Leek and Potato Soup

4.98 from 130 votes

Recipe video above. Thick and creamy Leek and Potato Soup, a French classic. Few ingredients, prepared well, and it's just so enjoyable to eat.

TOP TIP: Do not over blitz the soup, it activates the starch in the potato and will give your soup an unpleasantly sticky mouthfeel. This is a mistake commonly made in recipes that instruct to blitz, blitz, blitz!

Prep Time10

Cook Time35

Total Time40

Course: Soup

Cuisine: French

Keyword: leek soup, potato leek soup

Servings: - 8 people

Calories: 311cal

Author: Nagi | RecipeTin Eats

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

Cups - Metric

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!

Notes

1. Leeks - see photo above for which parts of the leek to keep/discard/peel. It's handy, if you are new to leeks!

You can substitute with onions if you prefer - chop and sauté on low for 10 to 12 minutes until soft and sweet. Don't let them caramelise.

2. Potato types:

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

3. Pureeing - do not puree it for too long! Only puree it until it is just smooth. The reason is that excessive churning of potato can cause it to turn gluey. That's why I never make mashed potatoes in a food processor - it becomes sticky! It's also the reason why using a stick blender is better than using a blender for this recipe - you can control the pureeing better.

If you only have a blender, I strongly urge you to mash the potato in the liquid with a potato masher first, then transfer to blender and pulse until just smooth. :)

4. Source - The first time I made Leek and Potato Soup I used a Julia Child recipe. While it was decent, I felt it could be brought into the 21st century with a flavour boost *she ducks and millions of people around the world throw rotten tomatoes at her* so here are the changes I've made to her original recipe:

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

(There is also the possibility that leeks and potatoes in France have superpower flavour so she didn't need all those flavour boosting steps).

5. Nutrition per serving assuming 5 servings which is meal size. This will easily serve 8 people as a starter - Leek Soup is a classic, elegant starter at fine dining restaurants!

Nutrition