Classic potato and leek soup – A couple cooks

This Potato Leek Soup recipe is classic and deliciously creamy! Snuggle up with a bowl of this easy fall favorite.

Here’s a creamy soup recipe that stands out from all the rest: Potato-Leek Soup! There’s just something about wrapping your hands around a steaming bowl or mug that comforts the soul, isn’t there? This classic combines the refined sweet essence of leeks with simple potatoes and rich cream for a truly luxurious dish. Here’s our twist on the classic recipe: silky soft and warming. It’s the ideal winter or fall soup for a gathering or a simple weeknight.

Ingredients in Potato Leek Soup

Potato and Leek Soup is a classic European-origin soup made with potatoes, leeks, broth, spices and cream. There are traditional versions of this dish in Welsh, Romanian and French cuisine. Another variant is Vichyssoise or Potage Parmentier, made with similar ingredients but served cold.

This variation on the recipe is made the classic American way: we added a few other ingredients to flavor the soup’s body, like garlic and leeks. While we love embracing healthy recipes on this site, the thick cream really pulls this soup together! It’s a small amount per serving and the milkfat helps add luxurious richness. Here’s what you need:

• Salted butter
• Leek
• celery
• garlic
• red potatoes
• broth (vegetable or chicken)
• Fresh thyme
• Bay leaf
• Salt
• heavy cream

Cut and wash the leek

Leek is a vegetable that is part of the onion (Leek) Family. They look like a large spring onion with a white stem fading to light green with dark green leaves. Leeks are usually a lot dirtier than spring onions: sand and dirt can get stuck between the layers of the white part. For this reason it is very important to trim and trim leeks before working with them. That’s how it’s done:

1. Cut off the root and greens: Using a large chef’s knife, cut off the root end of the leeks. Cut off the tough dark green top and discard.
2. Halve: Halve the leek lengthwise.
3. Slice thinly into crescents: Lay both halves cut side down. Then slice the leek into thin crescents in a circular motion.
4. Clean the leek slices: Leeks generally have quite a bit of sand and dirt between layers. Place the leek slices in a bowl of water and the dirt will settle to the bottom. Shake off visible dirt with your hands.
5. Dry: Scoop the leeks out of the bowl with your hands, allowing any dirt and sediment to remain on the bottom of the bowl. Pat the leeks dry with a towel and you’re good to go!

How to use Leek Green

What is the best way to use Leek Green? Some people say you can use them for vegetable broth, but others say leek greens have the potential to add bitterness to recipes. Our recommendation? We discard them and add them to our compost heap: they make great compost! If you’re wondering how to start composting, here’s our Composting 101 tutorial.

Tips for this potato and leek soup recipe

Once you’ve cleaned and chopped the leeks for this recipe, making the rest of the soup is a breeze! Here are a few tips for preparing this cozy recipe:

• Use sprigs of thyme and bay leaves or a bouquet garni. Whole herbs add flavor to the soup that you remove after cooking. If you like, you can use a bouquet garni that binds the herbs in cheesecloth and kitchen twine. This makes them easier to remove from the pot after cooking.
• Use a standard blender, not an immersion blender. We usually like the nifty way of placing an immersion blender right in a pot of soup and blending. But this soup doesn’t get nearly creamy enough. We recommend gently pouring into a blender (be careful! the soup will be hot).
• Do not whiten on the cream. Stirring in whipped cream at the end gives this soup just the right amount of rich body. Don’t be tempted to use milk: it works, but it’s not nearly as satisfying.

Ways to serve potato and leek soup

How do you serve this potato and leek soup when you have a steaming pot? This pureed soup is not a standalone meal as it does not contain a protein source. But add a few more elements to make it a meal! Here are a few ideas:

More leek recipes

Do you like working with leeks? Here are a few more leek recipes and tips: