This potato leek soup recipe is cozy goodness in every spoonful!
Leeks, celery, and potatoes are blended into a rich and creamy soup for a restaurant worthy favorite at home.
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Holly’s Recipe Highlights
- Flavor: This is a creamy soup with a delicate leek flavor. Leeks taste like sweet mild onion.
- Difficulty: One-pot Potato and Leek Soup is every day easy but elegant enough for guests.
- Prep note: When softening the leeks, for the best flavor ensure they don’t brown.
- Budget tip: Budget-friendly potatoes are filling and flavorful.
- Feeling fancy? When I made this soup at our culinary school, we strained it through cheesecloth or a mesh strainer. If enjoying this recipe at home, I usually don’t bother.
Ingredient Tips for Potato Leek Soup
- Leeks: Leeks look like large green onions. The green part of the leeks are tough and should be discarded while the white parts are deliciously sweet and tender once softened. Leeks can have a lot of dirt or grit between the layers, so wash them well. It’s easiest to wash leeks once they’ve been cut.
- Potatoes: For the best texture, use Yellow, Russets, or Yukon gold potatoes.
- Broth: Chicken broth adds the best flavor. You can replace it with vegetable broth, which tends to be a bit lighter in flavor and a bit sweeter.
How to Make Potato Leek Soup
- Soften the leeks in butter until tender.
- Add potatoes, broth, herbs, and seasonings and simmer.
- Discard bay leaf and thyme stems and blend the soup until smooth.
- Stir in cream and season (full recipe below) before serving.
Pro Tips for Potato Leek Soup
- How to Cut Leeks: Cut the white bulb from the dark stalks. Cut the bulb into thin slices or rounds, separate the layers and rinse in a colander to remove dirt.
- Peel the potatoes for a smooth soup.
- For an extra velvety texture, squeeze the soup through a cheesecloth. For a rustic soup, leave some of the potatoes and leeks unblended.
- Add more pureed potatoes or potato flakes for a thicker soup, or for a thinner soup, whisk in more broth.
Storing Leftover Soup
Keep leftover potato leek soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave. Cream-based soups don’t freeze well, so use this one up within a few days after making it.
Creamy Cozy Soups
Did you make this Potato Leek Soup? Leave us a rating and a comment below.
Equipment
- Immersion Blender or hand blender
- Large Pot or Dutch oven
Ingredients
- 3 large leeks white only
- 2 ribs celery ½-inch chopped
- ½ cup salted butter
- 2 pounds russet potatoes about 5 medium, peeled
- 6 cups chicken broth or vegetable stock
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme or ½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 1 bay leaf
- ¼ teaspoon salt or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper or to taste
- ¾ cup heavy whipping cream
- chopped fresh chives or thyme for garnish
Instructions
- Cut off the green of the leeks and discard (or freeze for stock). Cut the leeks lengthwise and then thinly slice them, you should have about 5 to 6 cups of leeks.
- Rinse the leeks very well under cold water to remove dirt or grit.
- Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add leeks and celery and cook until leeks are tender, about 7-10 minutes.
- Cut potatoes into large chunks and add them to the pot with the broth, thyme, bay leaf, salt, and pepper. Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
- Discard bay leaf and thyme stems. Using an immersion or hand blender*, blend soup until smooth. Add cream and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Season with additional salt and pepper if needed.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Appetizer, Entree, Main Course, Soup
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This was excellent! Simple, but really nourishing. Made it as written, delicious
I’m making this wonderful soup again. To this day, I haven’t been able to find an alternate recipe and I did tried others. Like other times I make this potage, it will not last long as everyone in the family wants some. Highly recommended.
As an addendum to the note by Holly: I do often freeze this soup but without the cream. It will be lumpy when thawed but whisked it, whisked good when reheating on the stove top and it will eventually come back as smooth as Tennessee whisky. Add cream to individual portions.
Thanks for sharing that tip, Robert!
My grandmother and mother used to make a variation on this recipe, in our house it was called Winter Vichyssoise. Because, of course, Vichyssoise is served cold, but this is served warm. I need to find my mom’s hand-written recipe box to see if there is any difference between her version and yours. I do remember her blending it, a few cupfuls at a time until it was smooth, and I think she didn’t put cream in it, maybe skim milk (that was all we ever had in the house, even back in the 50sand 60s). I suspect she may have added a little extra chicken stock to thin it down, but I also remember it being a favorite dinner served with buttered toast and home canned green beans on the side.
Made this tonite my family loved it! I’ve sent it to a few friends, will make it again! Used 18% cream delicious.
Perfection! Such a delicious and subtle flavour Holly. I like a very smooth vichyssoise so used a hand blender first and then transferred to my large Osterizer blender. It was quite thick so I just adjusted the consistency by adding more stock before the cream and it’s delicious. I sprinkled a bit of crumbled blue cheese on top and will definitely be making this again. Thanks for sharing!
Those sound like delicious additions, Barb!
I was so excited to make this recipe. Could not find when to add the thyme sprigs listed first , before the ones listed for garnish. I added them when I added the potatoes. Quite tasteless. Very mediocre.
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it Judy.
I found the answer to my previous question. No need to reply.
Can I freeze this delicious soup before adding the cream?
Robert
Hi Robert, you can freeze this soup but it freezes best before adding the cream!
I’m making this soup often and will continue to make it often. It is delicious. Thank you for the recipe.
BTW, what< size portion is used for the nutrition information?
A serving size is about 1 to 1½ cups depending on the size of your potatoes and leeks used.
Delicious soup, and simple to make. I assumed the three sprigs of thyme wen into the pot with the potatoes. I just threw them in intact, as most of the leaves will come off during cooking and then fished out the branches before pureeing. Thanks for a great recipe!
Hi there! Can I substitute sour cream for regular cream?
You can but it will change the flavor as sour cream is more tart than cream.
Holly…..please help! I do not know what I did wrong. The soup came out awful. This was a real moment of defeat as I am an accomplished cook and baker. I followed your recipe to a “t”. I’ve been agonizing over this all night. Should I add bacon? Should I add chives & cheese? Some other kind of spice? Please tell me what to do.
Thank you,
Ruth
So sorry to hear that Ruth, that is not good! While I don’t think you can ever go wrong with more bacon was there something specific that didn’t work out for you?
Hi! Can you freeze this soup?
Yes, this soup can be frozen. While it freezes well in any case, it’s best if frozen before adding the cream.
Do you cut or cube the potatoes after you peel them to put them into the soup or do you leave them whole? I can not wait to try this recipe!
They are cut into large chunks (I’ve added this to the recipe). Enjoy!
This was definitely a keeper!!!
Yay! So happy to hear that Charlotte.
Please send me your ideas looking for a good recipe for potato leek soup
Hi Janet, this recipe is a delicious potato leek soup option! For the full recipe, you can scroll to the bottom of the post or use the “jump to recipe” button at the top.
Delicious!! My husband and I loved this! We substituted the butter and cream for vegan friendly options and it turned out so good! Definitely keeping this in the cook book :) Thank you for sharing!
I am so glad you enjoyed the soup and were able to make it suit your needs Mary!
I love potato leek soup never made it this recipe was awesome I also added celery thank you
So happy you loved it Brenda!
I made the potato leek soup and it was spectacular. It was easy to make, just follow all the steps properly. Can’t wait to make again
So happy to hear that Joan!
Hi when you say cups of something in your recipe how big should the cup be. Also when you say a stick of butter is 5hat a whole block of butter?
A cup is 240ml and a stick of butter is ¼ lb.
Thank you so much