Easy & Low-GI Vegan Baked Potato Soup Recipe

This WFPB creamy vegan baked potato soup is amazingly hearty, decadent, and even both crispy and chewy when topped with potato skin not-bacon bits, fresh green onions, and some added tang from a dollop of sour creamy sauce.

It’s also a low-GI (Glycemic Index) potato dish since we’ll be using a couple of easy hacks to increase the amount of resistant starch and bring the potatoes down to a medium or even a low-GI food. All in under 30 minutes with low effort, since it’s a Simmer & Serve recipe.

Recipe Overview

no dairy, no eggs, no wheat, no gluten, no nuts, no tree nuts, no shellfish, no seafood, no soy, no salt added, no oil added, no sugar added, and no coconut.

Short Recipe Video – Creamy Vegan Baked Potato Soup

The Menu for Creamy Vegan Baked Potato Soup

Directions at a Glance for Simmer & Serve Creamy Vegan Baked Potato Soup

Note: If you’re not using a spice grinder or blender then you will need oat flour, ground spices, and seed butter.

1. Peel ½ of your potatoes trying only to get peel and very little potato flesh. Marinate and coat your potato skins. You can let them sit and marinate as you dice the potatoes and prepare everything else.
2. On low heat cook the skins and baste them with any remaining marinade. Cooking until the edges start to curl. Remove the skins from the heat/pot and let them sit on a paper towel or a cooling rack as you cook the soup.
3. Add ⅓ of the water and the diced potatoes to the empty pot, cover with a lid, and cook on high until the largest potatoes are almost fork-tender but still firm. Mix all the remaining soup ingredients together in a bowl then add them all to the pot. Stir well.
   NOTE: This trick cools the potatoes, and increases the amount of resistant starch, and lowers the glycemic index and load.
4. Bring the soup to a low boil on high heat, then quickly turn the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer for 7-10 minutes or until the soup is thick and creamy and the potato chunks are fork-tender.

Glycemic Index of Potatoes

Eating reheated potatoes can “minimize dietary glycemic” of potatoes according to studies like the ones I mention in the Easy Oil-Free French Fries on the Stovetop recipe, the pierogies recipe, and other starches such as rice and even pasta, which I mentioned in 6 food hacks for health an exclusive to substack newsletter for subscribers (even free subscribers!)

Either way, the general idea seems to be that “individuals who wish to minimize dietary glycemic index can be advised to precook potatoes and consume them cold or reheated.”

So the trick we use for this Creamy Baked Potato Soup recipe is to cook the potatoes most of the way with only a small amount of water (another hack since a small amount of water takes less time to heat up than a large amount) then we quickly cover them in the remaining liquid to instantly cool them down—increasing the amount of resistant starch and lowering the Glycemic Index. The vinegar also helps to lower the GI as mentioned in the above resources.

Sometimes, I even add an ice cube or two to cool the potatoes down even faster. Also substituting some cauliflower for some of the potatoes will continue to lower the glycemic index.

Leftovers for the win!

This soup is perfect for meal prep or leftovers, especially with the potatoes and everything mentioned above about cooling and reheating starches.

Why This Recipe for WFPB Vegan Baked Potato Soup?

This is the perfect weather and time of season (winter as I write this) for potato soup and other potato dishes. But because of the high glycemic index of potatoes, I wanted a soup that wasn’t going to spike my blood sugar and potentially increase chances for diseases like diabetes, heart disease, or even cancer. On top of that potato soups are usually filled with unhealthy ingredients like refined flour, sugars, emulsifiers, and other heavily processed ingredients and animal products.

While the studies are still ongoing for the protective and healing effects of “hacked” potatoes that are low-GI and not covered in unhealthy ingredients, I still wanted to have a healthy option available for when I have cravings.

I also know how hard it can be to find the time and effort to cook healthy WFPB meals and that’s why I wanted to make this Simmer & Serve soup recipe. Most people don’t want to spend an hour or more hovering over a pot just to make a couple of bowls of soup. Soups should be the low-effort meal but most potato (especially baked potato) soup recipes are way too involved.

Let me know in the comments below on substack your thoughts, feedback, and if you tried or changed the recipe.

⭐Full Creamy Vegan Baked Potato Soup Recipe⭐

WFPB Vegan Baked Potato Soup

Chef Rob

Creamy & chunky with crispy potato skin not-bacon topping WFPB SOS-Free

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course Comfort Food, Dinner, Leftovers, Lunch, Main Course, Side Dish, Soup

Cuisine American, French, Irish

Servings 3 people

Calories 254 kcal

Equipment

• 1 Pot pre-seasoned is best is best
• 1 Spice / Coffee Grinder (or immersion blender, regular blender etc.)
• 1 Potato Peeler or a knife and a steady hand

Ingredients

  

POTATO SKIN BACON & MARINADE

• ½ of potato potato skin peels
• 1 tsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• ¼ tsp onion powder
• ¼ tsp garlic powder
• ⅛ tsp cumin (ground)
• 1 tsp paprika (toasted, very optional)
• ¹/16 tsp mustard powder (optional)

BAKED POTATO SOUP

• 1 ea baking potato diced/chopped different sizes, about 2 to 2.5 cups (about 300-400g)
• 4 tbsp oats (or oat flour)
• 2.5 tbsp sunflower or pumpkin seeds (or 1.5 tbsp seed butter, I like tahini)
• 4 tbsp nutritional yeast (use less or more if desired)
• ½ tbsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• ⅛ tsp celery seed
• 2.5 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp white vinegar
• 3 cups water

Instructions

 

• Potato Skin Bacon Bits

  Peel your potatoes while trying to keep the amount of potato flesh in the skins to a minimum. Mix the marinade well and coat the skins until they are fully covered.
  
