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 tried this soup since leeks were on sale at my local store for 77 cents. I already had bay leaves on hand, so to get the rest of the ingredients, it was less than $10 to make a huge pot of this soup. Like another reviewer, I began my soup by rendering some bacon (about 5 strips) in the bottom of my dutch oven. I removed the bacon, left the fat, then followed the recipe from there. I did stray by doing the following, I used regular salted butter and regular chicken broth, then just added half a teaspoon of salt when I added the potatoes. I also used three bay leaves and an extra sprig of thyme (it wasn’t a very big extra sprig). That was, with the bacon fat at the beginning, was enough to add more richness and bold flavor to the recipe. The soup came out fantastic and the entire house smelled delicious. I added a loaf of crusty french bread to complete the dish, and I had a fantastic lunch that will provide for plenty of leftovers in the coming week. It was relaxing and easy to make this soup while it was cold and snowing outside. Thanks for sharing such a great recipe!
Amazing recipe. The flavor is fantastic if you follow the directions. I did add a little bit of the bacon grease (cooked a few strips of bacon to top the soup off) to the pan when I was sauteing the leeks. It gives it a tad bit more flavor. 5 stars for sure.
I did the same as well! It gives the soup such a rich flavor!
This was fantastic! Added some chopped bacon at the end. Also only used about 5 cups of broth. So good!
Can I give this 6 stars!! I served this at our New Years day party and it was a hit. Everyone wanted the recipe. I doubled the recipe and only change was that I used dried thyme and added about 1 cup Velveeta cheese.
This year the leeks did exceptionally well in the garden. I often go to your site for new recipes so was happy to find your potato leek soup. We made lots of soup and it freezes very well. I love your site and the recipes are easily followed with your descriptions and pictures. It’s a beautiful site and my first go to site when looking for something different for supper since I usually always have the ingredients required. Thank you!
I have made this soup several times. I like to use chicken stock and instead of dairy cream I use coconut milk. I finish it with a squeeze of lemon. It’s easy and delicious. Thank you for sharing.
Peace 🤗
Second time making this. Family was very impressed with it! Made for a happy Christmas! 🙂 so delicious 5 stars!
I’ve made this recipe several times and it is my favorite soup ever! It’s just so perfect every time and so easy to make!!! I don’t usually leave reviews but I felt that I had to for this one. I do use vegetable broth instead of chicken and I don’t use low sodium. I always add more salt to it too, to my liking. Thank you for this wonderful recipe!!!
Very yummy soup! I’ve made ‘as is’ and it’s delicious, but tonight I added onion, celery, spinach and zucchini with the leeks. Substituted natural yogurt for the cream and it was delicious. Thank you! 😊
So so good and love the blue le creuset pot!
Soup was delicious, but it was still lacking something so I added 1 white onion chopped and sauted then blended it in.. made a big difference..
would make again just would add the onion to the recipe when doing the leaks