Potato Leek Soup
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Cozy up with this comforting potato leek soup, a classic French dish that’s easy to make and endlessly customizable.
Potato leek soup, or potage parmentier, is a French classic. It’s one of the first dishes I learned to make in culinary school, right after a proper omelette and basic vinaigrette, because it’s an essential base soup in French cuisine. You can add watercress to make potage au cresson, serve it chilled as Vichyssoise, or top it with bacon, fried leeks, fresh herbs, or diced vegetables. There are endless variations—just use your imagination (or whatever you have in the kitchen) to make it your own. This potato leek soup recipe is simple to whip up and can be served as an appetizer, paired with a Reuben sandwich or wedge salad, or enjoyed as a satisfying lunch on its own.
What You’ll Need To Make Potato Leek Soup
Step-by-Step Instructions
Potato leek soup is simple to make, but first you have to deal with the leeks. They’re notoriously sandy and dirty, and very good at hiding it, so be sure to wash them well. Start by cutting off and discarding the root ends and thick dark green parts. Cut the leeks in half lengthwise and rinse each half under cold water, pulling apart the layers to remove any grit that’s tucked inside.
Once the leeks are clean, roughly chop them — you should get about five cups of chopped leeks from four large leeks.
To make the soup, melt the butter in a Dutch oven or large soup pot, then add the chopped leeks and garlic.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and wilted.
Next, add the potatoes, chicken broth, bay leaves, thyme, salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil.
Then cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.
Fish out the bay leaves and thyme sprigs.
Purée the soup with a hand-held immersion blender (or in a regular blender) until smooth. (If using a standard blender, be sure not to fill the jar more than halfway; leave the hole in the lid open and cover loosely with a dishtowel to allow the heat to escape.)
Finally, add the heavy cream. You can reduce the amount if you’d like but I wouldn’t leave it out entirely. Cream makes the soup deliciously silky, rich, and smooth—just add it little by little until the soup tastes good to you.
Bring to a simmer, then taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve hot, garnished with fresh thyme, chives, or anything you like.
Video Tutorial
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Potato Leek Soup
Cozy up with this comforting potato leek soup, a classic French dish that’s easy to make and endlessly customizable.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 large leeks, white and light green parts only, roughly chopped (about 5 cups)
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
- 2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped into ½-inch pieces
- 7 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 cup heavy cream
- Chives, finely chopped, for serving
Instructions
- Melt the butter over medium heat in a large soup pot. Add the leeks and garlic and cook, stirring regularly, until soft and wilted, about 10 minutes. Adjust the heat as necessary so as not to brown.
- Add the potatoes, broth, bay leaves, thyme, salt and pepper to pot and bring to a boil. Cover and turn the heat down to low. Simmer for 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are very soft.
- Fish out the thyme sprig and bay leaves, then purée the soup with a hand-held immersion blender until smooth. (Alternatively, use a standard blender to purée the soup in batches; see note.) Add the heavy cream and bring to a simmer. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. If soup is too thin, simmer until thickened. If it's too thick, add water or stock to thin it out. Garnish with fresh herbs if desired.
- Note: If using a standard blender to purée the soup: be sure not to fill the jar more than halfway; leave the hole in the lid open and cover loosely with a dishtowel to allow the heat to escape; and pour blended soup into a clean pot.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The soup can be frozen, without the cream, for up to 3 months. Defrost the soup in the refrigerator for 12 hours and then reheat it on the stovetop over medium heat until hot. Once heated through, add the cream and bring to a simmer before serving.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (6 servings)
- Serving size: about 1-1/2 cups
- Calories: 454
- Fat: 24 g
- Saturated fat: 14 g
- Carbohydrates: 49 g
- Sugar: 10 g
- Fiber: 5 g
- Protein: 12 g
- Sodium: 828 mg
- Cholesterol: 78 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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I have made this soup a few times now. It’s super simple to make and oh so comforting. Tastes absolutely delicious with bacon too.
I just made this. I happened to have a beet/goat cheese salad in the fridge left over from last night so I already had the perfect side. Yay!
I followed the recipe to a tee. Before blending everything, I extracted some of the broth because it seemed a bit too liquidy. I used an immersion blender and before adding a bit of the broth I took out I tasted it and WOW! It was delicious. I hesitated adding the cream because the broth “as is” was so tasty. I did add the cream and the soup was delicious but…
Next time? I think I’ll omit the cream and just eat the blended soup ingredients and save the calories. I should add that I have very fresh, fragrant thyme and laurel so that helped. Definitely a keeper recipe. Thank you so much for sharing it.
Simple and sensational! Has immediately become a go-to for our Aussie Winters (we live in a sub-Alpine town). Our potato crop this year was 120lbs and there’s only the two of us. Pity we had to buy in the leeks… but planning for next year. Thank you so much!!
Just made this for dinner and it tastes AMAZING! I used three large leeks rather than four, because they were only being sold in packs of three. I also used dried thyme instead of fresh as I didn’t have any. Wasn’t able to get it very thick, even after simmering, so my next go around I think I’ll put one less cup of broth, or add more potatoes to make up for the lost leek. I’ve been looking for good recipes to take to college, and this is going to be perfect!
I am planning on making this tomorrow due to the RAVE reviews! I am most excited because I made my own chicken stock and wanted that flavor to shine as well. However, I only have 4 cups of the stock – what amount of leeks and potatoes would you suggest in order to keep the consistency correct? I was thinking 2 leeks and maybe 3-4 larger golden potatoes.
Hi Anthony, 2 large leeks sound about right and I’d use about 1 1/4 pounds of potatoes. Hope you enjoy!
Such a beautiful soup. I peeled the potatoes and put them on to boil while I readied the other ingredients. I added a brown onion, an extra cup of stock and I only had dried thyme. I drained the potatoes and then cooked as per the recipe but cooked it down over a couple of hours before blending. AMAZING
Absolutely fabulous recipe and would be easy for any cooking level. While an experienced cook, the added value was, assuming you have the ingredients, prep time is so easy and quick (~30 min) for those times when you don’t have the time to prep/cook, but want, a delicious meal.
Really doesn’r required salt or pepper, as had plenty of flavor without. Find a good rule with homemade soups, let the diner add their own salt/pepper to taste. After stove cook cooking, the mixture was blended in a Vitamix, on the hot soup option, in two batches. While the bay leaf and thyme stems (5-6 not 3 as called for in recipe) were removed before blending, the thyme leave were scraped off their stem, added back into cooked ingredients and totally incorpated without being in pieces after blending.
Topping with a good dusting of finely chopped chives completed the recipe with perfection, from both visual and taste perspectives!
Amazing soup, if you wanted a more flavour full soup replace one of the leaks with half a brown onion and for a thicker soup remove a cup of stock. Over all this soup was really good!
Amazing! I love potato leek so I’ve had it many times In restaurants and made different versions at home. This is the best I’ve had. My husband loved it and he’s not a soup guy
Just made this. I’ve never eaten this soup before but it was delicious and my husband (who isn’t a soup guy) loved it too! We don’t use heavy cream so I added a little extra butter and finished with 2% and it was still very tasty. I can imagine cream would have made it that much better!
My husband and I just had this soup for lunch. Delicious! We’ve had leek and potato soup many many times over the years but this is by far the most luxurious and tasty. Very easy to prepare and it makes a lot.
Thank you so much for this fabulous recipe.