Leek and Potato Soup is a thick and creamy classic French Potato Soup that starts with garlic butter in which leeks are slowly sautéed to bring out the sweet flavour.
It’s simple to make, cosy and comforting yet also luxurious and elegant. I love how this Leek Soup can be Couch Food OR an elegant starter for a dinner party. Good food is a universal language!
Leek and Potato Soup
Though France might be the epicentre of Michelin star restaurants (second only to Tokyo!), where sauces come in the form of foam and dishes are given excessively fancy names, the heart and soul of French food is simple food made well. It’s rustic, cosy, and often generous on the butter and cheese.
Hence French food and I are very good friends. (Hello Quiche Lorraine, Gougeres, Potato au Gratin, French Onion Soup…to name a few of my best mates!)
Leek soup is another such example. (Though, shockingly, no cheese!). Few ingredients, prepared well, simple to make, and so enjoyable.
What goes in Leek and Potato Soup
Here what you need:
Leeks – essential for a LEEK soup!! 😂 Leeks are sweeter and have a more subtle flavour than onions. Though if you are desperate to make this an leeks are obscenely expensive / you can’t get your hands on them, substitute for regular onions (brown, white or yellow);
Potatoes – use starchy or all rounders, they fall apart when simmered which means less blending for creamy soup = less risk of gluey soup*. 🇦🇺Australia: Sebago (dirt brushed, most common potatoes), 🇺🇸US: Russet 🇬🇧UK: Maris Piper;
Broth – I choose chicken because it has more depth of flavour than vegetable stock/broth. But vegetable stock is also ideal here!
Creamy is optional. This soup is still thick and creamy even without, it just adds a luxurious mouthfeel.
* Common problem with Potato Leek Soups that call for blitzing to death until completely smooth. Power of blender = activates starch in potatoes = gluey. Same thing that happens if you use a food processor or blender for mashed potato!
How to cut leeks
Trim the root off. Take a peek and if you can see dirt in the layers, then split the leek in half and separate all the layers, wash them well, then slice per below.
If you don’t see dirt (like mine pictured above), cut your leeks as pictured below:
Cut off the dark green reedy top and discard (leftmost on leek above);
White end (and the very pale green part) – finely slice; and
Pale green middle part – peel off reedy outer layers and finely slice the softer middle part.
How to make Leek and Potato Soup
Leek are like onions – they have a pretty harsh raw flavour. So the key to a really great Leek Soup is to slowly sauté them in garlic butter until they transform and become soft and sweet. It’s kind of like caramelising onions for French Onion Soup – except we don’t take it as far.
After that, just plonk the potatoes and stock in, simmer until the potato is literally crumbling (the softer they are, the less blending we have to do = better soup texture, no risk of “gluey soup”).
Blitz, stir in cream and serve!
I like to serve mine with croutons. Just a teeny tiny sprinkle of crunchy buttery bread somehow magically makes any soup so much more fabulous.
And while this is a potato based soup, that still doesn’t stop me from tearing up hunks of crusty warm bread, slathering in butter and dunking into the soup.
Carb on carb fabulousness! – Nagi x
PS Or try one of these Soup Dippers – these existing on my website pretty much solely for the purpose of dunking into soups and stews.
Soup Dippers
Watch how to make it
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Leek and Potato Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp (30g) butter
- 2 garlic cloves , large, finely minced
- 3 leeks , white and pale green parts only sliced thinly (about 2 cups) (Note 1)
- 1 kg / 2lb potatoes (Sebago/Russet/Maris Piper) , peeled a diced into 1"/2.5cm cubes (Note 2)
- 1.5 litre / 1.5 qt chicken or vegetable stock , low sodium (6 cups)
- 3/4 cup cream , heavy/thickened (sub milk)
- 1 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt (table salt – reduce by 25%)
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Croutons
- 2 thick slices bread , torn into crouton size pieces
- 1 tbsp melted butter, or olive oil spray
- Salt
Garnish
- Chives , finely chopped
- Extra cream , for garnish
Instructions
- Sauté – Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add garlic and leek and sauté for 7 minutes until soft and sweet.
- Simmer 25 minutes – Add potatoes and broth. Turn heat up and bring to simmer, then place lid on and lower heat so it's simmering gently. Simmer for 25 minutes or until potato is very soft and almost falling apart.
- Minimal blitz – Turn the stove off and puree with a stick blender until JUST smooth. Do not over puree (Note 3).
- Season – Add salt and pepper, then stir through cream.
