Southern Stewed Potatoes

4.1 stars (69 votes)
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If you were raised in the South, you grew up eating stewed potatoes at least a couple of times a month, if not every week. Served with cornbread and blackeyed peas, stewed potatoes were a real treat from any old Southerner's proper childhood.

Ingredients

  • ▢ — 6-8 large potatoes (peeled and cubed, about 1 inch cubes)
  • ▢ — salt and pepper
  • ▢ — 2 tbsp bacon grease (optional)
  • ▢ — 1 pinch onion flakes
  • ▢ — 2 tbsp flour
  • ▢ — ½ cup water
  • ▢ — ½ cup milk
  • ▢ — 3 tbsp butter

Instructions

  • ▢ — Peel and cube the potatoes, put in a medium pot and fill with water until it's about 2 inches above potatoes.
  • ▢ — Bring to a boil (you want the potatoes cooked to they are just fork tender, not falling apart.
  • ▢ — After the potatoes are done, keep them in the same water you cooked them in and reduce to a low heat.
  • ▢ — Put the flour and half cup of water in a bowl and blend with a whisk until the flour is dissolved.
  • ▢ — Stirring constantly, but carefully, add the dissolved flour and water into the pot with the potatoes and water. Allow a few minutes to cook on simmer so that it can thicken.
  • ▢ — Add more flour if you want it thicker, or more water if you want it thinner.
  • ▢ — Add milk, salt, pepper, onion flakes and butter or bacon grease (if desired - it's fine without the bacon grease). Season to taste.

Nutrition

  • Calories 349
  • Total Fat 5.85 g
  • — Unsaturated Fat 2.1 g
  • — Saturated Fat 3.2 g
  • Cholesterol 13 mg
  • Sodium 118 mg
  • Carbohydrates 67.51 g
  • — Net Carbs 59.11 g
  • — Fiber 8.4 g
  • — Sugars 4.11 g
  • Protein 8.52 g

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Legacy Comments

  • comment author
    Jay
    March 1, 2026 8:51 pm

    Has anyone tried making this with a greek lemon potato slant? Looking forward yo replies. 🤞🤞🤞

    0 0   |   Reply

  • comment author
    Janice Long
    February 15, 2026 2:31 pm

    My grandmother used to make these and she called them buttered taters. They were so good. She always made them with homemade biscuits and fried chicken. Sometimes they got a little too thick and she called them tater dumplings. I always gained weight when she came to stay with us.

    0 0   |   Reply
    • comment author
      Paula Hutchins
      June 5, 2026 3:22 pm Reply to Janice Long

      Momma called them stewed potatoes in our family “soupy tators” and boy were they delightful 😊 yum yum get you some.

      Reply

  • comment author
    Randy
    November 19, 2025 2:57 pm

    I was born and raised in SW Va/ NE Tn, and I’ve been eating this my whole life, and making it for 40 yrs. It’s POTATO SOUP. 🙂 A rose by any other name….

    0 0   |   Reply

  • Chris
    Chris
    October 19, 2025 4:42 pm

    It’s great with peas too! Thank you for the recipe!

    1 upvote   |   Reply

  • Laura
    Laura
    May 13, 2025 6:23 pm

    I made this for dinner tonight. My whole family enjoyed it. I didn’t have onion flakes, so I used onion powder. It turned out great!

    1 upvote   |   Reply

  • Lori K
    Lori K
    February 12, 2025 8:17 pm

    I had forgotten about this tasty stew from my childhood! My sweet southern granny called it “arsh” (Irish) potatoes. lol I made it for dinner tonight and it was delicious. I added a bit of white pepper for just a tiny bit of kick. Sooo good. This one’s going in my recipe folder.

    4 upvotes   |   Reply

  • Christie King
    Christie King
    February 1, 2025 9:24 pm

    My grandma made them a lot. She called them Soupy Potatoes. Heaven.

    3 upvotes   |   Reply

  • Rachel Sivigny
    Rachel Sivigny
    November 20, 2024 6:02 pm

    I love the soup comment:). Makes me miss my southern friends so very much. I got back to MN and begged my mom to make me one of everything I hadnt had for two years. We call these scalloped potatoes and put half a ham in with it. Love your site. Thanks for sharing!!! And Mama, this damn Yankee learned how to make grits and actually really like them. But don’t tell anybody.

