What gives potato soup flavor are savory bases like sauteed onions/garlic, as well as herbs such as thyme, chives and rosemary.
Other ingredients that give potato soup flavor are spices like smoked paprika, cayenne and nutmeg, and tangy dairy like sour cream or crème fraiche.
Even toppings like cheese, bacon and green onions are great for adding texture and depth to the potato soup.
The herbs that go in potato soup are dill, chives, parsley and thyme.
These herbs can be added to the potato soup, during cooking or even added to the potato soup as fresh garnish.
Other good herbs for potato soup are basil, marjoram and rosemary, and bay leaves are also often simmered in the potato soup for a subtle flavor.
Thyme works well in a bouquet garni or fresh as it adds an earthy and slightly minty flavor to the potato soup.
Fresh parsley adds a nice bright and clean taste to the potato soup, especially when used as a garnish.
Dill adds a fresh, slightly tangy and grassy note to the potato soup and chives such as minced chives provide a nice mild, oniony flavor to the potato soup and are a great fresh topping.
A small amount of rosemary adds a nice pine like aroma and flavor to potato soup, marjoram adds a sweet and slightly floral flavor to the potato soup that is similar to oregano.
Basil provides a fresh, peppery and slightly sweet taste to the potato soup and bay leaf added to the pot of potato soup while simmering can infuse a nice subtle and aromatic depth, but remove the basil before serving the potato soup.
The ingredients in potato soup are potatoes, a liquid base, like milk, broth and cream, aromatics like onion, garlic, celery and carrots, thickeners like butter and flour, seasonings like salt, pepper and herbs.
Some popular toppings for potato soup are green onions, cheese and bacon which makes for a nice creamy hearty potato soup.
The potatoes that are commonly used in potato soup are russet potatoes, although you can use other potatoes if you prefer.
You can even make sweet potato soup, by sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes.
I've tried this before when I ran out of regular potatoes and the sweet potatoes made for a nice sweet potato soup.
Some common mistakes to make when making potato soup are using the wrong potatoes like waxy potatoes vs starchy potatoes, adding dairy too early or even using low fat versions of dairy, over blending which causes sliminess, under seasoning, or even forgetting to saute the aromatics first, which results in bland, gritty or overly thick potato soup.
To fix this issue, use starchy potatoes in your potato soup, like Russet potatoes, add dairy like heavy cream/half and half at the end of cooking on low heat, blend it minimally and build flavor in your potato soup with quality stock and sauted onions and garlic.
Using waxy potatoes such as red potatoes results in firmer chunks in your potato soup, and using starchy potatoes like Russet potatoes break down creamier textures.
Russet potatoes can also get gritty though if they are over blended.
Using a blender or food processor blending the potatoes for potato soup can also burst starch cells and make the potato soup gluey and pasty, so using a potato masher, ricer or immersion blender, partially is better.
Also adding too much liquid to your potato soup is also a common mistake as potatoes absorb flavor, so don't drown the potatoes, you can also always add more liquid later if needed.
Another common issue is over salting the potato soup, especially with pre-made broth.
You can fix this issue by simmering an extra unseasoned potato to absorb the salt, then remove or dilute with some broth or water.
High heat can also curdle milk or cream and cause lumps, so add any dairy after removing from heat or on very low
Using low fat milk instead of cream or half and half also results in thinner and less rich potato soup.
And boiling the potato soup too aggressively can also make the potatoes grainy or cause the dairy to curdle.