Low Sodium Potato Soup

The low down on low sodium potato soup

Most potato soup recipes average anywhere from 640-825mg of sodium for one cup. I even saw one recipe at 1600mg of sodium for just one cup, Yikes! The famous name-brand canned soup is 790mg of sodium for just one cup of soup.  

One cup of soup is hardly filling, so eating an average of two cups of canned soup would shoot the sodium levels way over many of our daily limits.

This Low Sodium Potato Soup is a very low 68mg per cup or just 136mg for two cups which makes for a filling meal. My recipe makes 12 cups of soup so that you can get 6 servings of 2 cups each.

2.) Using pork belly for your soup.  I used pork belly, which is bacon that has not been cured yet with high levels of sodium.  Even low-sodium bacon has a ton of sodium in it if you are watching your sodium levels. Using pork belly adds just 12mg of sodium per serving.

It still gives a “bacony” taste to the overall soup, which I think defines a potato soup. Pork bacon may not render as much fat as regular bacon which will be used when sautéing the onions and making your Roux. If not, just add a tablespoon or two of no salt added butter.

It is best if you can get the butcher to slice it, but if not, freezing until the meat is just firm makes slicing much easier. Generally, it will firm up in about half an hour in the freezer.

2.) Use sliced pork belly instead of packaged bacon. So many people worry about pork belly being some weird cut of pork. Don’t! Pork belly is just bacon that has not been cured with massive amounts of salt, is un-smoked, and is generally not pre-sliced. Have the butcher slice it or you can freeze it to be a bit firmer for easy slicing. It is generally not in the meat section of the local grocery store. So you may need to go to a butcher shop to get some though, my local Whole Foods carry it at their meat counter.

• Cook the chopped pork belly (bacon) in the pot first, then remove and set aside, leaving the grease to cook the onion, celery, and garlic. It will add so much more flavor and then you can create your Roux with the flour which will add even more flavor and help thicken the soup. Go ahead and put the bacon back in after pureeing because otherwise, it would be tiny little bacon bits.

4.) Don’t miss out on adding the chipotle chili powder and ground pepper when making your low-sodium potato soup! When I first made this soup I was rather disappointed that it had a rather bland taste. This was even after being on a low-sodium diet for quite a while, so it definitely needed sprucing up.

I think chili powder and pepper give it a subtle taste on the tongue to make up for the usual salty taste of this soup. I am pleased with the amounts used in the recipe along with the other spices and is a good starting point. If you still find it lacking, try adding these two by half a teaspoon at a time. I found it didn’t raise the heat that much and satisfies the taste of your tongue. 

5.) You could even add a cup and a half of no salt added peas or carrots or even both to add a vegetable to the soup. I have added peas before and that was also delicious.

6.) Be sure to mix in the bacon, sour cream, and shredded cheese at the end just before serving. You don’t want tiny bacon bits and cheese “globbing” up your blender.