    6 upvotes   |   Reply

  • Peachy Gravatar Image
    Peachy
    October 2, 2024 5:48 pm

    37 yo mom of 4 here, born and raised on Georgia dirt. Been cooking this since I was old enough to reach the pot. It seems like Ive tried every variation under the sun. Theyre great variations to try, but I always come back to our old family way. Its just like this recipe. My Great Nanny said its a recipe she learned from her Norse great-grandmother “back home” (Scotland/Hebridean). My review doesnt really add much, but just saying y’all need to try this recipe!

    If youre interested in switching anything up:

    I like to add about 1/4 cup of white pepper gravy mix into the pot at the thickening stage. Also, since I never drain the water anyway, I punch it up a tad with chicken stock or water off a lamb roast instead of plain old water. It just feels more hearty and soul warming when you have just that little bitty bit of sausage or lamb flavor added with the bacon grease.

    12 upvotes   |   Reply

  • Sandy Gravatar Image
    Sandy
    September 22, 2024 10:17 pm

    Oh yes!!! Thank you for posting this! My husband was raised on these stewed potatoes. Can’t wait to surprise him!

    0 0   |   Reply

  • Donna Gravatar Image
    Donna
    May 23, 2024 12:13 pm

    I’m a straight Louisiana Southern Lady. My great grandmother/Granny/my mom 🙏 G-R-A-O-T-S 🙏

    Each called them creamy milk taters and I learned how to cook everything straight from garden grown and scratch homemade cooking 😋. Still today, I cook everything from scratch and no substitutes added! I cooked steeped cabbage fried bacon and skillet fried sweet cornbread with a side of oven roasted baby taters tossed in a garlic mixed lemon sauce, I make from fresh grown herbs and lemons with my crushed garlic cloves pinch of salt and instead of black pepper I add in my garlic pepper it’s very easy to make and if you like lemon pepper garlic flavored potatoes, you’ll 💕 this 😋. I love to help life outdoors grow and talk about having something bountiful everyday for your nourishment and healthier 💯🙏.

    I make these same way. Only thing different, I do, is… I add a finely diced white or yellow 🧅 just half diced really fine I add it when the potatoes are ready for the milk etc., when you add onions bell peps/any flavoring herb/ingredients, you want to add these types of ingredients when your food will be done about 15m ahead 👍 same for anything that is granules like salt’s peppers any powder forms. By waiting and adding everything at the 15m before completion this keeps and brings every flavor to the top and throughout the entire dish 🤓!! I don’t add bacon in this dish. instead, I deep fry southern chicken and use some of the chicken crust on top when I put the food on the plate and pull some chicken and add in the creamed milk taters with either a couple of slices of my skillet fried cornbread or I’ll dough roll and bake some southern butter biscuits with honey drizzle on top. Try you never know until you try something new 👍

    7 updates   |   Reply

  • Peggy Gravatar Image
    Peggy
    May 15, 2024 8:25 am

    I was not sure how this was going to turn out and was pleasantly surprised when it turned out great! I added the bacon fat and onion flakes… added Wondra to thicken it up… great flavor and will definitely make again.

    0 0   |   Reply

  • Lori Gravatar Image
    Lori
    May 6, 2024 7:27 pm

    I just learned about this from my 92 year old Aunt. She said she made them every week. My uncle liked sugar in everything so she said she had to add a little sugar and some mustard she said. IDK about ask that but she said it was delicious. I’m going to have to try it.

    2   |   Reply

  • Thomas Gravatar Image
    Thomas
    April 18, 2024 12:45 am

    My mom made this but used selfrising cornmeal, loved it that way.

    0 0   |   Reply

  • Lane Gravatar Image
    Lane
    December 21, 2023 7:08 am

    I never knew til I was almost grown that arsh was the same thing as Irish.

    9   |   Reply
    • Anna Luna Gravatar Image
      Anna Luna
      Reply to Lane May 12, 2024 9:08 pm

      So when people from England say Don’t be an arsh (I thought is was a s s) it is actually Irish?

