Not in a million years could I have come up with such a novel idea: a crock pot potato soup—my all-time favorite soup—so easy you’ll never have to peel as much as a single potato.

An American friend of mine mailed me this recipe and initially I had no idea what to make of it. Probably because we don’t have hash browns here. It’s not part of our food culture, our breakfast is usually an open-faced cheese sandwich and an intravenous bag filled with coffee. The sandwich is optional. But I digress…

So I went shopping and found that while we don’t have hash browns, we do have the next best thing: rösti. And we can buy them frozen as well, in big bags. Score!

This soup is so easy, it will only take you a few moments to prepare. It’s basic, too, no more than potato, garlic, onion and cheese so even the pickiest eaters will tend to like this.

This is comfort food at its best.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds rösti or frozen hash browns
1 large onion
2 garlic cloves
5 cups chicken broth
1/4 tsp dried chili flakes
1 1/2 cups grated cheese
1 tbsp butter
salt and pepper

Directions:

Grate the garlic.

Mince the onion. That’s it. Not a lot of hard labour involved, I know.

Here’s what my rösti looks like. Solidly frozen.

Heat the butter and sauté the onion for about 4 minutes over low to medium heat.

Add the garlic and chili flakes and give it another minute.

 
You might want to consider transferring some things to your slow cooker now.
 

Just add the frozen rösti or hash browns.

Pour in the warm broth. If you want a mellower flavor, you can replace 1 cup of broth with warm milk.

And you’re all done.

 
Cook the soup on low for 4 to 6 hours. Newer crock-pots seem to work faster than the older versions, so mine was perfect in a little over 4 hours.
 

After about an hour the rösti started to fall apart. It didn’t look all too appetizing at this point, really.

I decided to speed up things and stirred a bit. Technically you don’t have to do this.

But after 4 hours, the soup was absolutely wonderful. Creamy and flavorful.

 
The original recipe mentioned a slurry to thicken the soup (2 tbsp flour mixed with 1 tbsp water, poured into the soup and letting it simmer along for 30 mins). My soup didn’t need it, it was the perfect consistency.
 

You can use pretty much any type of cheese. I opted for Gouda but cheddar would be perfect, too. Stir it in and season the soup to taste.

Garnish with green and serve with lots of crusty bread.