Potato soup for iftar: ingredients, method and health authorities' advice

On 20 February 2026, during Ramadan, the lifestyle desk of Jagonews24 published a potato soup recipe for iftar, the meal that ends the day's fast. The paper wrote that after a day of fasting, iftar calls for food that gives energy yet is light on the stomach, and suggested a bowl of potato soup alongside the usual fried snacks. Made with easily found ingredients, the soup is simmered, blended and finished with cream and cheese. The recipe follows, with advice from health authorities.

Potatoes are the underground stem tubers of Solanum tuberosum, a plant of the nightshade family (Solanaceae), which also includes tomato and aubergine. According to Wikipedia, the potato was first domesticated in southern Peru and northwestern Bolivia some 7,000 to 10,000 years ago, and it is one of the world's most important food crops.

The UK's National Health Service (NHS) describes potatoes as a great choice of starchy food and a good source of energy, fibre, B vitamins and potassium, and advises leaving the skins on where possible to keep more of the fibre and vitamins. Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health, in its iftar guidance, suggests following the dates that break the fast with warm liquids such as soup, which it calls easy for the stomach to digest and a source of fluids, vitamins and minerals.

• Potatoes: 500 g, cut into medium cubes
• Oil: 1 tablespoon
• Butter: 2 tablespoons
• Chopped onion: 1½ tablespoons
• Chopped garlic: ½ teaspoon
• Plain flour: 1 tablespoon
• Hot water: 2 cups
• Liquid milk: 1 cup
• Salt: to taste
• Ground black pepper: ¼ teaspoon
• Ground white pepper: ¼ teaspoon
• Dried rosemary: 1 pinch
• Chilli flakes: 1 pinch
• Cream: 60 g or ¼ cup
• Cheese: 30 g

• Put a dry pot on the stove, add the oil and butter and heat on a low flame. Add the onion and garlic and fry until golden.
• Add the flour and keep stirring until it turns light brown and smells fragrant.
• Pour in the hot water and milk and stir well over a medium flame so that no lumps form.
• When the mixture boils, add the potatoes, salt and black and white pepper, cover and cook until the potatoes are completely soft.
• Take the pot off the heat and blend the whole mixture.
• Pour it back into the same pot and return it to the stove. Add the cream, cheese, rosemary and chilli flakes and cook over a medium flame, stirring.
• When it comes to a good boil, take it off the heat and serve.

Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health says it is better to reduce the salt and oil used in soup and suggests flavouring it with fresh herbs such as rosemary and thyme; the same guidance advises avoiding fried foods high in fat or sugar. The NHS recommends cooking potatoes with small amounts of unsaturated oil and no added salt, and for mashed potato suggests lower-fat milk instead of whole milk or cream. Because this recipe uses butter, cream and cheese, readers cutting down on fat or salt can use less of them.

Anyone with diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease or another condition should ask their own doctor about fasting and what to eat at iftar.

Photo: jeffreyw / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Sources: Jagonews24, National Health Service (NHS), Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia, Wikipedia