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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Comments
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Made you Potato-Leek Soup last night. It was exceptional.
Thank you,
Richard
Can I use just water instead of a stock?
Hi Nafsin, I think the stock helps to give it flavor, so I’d suggest sticking with it. That said, if you use water instead, you’re likely to need to additional salt to the soup.
Great, thank you!
I had fresh leeks just waiting to be made into something delicious. This soup was an absolute hit! My husband couldn’t get enough of it. And, there is plenty left over for more meals! The flavours are so delicate and lovely. Truly, truly delicious. Thank you!
Advice from non-pro: Treat yourself to a scale. After struggling for years when questions like this arose, I ordered a kitchen scale (read reviews). So much easier! I used to hate recipes that gave weights of ingredients… now I wish all recipes would do so. (How much onion is called for by “2 onions”?)
How many large potatoes are there in 2 lbs
Hi Diane, it is really dependent upon the size of the potatoes– you mentioned large potatoes, so perhaps you’d need 2 to 3. Most grocery stores have scales that you can use to weigh your produce, so you may want to go that route.
Hi,
Can this soup be frozen?
Yes Laurie– it freezes well; just wait until you’re reheating the soup to add the cream.
I have already added the cream. CAn I still freeze it?
Hi Jan, That should be fine. It may separate from the rest of the soup a bit, but just whisk it until combined.
Absolutely delicious! I consider myself a good chef and rarely follow a recipe exactly, but at the request of my spouse I provided this “traditional” and “”classic” puréed version. I did substitute half ‘n half for the heavy cream and reduced the stock to 6 cups, but other than using the addition of white pepper in the final seasoning, it is just a perfect recipe! Will definitely being adding it to my “go to” recipes to impress all my family and friends! Thanks for sharing Jenn!!
Fantastic recipe. I used half of everything because I’m single and modified it by stretching a cup of chicken stock with water, a smoked turkey neck, and a few veggies I had lying around. End result: AMAZING! “Smoky” potato leek soup – absolutely delicious!
I made the soup as written last evening for dinner. My husband loved it. Rather than add the cream I drizzled it on each bowl as a garnish. I needed to cook it down for at least 30 minutes because it was soooo thin. I had 8 cups left over which I froze in batches. Next time I will only use 5 or 6 cups of broth rather than 7.
Mine turned out to be quite thick but so delicious, even without any cream. 2 bowls are waiting to cool before going in the freezer! So easy. If you haven’t any fresh stock, just use the water that the potatoes and leeks have boiled in as it is full of flavour.
Delicious soup! Thank you for posting. I didn’t quite have enough leeks, so I used one shallot in place of one leek. One lesson I’ve really learned being in a CSA is working with what I’ve got on hand. I think that’s what was done in the ‘olden days’ anyway, and how you improve your own cooking skills.
These kinds of “reviews” really bug the heck out of me. What you made was SHALLOT soup! If you think you should just “work with what you have on hand”, why bother to look up recipes and then make something completely different than the recipe?
Cooking a meal is a gift of love one gives to their family and friends. It shouldn’t be a chore or a competition. Their is no reason to chide Janet. Few cooks paint by the numbers, anyway.
This was the best recipe, I have made a few other recipes in the past but was never really happy, until I found the this one yesterday. My kids loved it too.