• Add the skins to the pot (ideally a pre-seasoned pot so they won't stick) on low heat and cook. Flip when the marinade is no longer glossy and wet on top or about 5 minutes. Add any remaining marinade on to the top of the flipped slide of the skins and cook until the edges start to curl. Remove them from the pot and they will crisp up as they sit.
  
• Add your diced potatoes and 1/3rd of the water (1 cup) and cook on high with a lid until the largest potato chunks are almost fork tender but still firm (just before al dente), about 10 minutes, add more water only as needed.

  When the potatoes are still firm mix all the remaining water and all the baked potato soup ingredients into the pot, to cool the potatoes down quickly.
  
• Bring the soup back to a boil then reduce to very low heat, cover and simmer for 7-10 minutes until thick and creamy. (At this point you can blend a small amout of the soup to make it thicker and creamier if you like.)

  Top with chopped or crumbled not-bacon bits, diced green onion or chives, and sour creamy sauce.
  

Video

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How To Season Steel Cookware

Why you should not use non-stick cookware

⭐Full Sour Creamy Sauce Recipe⭐

Sour Creamy Sauce (v2)

Chef Rob

A quick and easy plant-based sour cream from scratch in seconds.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 1 minute min

Total Time 1 minute min

Course Sauce

Cuisine Polish, Russian, Scandinavian, Ukrainian

Servings 1 people

Equipment

• 1 Bowl
• 1 Spice / Coffee Grinder (or oat flour or a blender)

Ingredients

  

• 2 tbsp tahini (for other seed butter use 2.5 tbsp)
• 2 tbsp oats (or 2.5 tbsp oat flour)
• 1/8 tsp onion powder or double the granulated garlic
• 1/8 tsp granulated garlic
• ½ tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp white vinegar or white wine vinegar; or ½ tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp water add more as needed

Instructions

 

• Add all ingredients except water and mix well until a paste forms, then add the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and mix until fully incorporated before adding the next tablespoon of water.
  

Keyword affordable vegan recipes, cheap vegan recipes, dairy free, easy, easy recipe, healthy, scratch, wfpb, whole food plant based

🧂If you absolutely must add salt or sugar then try to add them to taste, to the top of the food, so you use less, and add in small amounts and only after tasting before adding any more. The same goes for other “less healthy” additions, but the idea should be to try to limit and eventually remove adding them, over time, when you are ready. (Use a finer ground salt as it will taste saltier.)

After a few weeks of not eating a SAD diet your tastebuds reset and you’ll notice and be surprised by the natural sugars and sodium in foods, check out the great article, and subscribe to, Michael Corthell on Substack.

Protips

Low Glycemic Index Tips

I add a cube of ice or two to cool the potatoes down faster so they are less likely to spike my blood sugars. The vinegar in the recipe also helps to fight against glycemic index spikes. You can read more from the links in the Glycemic Index of Potatoes section above.

Even Lower GI Tricks

Substitute all of the smaller chunks of potato with blended cauliflower. This will lower the glycemic index even further by using a very low GI food (cauliflower), using only larger (less quickly digested) pieces, by reducing the amount of potato used, and also adding even more fiber.

Perfect Potatoes & Soup

The potatoes should be tender, but still have a bit of bite to them and the soup should be thick and creamy.

Creamy Without Blending

• Dice your potatoes to different sizes. This is usually bad advice, but here we want bigger chunks to remain whole, but we also want small pieces to break down so it can thicken the soup.

Potatoes diced to many different sizes.

Make It Cheesier!

Try making the carrot cheddar from the Creamy Broccoli Cheddar Soup recipe and mixing it in for a supper cheesy soup, without any cheese 🙂

Perfect Not-Bacon

To get crispy (with chewy bits), slightly sweet, and smokey bacon without sugar, smoke, and with only healthy ingredients then you should:

Chewy or Crispy?

For crispy not-bacon bits you want to make sure there is very little to no potato flesh left in the skins and cooking on low until the edges curl slightly. For chewy leave more potato flesh and remove them just as the edges start to curl.

Toast Your Spices

• Toast your spices. If you want a much fuller flavor and to trick your senses into thinking it was smoked then toasting your sweet paprika and cumin will really bring out these flavors

Baste Your Strips

• Keep adding the marinade to the top of the strips so they are full of flavor.I keep flipping and basting until I’m out of marinade.

Don’t Crowd & Let Them Rest

• Make sure the strips have room between them so they don’t steam, but crisp up.
• Resting them on a cooling rack or paper towel will help them to crisp up as the soup cooks.

No Equipment?

If you have oat flour (or another flour), seed butter, and ground spices then all you need is a pot.

Make It Cheaper & Less Expensive

Use less nutritional yeast. The recipe cost is more that 50% for the nutritional yeast, and all the other ingredients are quite cheap.

Nutrition Facts Table – Creamy Baked Potato Soup

The Science – Sources

Please tell me how it turned out! Did you: try it, like it, hate it, change it, or do something else unexpected???

If I’ve made any mistakes, or something doesn’t make sense, or if you want more/less details, please let me know in the comments below or on substack.

Stay healthy and nourished! Happy cooking!

Chef Robert Leigh.

Easy & Low-GI Vegan Baked Potato Soup Recipe