This easy leek and potato soup recipe is perfect for chilly evenings! Quick, easy, cream of leek and potato soup recipe. Vegetarian.
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It’s time for some souuuuup!
Which, okay, ironic, because it’s been 60 degrees here all week long.
But still.
… souuuuuuup.
But even on warm and toasty February days ( <– Which, umm, WHAT) this soup will warm your soul up a little bit.
(Maybe it’s even the perfect soup to make while you call your representatives and ask them to work to mitigate the effects of climate change? Juuuuuuust a suggestion).
Fresh leeks give this soup a beautiful green hue, and it’s easily made vegan by swapping out the milk for veggie stock, almond milk, or coconut milk.
Serve with a hunk of my easy crusty french bread for maximum warm-and-toastyness.
This soup also keeps well in the fridge or freezer, so make a big batch and save some for later!
If you aren’t a “cream-of…” soup person, feel free to omit the blending step and leave your soup chunky and rustic. I’d just recommend cutting the leeks and potatoes into smaller pieces so it’s easier to fit it all in one bite.
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Description
A creamy vegetarian soup for chilly evenings.
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 2 leeks, roughly chopped (make sure you rinse them well to remove any grit!)
- 4 large yukon gold potatoes, roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme, plus extra for garnish
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 1 cup milk
- (optional) 2 Tbsp. heavy cream, for garnish
Instructions
- In a large saucepan or pot, heat olive oil over medium heat.
- When oil is hot, add leeks, potatoes, garlic, salt and pepper. Sauté, stirring occasionally, for 3-5 minutes or until leeks have softened.
- Add vegetable stock to pot and stir to combine.
- Strip leaves from thyme sprigs and add to pot. Stir to combine.
- Bring soup to a simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes until potatoes are cooked through and easily pierced with a fork.
- Add milk to soup and stir to combine.
- Remove soup from heat and puree with an immersion blender until smooth. Taste and add seasoning if necessary.
- Dish soup into serving bowls and garnish with extra thyme leaves and a drizzle of heavy cream (optional). Serve immediately.
Notes
If you don’t have an immersion blender, puree the soup in a blender in batches until smooth. You could also serve this soup without blending for a more rustic feel.
If your soup is too thick after blending, thin it out with a splash of milk or vegetable stock. Too thin? Bring it back to a simmer and cook until it’s reached your desired consistency.
This soup is easy to make in advance and it freezes well. When reheating, you may just want to zap the soup again with an immersion blender to bring it back to a nice, smooth texture.
To make this soup vegan, replace the milk with additional vegetable stock, coconut milk, or almond milk, and omit the heavy cream.
I updated this recipe in February 2017 to streamline and simplify it a bit. I also added new pictures, so it might look a bit different than you remember if you’ve made it before. Don’t worry, though – it’s easier than ever and still just as tasty!
Serve this soup with a loaf of Easy Crusty French Bread!
Nutrition
- Calories: 454
Thank you so much for this recipe!!! I prefer the rustic version over the puree. Nevertheless, the soup in itself is AMAZING!!!
So happy you like it, Nel!
Hi! So I’ve been cooking this the last two winters and it’s fantastic, best potato soup I’ve had. We’re only a couple weeks away from winter and it’s finally soup weather. I opened this page and got half way through cooking and something felt off about the whole thing and then I realised that you’ve updated the recipe! Can you pretty please re-post the original?? I remember cooking it with butter, not olive oil, and there was parsley and bay leaves involved too???
People say change is good but people are wrong. Please bring back the original so I can print it out and have it forever!
Thankyouuuuuu!
I would like to try this recipe, but I have one question – Are you using the entire leek in this soup (or just the white part section – by the stems)?
I use the whole leek! If you want less of the green color, you can certainly use the white pieces and save the greens for another recipe, but I don’t find that the greens lend any bitterness to this soup (which is often what people are worried about). I hope that helps!
Yes, your response did help! Thanks for a quick response and I look forward trying this recipe!
I will surely going to try this. It looks yummy and delicious.
Thanks for the recipe.
Can you freeze this?
Certainly! You may just need to give it an extra zap with an immersion blender whenever you reheat it (sometimes smooth soups and sauces lose a bit of their velvety texture when they’re frozen and reheated, but I find another few seconds with an immersion blender always brings it right back to where it’s supposed to be).
Going to try it.
When do I add the milk in??
Hi Roshni,
You add the milk in step 9, right after you blend the soup. Hope that helps, and happy cooking!
This soup is very good. And yes I noticed the potatoes were roughly chopped,not halved. So Icutmine like the picture not how instructed. This comes from cooking for over a half a century
Oh and in addition to calories per serving, how big is serving size?
How many calories per serving is this? I made it and it was perfect!
I made this tonight for my roommate and I and it was delicious! I skipped the pureeing step (no food processor/blender) and used sweet potatoes because I had those on hand. It was just the hearty and flavorful meal we needed. Thanks for the recipe!
I’m happy you liked it! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out!
I really liked this soup, but have to point out two things:
1) The recipe shouldn’t say that the potatoes are halved, when clearly in your pictures they are roughly chopped. This caused my potatoes to take quite a bit longer to cook to tender.
2) My soup came out very green! Still tastes great but isn’t as pretty. Did I use too much of the green of the leek?
Thanks!
I’m happy to hear you liked the soup! Thanks for catching the typo; I’ll take a look at it. The greenness of the soup depends on the leeks – but using more or less of the green shouldn’t affect the taste. If you’d like it to be a little less green, you could use only the whites of the leeks or substitute a bit of yellow or white onion. The onion flavor will be a bit more pronounced, but the soup will be lighter in color.
Delicious!
Made it today ona cloudy rainy day in S.Calif. in May (I know, right)
I’m glad you liked it! It’s JUST starting to warm up in the midwest, so I’ve been making a lot more soup than I thought I would be in JUNE. Hah. This is one of my favorites. Thanks for letting me know how you liked it!