Spicy Potato Soup | Warming Winter Lunch Perfect For Those On A Tight Budget

I adore soup and I also love making it, however I often find myself in the habit of making the same soups over and over again (I just can’t get enough of leek and potato soup!). To get out of that habit and try something new I decided to go for this Spicy Potato Soup from Gary Rhodes at BBC Good Food, which promises both substance and punch despite its simplicity.

Serves: 4-5
Prep time: 40 minutes
Suitable for: Vegetarian (vegan and dairy-free if substitutes made – see below)

Ingredients & Cost

I’m always looking for budget-friendly meals that aren’t too difficult to make and the lack of complicated ingredients in this Spicy Potato Soup make it perfect for a low-cost yet tasty meal. As you can see there are only nine ingredients in total, with two of those being optional. I made three substitutes during the recipe – I replaced sunflower oil with olive oil because that was to hand, and substituted the milk for soy milk and butter for Vitalite spread to make it dairy-free.

Not including small store cupboard ingredients which we already had at home, the total cost of the recipe came to just 80p, which works out at an incredibly thrifty 16p per person. We shop at Aldi so our shopping costs are usually fairly low anyway, but even if you shop at Waitrose this is guaranteed to be really cheap!

The Cooking Experience

Like most soups this Spicy Potato Soup was incredibly easy to make, with the only real food prep dicing the potatoes and onions. Lots of people peel their potatoes before cooking but I left the skins on mine, as this is where all the nutrients are and it doesn’t negatively affect the texture of the soup in any way. I’ve also found it will often bring out the flavour of the potatoes.

Once you’ve done that you just fry them in the oil, butter, and curry powder, and then add the milk, water, and stock and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Leaving food to cook itself is my favourite kind of cooking!

The final part of the recipe calls for you to blend the soup until smooth. The soup was already quite thick from reducing so much (this could be because I opted for soy over cows’ milk) but once blended it was a gorgeous creamy texture that was just perfect. After tasting I added in an extra half a tablespoon of curry powder as the soy milk had overpowered the flavour somewhat. If you use regular milk then you shouldn’t need extra curry powder, however it’s very easy to flavour to taste if you do.

The End Result

The soup made five medium-sized portions in total, or you could make four large portions. I sprinkled coriander leaves and top and decided to serve mine with a toasted white pitta from Aldi as these are accidentally vegan – the perfect side to an already vegan soup.

The flavour of the soup was gorgeous – I was honestly expecting something quite bland, however it was warming and hearty and the optional coriander went lovely with the curry flavour. I didn’t add the mango chutney but I honestly don’t think it would need it anyway as it was a very satisfying experience without it. I particularly enjoyed the texture of the soup, and it really did warm me up on a cold autumn day.

Final Thoughts

I’m glad I tested this soup out as I now have a new regular to add to my list! Given how cheap and delicious this soup is I can easily see it frequenting our meal plan quite often, and it’s perfect for autumn and winter when you want something simple and filling.

To make the soup yourself you can view the full recipe here.

If you have a go at making Spicy Potato Soup then please let me know how it went in the comments! Don’t forget to also like and pin if you enjoyed this review. You can check out some of my other recipe reviews here:

Chicken Fajita Pasta
Toblerone Cheesecake

***Please note: This is a recipe review and not a recipe created by myself. Link to the original creator of the recipe is included in the post!***