Gluten/Soy/Dairy Free Baked Potato Soup or Clam Chowder

Potatoes are a staple in our house. We like them baked, mashed, shredded, grilled and fried. One of our favorite ways to serve them though, is in thick and creamy potato soup. This recipe will let you make a number of different soup but we will start with the basics...

Creamy Baked Potato Soup. (this makes 10qts, so scale accordingly)

4T oil (safflower/olive/etc)

1/2 med onion diced

4 ribs celery diced

2 large carrots diced

2 cups of cooked Ham diced

6 large potatoes diced

8 cups chicken stock (see my earlier post)

4T non dairy butter

4T flour alternative (I use brown rice, but any should work)

8 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk

lots of salt and pepper

I start almost every soup the same way... onions, celery and carrots in a little oil at the bottom of a stock pot... such an amazing smell! So that is where this starts also...

Use enough oil to cover the bottom of the pot and add the onions, give it a second and add the carrots, then the celery. Stir to keep it from browning, add a few good pinches of salt. Add the ham and let that work together for a few minutes. I do this until the veggies start to soften a little.

The broth and most of the potatoes go in next (I hold out a few cups of potatoes to add later). Add a bunch of salt to this, you have to work pretty hard to over salt potatoes, and plenty of fresh ground black pepper. Bring this to a boil and let it go for 10-15 minutes, or until a potato will smash easily against the wall of the pot.

When the potatoes are done, take a potato masher to the pot and mash them in the pot. You could also use an immersion blender, but I prefer having chunks in the soup. 

let this sit for a moment and grab a small stock pot. Put the 4T of fake butter (I use earth balance soy free plus a splash of Wildtree butter flavored oil) in the sauce pan and let it melt. Whisk in the 4T GF flour until you have a thick paste. Next step is to add this to the soup, a little at a time, whisking all the time. Bring this back to a boil to thicken.

This is where I add in the potatoes I held back earlier. This adds a great texture to the soup. Now stir in the almond milk and bring it back temp. 

Take a quick taste and add more salt and maybe some more pepper. Remember you will have to work to over season this.

You can leave things just like this, or you can open a few cans of minced clams and add them to make a chowder. 

Enjoy, and freeze any leftovers in freezer bags for quick access later.

Many folks have told me that this is as good a "cream" soup as any they have every had... You don't always get to hear that about allergy free food so it is a real treat to serve this to a house full of friends. 

Be creative with this and let me know what variations you come up with. 

I have a request for tortilla soup, so that will likely be the next post here. If you have something you would like to see or need a allergy free option for a favorite food let me know. 

Thanks for reading, and Stay Hungry!