      1   |   Reply
      • LizaBeth Gravatar Image
        LizaBeth
        Reply to Anna Luna May 12, 2024 9:08 pm

        The word you’re thinking of is “arse”, not “arsh”. And yes, it does refer to the rear portion of one’s anatomy on which you sit.

        1   |   Reply
    • Kevin Gravatar Image
      Kevin
      Reply to Lane August 2, 2024 9:44 am

      My mom (Mama Peggy) always said our family was “Scots-Arsh”. She said it like that because her mother always pronounced Irish as “Arsh”. In my experience, most of the people I knew in the Carolina pronounced Irish as Arsh. I think it’s just an old Southern accent thing. Like my grandmother used to say “mizrus” for Mrs.

      3   |   Reply
    • Lori K Gravatar Image
      Lori K
      Reply to Lane February 12, 2025 8:10 pm

      My granny has been gone for almost 25 years, but I can still hear her saying “arsh potatoes”. lol I didn’t know it was Irish either for a long time. 😄

      1   |   Reply

  • Trista Gravatar Image
    Trista
    November 23, 2023 2:48 am

    My mom was raised in TN, but raised us kids in GA. This is her “special” Thanksgiving potatoes. Makes them every year for it. She calls them “Mammy (ma’am-me) taters”. She doesn’t add the bacon grease or the onion flakes tho. Everyone I know who eats them… love, love, loves them.

    6   |   Reply
    • Jenny Peerey Gravatar Image
      Jenny Peerey
      Reply to  Trista April 9, 2024 6:02 pm

      I was raised in TN and my mom made this almost every day! She’d bake a big iron skillet of cornbread and fried okra! I’m now almost 72 and I still cook like Mom did, even though I live alone and then I share it with my neighbors!

      4   |   Reply
    • Carolyn Gravatar Image
      Carolyn
      Reply to  Trista May 22, 2025 3:41 pm

      I grew up in SC eating these potatoes along with pinto beans and cornbread. We called them potatoes with thickening. Never knew that they were called stewed potatoes until I was an adult. Potatoes, pinto beans, and cornbread is still one of my favorite meals.

      1   |   Reply

  • Deb Gravatar Image
    Deb
    October 28, 2023 6:05 pm

    Can you use unpeeled baby gold potatoes? If so I will be making tomorrow.

    7   |   Reply
    • Kevin Gravatar Image
      Kevin
      Reply to Deb October 30, 2023 9:44 am

      You can absolutely use unpeeled baby gold potatoes. I’ve had mashed potatoes and potato salad with potato peels in them. Why not stewed potatoes?

      0 0   |   Reply

  • Jennifer Gravatar Image
    Jennifer
    May 13, 2023 2:17 am

    Tennessee here. I grew up with my grandparents, both born in the 1920s. We didn’t have a lot of money, so veggies, usually grown in the garden, were the main dish alot. Stewed taters were a staple with my grandfather’s cast iron cornbread. Lots of veggies, and the occasional salmon patties. Love this recipe!

    19   |   Reply
    • Melissa Gravatar Image
      Melissa
      Reply to Jennifer October 20, 2023 8:30 pm

      My mawmaw made all of those to when we were growing up.

      5 0   |   Reply
    • Pat Gravatar Image
      Pat
      Reply to Jennifer October 28, 2023 11:51 pm

      Very healthy diet.

      7 0   |   Reply
    • Nana D Gravatar Image
      Nana D
      Reply to Jennifer September 19, 2024 5:31 pm

      Definitely with salmon patties!!! I’m making it now. I love to dip extra crunch salmon patties in the tater “sauce”.

      9 0   |   Reply

  • Myrna Gravatar Image
    Myrna
    January 28, 2023 12:39 am

    I am from the eastern part of VA. My mother made this into soup with cornstarch as the thickener. She added dried beef in the glass jar. I am allergic to onions but I can eat leeks. I add cream and garlic. No way I am evah putting cheese in it.

    The one recipe I can’t find is stewed tomatoes with Ritz crackers. Anybody know?

    19   |   Reply
    • Kathy Gravatar Image
      Kathy
      Reply to Myrna July 28, 2024 2:39 pm

      I remember reading about the stewed tomato soup in my Appalachian foods FB group. Add some sugar to a can of stewed tomatos and cook down, blend if desired. Mash in Ritz, ready to enjoy!

      0 0   |   Reply
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