Crockpot hash brown potato soup…

photo of beautiful potatoes from The Farm in Orleans, MA

So, I’m now a Pinner, and there is this potato soup recipe floating around that calls for a 30 oz. package of shredded hash browns. It also has stuff in it that I’m not interested in using, like cream cheese and canned cream of chicken soup, but it got me thinking… I wondered if I could tweak my favorite time consuming potato soup recipe? Turns out I can. Score! I made this the other night, and it tastes almost exactly like my work intensive version…

Crockpot Hash Brown Potato Soup

1 30 oz. pkg. frozen shredded hash browns

1 onion

1 carrot

1 stalk celery

4 c. chicken stock (I use water and bouillon)

1 T. parsley flakes

pepper to taste

1 T. butter

1/2 t. salt

1 13 oz. can evaporated milk

Finely shred the onion, carrot, and celery in a food processor until nicely pulverized. This is important to the flavor of the soup, so don’t skip this step or I can’t vouch for the results. Throw that into your crockpot with all the other ingredients except the evaporated milk. Cook on low for 4-5 hours. Add the evaporated milk for the last hour of cooking. Serve with your favorite toppings. It’s even better the second day.

This is a thick, creamy soup. If you want it chunkier, try experimenting with cubed hash browns or frozen stew potatoes if you can find them. I may try that later…

My other recipe called for chopping up all the potatoes, parboiling them, pouring out the water, adding in bouillon, etc. It was time intensive enough that I only made it once last winter in my sleep deprived newborn haze. This is more doable. It doesn’t make quite as much soup as my original recipe, but that’s a small price to pay…