especially if you have a roast or other large beef entree in the oven at the same time.
Try stirring in a dallop of sour cream just before serving to add a little zip.
I also wonder hour stirring in a bit of the Outback ranch dressing recipe just before serving would do for adding that little tang?
what kind of cream do you use? you did not specify.
very very very good recipe. I did use all of the broth and let it cook down a bit. I also added some ground cayenne pepper to it for a little bite, but i have to say this is the best recipe for this soup and quite easy. Thanks for the recipe
i made about a half batch (i never actually measure anything- i always eyeball) and i used 1 can of chicken broth and 1 can of CREAM of CHICKEN soup… and consequently i skipped the heavy cream because between the rue and the cream of chicken it was already nice and creamy! i’d like to think this made the soup a little more healthy (if potato soup can be anywhere near diet-friendly!)
gotta say that soup was out of this world.my husband is picky eater and absolutely loved it,even said it was better than outbacks probably cause its so fresh thank you.Im sure i will be making it alot more.