Potato leek soup
- Preparation 30 min
- Cooking 55 min
- Servings 4
- Freezing Absolutely
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🍲 My mother’s soup, and an armful of leeks
This potato leek soup started out as my mother’s. I came home from the market with a bundle of beautiful leeks and no real plan, and this is what happened. It’s an autumn soup through and through. Honestly, nothing beats a bowl of it with a fresh baguette and a good cheese. Simple, comforting, and the whole house smells like it while it simmers.
🔥 Caramelize the leeks first, that’s the whole trick
Here’s what most potato leek soup recipes skip. They sweat the vegetables gently and move on. I roast mine in olive oil for 8 to 10 minutes before any liquid goes in, until the leeks stop being merely soft and actually start to caramelize. The depth you get out of that is not subtle. Just don’t push it too far, because a scorched leek turns bitter and there’s no walking that back. And rather than water, I use chicken broth: at least it’s a liquid that tastes like something.
🧀 No cream in the pot, just a drizzle in the bowl
The silkiness here comes from the potatoes, blended smooth, not from cream simmered into the soup. The cream shows up at the very end, a thin drizzle in the middle of the bowl. It looks great and it rounds off the edges without weighing anything down. With my grilled goat cheese croutons alongside, this soup punches well above what the ingredient list suggests. As a starter it impresses. Add a baguette, some chorizo and a good cheese and it’s dinner.
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🧅 Clean the leeks, and use the white part only
Grit hides between the layers, so rinsing the outside of a leek accomplishes nothing at all. I split the whites lengthwise but stop short of cutting through, keeping the root end attached, then fan the layers open under cold running water and rub the sand out with my fingers. Because the base holds everything together, the leek stays in one piece and slices cleanly afterward. Whites and the palest green only in this soup. The dark green tops are too fibrous to blend smooth, but don’t throw them away either, there’s a use for them further down.
🔥 Roast until the edges catch
Eight to ten minutes in olive oil over medium heat, stirring now and then. You’re waiting for the leeks to go past soft and start browning at the edges. That single step is the whole difference between this and every other potato leek soup. Push it too far and it turns bitter, and bitter doesn’t come back.
🥔 The best potatoes for potato leek soup
Medium white potatoes are what I use and they do the job. Yukon Gold or any yellow-fleshed potato gives a slightly silkier result with a mildly buttery taste if you want to push the texture further. What I’d avoid is a waxy red-skinned potato, which holds its shape and never breaks down into velvet. Cut the cubes roughly the same size so they finish at the same time.
🌀 If it turns gluey, it’s the ratio
Thick and stretchy after blending means too much potato for the amount of liquid. Four potatoes to about five cups of broth is my line, and it comes out creamy every time. If you overshoot, loosen it with a bit of hot broth. Don’t run the blender forever either, since potato starch goes elastic when you keep beating it.
🥄 Blender or immersion blender, and no sieve
I use my Vitamix. An immersion blender straight in the pot works just as well and saves you washing a jar. What you don’t do is push this through a fine strainer. It’s a soup, not a restaurant consommé, and the velvet comes from the potatoes.
♻️ Save the leek greens for free broth
Rinse the dark tops, drop them in a freezer bag with your carrot peels and celery ends, and when the bag is full you make a vegetable broth out of what you were about to throw out. It goes right back into the next pot of this soup.
🌿 No herbes de Provence? Thyme plus two friends
I use herbes de Provence because they’re good with leek, that’s the entire reasoning. If your cupboard is out, dried thyme with two or three others you like will carry it: oregano, savory, a little rosemary. Same spirit.
✅ What to serve with potato leek soup
My combo: my grilled goat cheese croutons, a fresh baguette and a good cheese. Add chorizo and it stops being a starter. And if you’re deep into autumn soup season, my butternut squash and pumpkin soup and my parsnip and pear soup are the two I make most often alongside it.
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Ingredients
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) olive oil
- 3 leek whites, sliced
- 4 medium white potatoes, peeled and cubed (yellow ones like Yukon Gold give an even silkier texture)
- 3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 celery stalks, sliced
- 1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) herbes de Provence
- About 5 cups (1.25 L) chicken broth
- 15% cooking cream, for serving (in Quebec we use crème champêtre)
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Preparation
- In a large pot heated over medium, add about 1/4 cup (60 ml) of olive oil. Add the vegetables and the herbes de Provence, then season with salt and pepper. Stir and cook for 8 to 10 minutes to properly roast the vegetables, until they start to caramelize. Add more oil as needed.
- Add the chicken broth (enough to cover), season with salt and pepper, stir well and bring to a boil. Reduce to low heat, cover and simmer for about 45 minutes (30 minutes is enough if you’re in a hurry), or until the vegetables mash easily with a fork.
- Blend into a puree using a blender or an immersion blender until very smooth. Serve in bowls, then add a thin drizzle of cream in the center. Serve with goat cheese croutons!
Sand settles between the layers, which is why rinsing the outside does nothing. Slice the leek whites lengthwise but not all the way through, leaving the root end attached so the leek holds together. Fan the layers open under cold running water and work the grit out with your fingers. Use the white and the palest green part only. The dark green tops are too fibrous for a blended soup, so save them for broth instead of composting them.
Medium white potatoes do the job perfectly and that’s what I use. Yellow-fleshed potatoes like Yukon Gold give a slightly silkier result and a mildly buttery taste if you want to push the texture. Waxy red-skinned potatoes are the ones to skip, because they hold their shape instead of breaking down. Cut the cubes fairly even so they cook at the same rate.
Close relatives, not twins. Vichyssoise is built on the same leek and potato base, but it’s enriched with cream, chilled, and served cold. Mine is served hot and has no cream cooked into it at all, only a drizzle at the table. If you want to try it the other way, chill a batch overnight, stir cream in before serving, and thin it out, because it sets up noticeably thicker in the fridge.
Yes, and that’s exactly why the cream stays out of the pot. The base freezes cleanly without splitting or turning grainy. Cool it down, freeze it in portions, and add the drizzle of cream only when you serve. In the fridge it keeps 2 to 3 days. It thickens as it cools either way, so loosen it with a splash of broth while reheating. Same approach works for my carrot and ginger soup.
Almost always too much potato for the amount of liquid. Potato starch thickens enormously once pureed, and without enough broth the texture goes elastic. Four potatoes to roughly five cups of broth gives a creamy soup that never turns gluey. Over-blending does it too, so stop as soon as it’s smooth. If yours is already thick, whisk in a bit of hot broth and it comes back.
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