- Serve, drizzled with cream and sprinkled with chives and croutons.
Croutons
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan-forced). Drizzle bread with melted butter (or spray with oil). Bake for 5 minutes or until golden and crunchy. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt while hot!
Recipe Notes:
- Australia – Sebago (dirty brushed / common washed potatoes you can get at any supermarket. Do not use red potatoes or new potatoes i.e. the ones that you use for potato salad because they are low in starch so will not break down as much when boiling to create a creamy soup)
- US – Russet
- UK – Maris Piper
- I use vegetable or chicken stock instead of water;
- Leeks are sautéed in garlic butter instead of just simmered in water
- I added garlic. Because in my world, where there is butter, there is garlic!
- I added croutons. Because buttery crunch + creamy leek soup = match made in heaven
Nutrition Information:
Originally published October 2015. Spiffed up March 2020 – most importantly, new Life of Dozer section added!
Life of Dozer
Cactus and Dozer is like me and chilli – I know it’s gonna hurt, but I just can’t resist.
This soup is deeeelicious! I made it exactly as written and we loved it. It’s smooth and creamy, just perfect for a cold winter’s day. The home made butter croutons that I made finished this soup off beautifully.
Fabulous soup really easy to make and very comforting thank you Nagi xx
Hello from Amsterdam. Really looking forward to trying this. Perhaps a silly question but I’m looking for a make ahead soup for a French dinner party – any tips with this one please? Merci!!
Hello Courtney! Not a silly question at all – this will reheat just fine. Low heat with lid on, stir gently. YUM! N x
Hey I am sure you can freeze this recipe as well just don’t add the cream till you heat it up for your dinner party 🙂
Thanks so much!!
Love your recipes! Please don’t forget Canada! In 🇨🇦 potato would be Yukon Gold. 🤗
I made this soup tonight. It was quick, easy and delicious. Thanks for another wonderful recipe.
Perfect fall/winter soup!!
This will be added into my repertoire.
Thanks!
Hi Nagi. I’ve been a regular stalker of your recipes and every single one I have followed of yours has been a great success! Just had all my wisdom teeth extracted and this soup has been a love saver!! Thank you!!
My hubby is about to have a tooth extracted! This will be perfect!! Thank you!
This soup was amazing – as usual with Nagi’s recipes. We added cooked shortcut bacon which was great. Thanks!
My husband just had his wisdom teeth pulled today! Going thru the soup recipes so he can eat tomorrow. Going to give this a go but I dont have a hand blender so going to try a quick round in my blender🤷♀️
After doing making the soup, could you add peas and chicken and turn it into a pot pie? Would that work?
Hi Sherrie, the ix is a little too thin to be used in a pie unfortunately – N x
Great recipe. The taste was spot on and oh so easy to prepare. I only had two leeks so I used your “adjust-a-recipe” feature to get as close as I could for the rest of the ingredients, the 3 serving came out perfect.
Not only was this fast and easy to make, it was so flavourful. The potatoes did a great job thickening the soup, so I omitted the cream. Thanks for this recipe!
You’re so welcome, I’m so glad you loved it Justine! N x
i love your recipes
Thanks so much Jill! N x
Delicious 😋
I made this for my family and it was so easy and delicious! My five year old said it was the best soup in the whole world!
Only have a nutri bullet, so had to use that but it turned out LOVELY!!! Had it with grated cheese and bacon
I love your recipes, Nagi! I didn’t have regular potatoes so I made this with sweet potatoes and added coconut milk, garam masala, and cayenne. Yum! Thank you for all you do!
I’ve been making leek and potato soup for AGES one of husbands faves. Although it’s always VERY messy. I haven’t tried yours yet but next time I do soup I’m definitely gonna try this one and add the bacon as I sully do at the end
Can Yukon Gold potatoes be used in this recipe? They happen to be the ones I have on hand, and my daughter just gave me some garden fresh leeks. I can hardly wait to make this!
Just made it- wonderful. I tend to check out several recipes before I make something the first time. I did add thyme ( 3 springs) and a dash of chili powder ( not sure where that recipe was). I also used white pepper. Will definitely make again.
Amazing soup. This was the first recipe I made and since then I made 3 more of your recipes. My husband had 2 bowls and he is not even a soup person. Our 3 yo loved it, too! ❤️
Simple yet simply delicious. My other half, who ‘doesn’t like soup’ loved it. I made the no need to knead bread to have with it, yum. I didn’t have any cream, but I will add some next time for a touch of luxury. Thank you 👌