Skip the cheese and milk with this savory, dairy free potato bacon soup that’s made with creamy coconut milk and nutritional yeast! [post contains affiliate links, which means we may make a small commission, at NO additional cost to you, if a purchase is made. thanks for supporting north country nest!]

When my mom, sister and I were diagnosed with Celiac Disease back in 2010, one of our doctors said we should go off all dairy for six months as well because we needed to, “Heal our gut.” So, in the course of one week, we cut out all gluten and all dairy – both food groups that we took very, very seriously.

Six months went by and much to our surprise, when we started working dairy back into our diets, it didn’t go well. I’ll spare you the details but let’s just say dairy was no longer a friend.

Looking back, I think we were all more devastated by the fact that we couldn’t eat milk, ice cream and butter than having to cut out wheat and barley. As a family who went through six to eight gallons of milk a week, this was a HUGE adjustments for us.

Fast forward eight years and although we can now eat dairy products without too much trouble, it’s one of those food groups that gets cut immediately if we aren’t feel that well.

Since we’re welcoming the season of savory foods, maintaining a dairy-free diet is not something that’s at the top of the list. Creamy soups, savory dips, cheesy hot dishes… who can say no to that?! And, if you’ve ever had the pleasure of trying a dairy-free version of cheese, you know it leaves much to be desired. Usually the cheese doesn’t melt, there’s an overload of soy ingredients and the texture is really grainy.

As you know, I’m all about convenience and simplicity and as I’ve mentioned above, dairy free isn’t either of those things. But, given my new found motivation for recipe creation, I decided to try my hand at a dairy free version of last week’s roasted potato recipe.

Friends, I’m happy to report that it turned out really good. It even passed the Brett taste test; I didn’t tell him the ingredients until he tried it and gave his stamp of approval. Of course, after I told him it was dairy free, I got a little eye roll but I’d say it’s a win. 🙂