Homemade Potato Leek Soup is made with simple ingredients and is creamy and flavorful. This soup doesn’t have any cream, but the texture is velvety and thick from the potatoes with fresh flavor from leek. Bacon adds a smoky touch that pairs perfectly with the vegetables.
I love to make creamy, rich soups, but I don’t like using a lot of cream or half and half. For this recipe, potatoes give the soup a lot of body without adding extra dairy to get that smooth, creamy texture.
If you’ve never cooked leeks before, this is a great recipe to start with. Potatoes and leeks are a classic flavor combination and are delicious in this soup. Leek potato soup looks fancy with the garnishes, but it’s actually very easy to make. It’s great as a light meal or as a starter for a bigger meal.
Ingredients
- Diced leeks
- Diced bacon
- Peeled and sliced gold potatoes
- Minced garlic
- Low-sodium chicken stock
- Salt and pepper
- Dried Thyme
- Sour cream for serving
How to Prep Fresh Leeks
Prepping leeks for this soup is easy. The green tops are not as tender as the white part of the leek, so use your knife to cut the tough green parts off.
Dice the white part and then place the pieces in a bowl of water. Soaking them is the easiest way to clean them – you’ll see any dirt sink to the bottom of the bowl. Drain the leeks and pat them dry with a paper towel.
How to Make Potato Leek Soup
Cook the diced bacon in a large pot over medium heat until it’s crispy. Remove the bacon leaving the fat in the pan.
Place the leeks in the pot with the bacon fat and cook them over medium heat. Stir them frequently until they’ve softened. This takes about three to four minutes.
Add the garlic and cook it until fragrant, about a minute or so. Add the potatoes, thyme, and salt and pepper. Stir and cook the vegetables for two minutes.
Add the chicken stock and bring the pot to a boil. Lower the heat to maintain a simmer. Simmer the soup until the potatoes are fork-tender.
Once the potatoes are cooked, puree the soup. The easiest way is with an immersion or stick blender. You can blend the soup right in the pot. If you don’t have one, puree the soup in small batches in a regular blender. Be careful blending hot soup – if you overfill the blender, it can burst from the heat.
After you puree the potato and leek soup, give it a taste and add more salt and pepper if needed. If the soup is too thick, you can thin it with more chicken stock.
Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish each with the cooked bacon, sour cream, and thyme.
Recipe Tips for Leek and Potato Soup
- The soup can be made ahead and reheated. Or, you can freeze it. Let it cool completely and divided it into freezer containers. It will keep for several months.
- When reheating the soup, you may need to add a splash of chicken stock or water to thin it as you warm it.
- Serve it with bread or dinner rolls on the side. Sometimes we add a tossed salad to go with it for a light meal.
- Leftover soup will keep in the refrigerator for three to four days.
This potato leek soup recipe is light, healthy, and delicious. It’s easy enough to make on a weeknight but great for holiday dinners and entertaining, too. Give it a try – I hope you like it as much as we do.
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Potato Leek Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 medium diameter leeks diced
- 4 slices bacon diced
- 6 medium gold potatoes peeled and sliced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 4 cups low sodium chicken stock
- ½ teaspoon pepper or more to taste
- 1 teaspoon salt or more to taste
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- Sour cream for serving
Instructions
- Heat a medium to large pot over medium heat. Add bacon and cook until crispy. Remove bacon and set on paper towels to drain. Leave the bacon grease in the pot.
- Take the leeks and cut off the green tops and discard. Take the white portion and slice, then dice. Place in a bowl full of water for a few minutes to clean them and let dirt fall to the bottom. Remove the leaks and dry them with a paper towel.
- Add the leeks to the pot and let them cook over medium heat until they soften, 3-4 minutes. Then add in garlic for just about 1 minute and stir until fragrant. Add the potatoes to the leaks and garlic and season with the salt, pepper and thyme and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add chicken stock and stir in, cover the pot and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat and let simmer until the potatoes are fork tender.
- Now we need to puree the soup. In a regular blender do small batches at a time. You need to leave some space in the blender for heat to escape. If the blender is too full of hot foods, it can blow up. We recommend an immersion blender if you have one. This way you blend it right in the pot and blend it until smooth. If you want your soup thinner, you can add a little bit of water to thin out. We think it tastes better a little thicker. Adjust seasoning to taste.
- Serve with sour cream, bacon pieces and thyme.
Nutrition
Potato Leek Soup is a creamy, yet healthy soup. The texture is perfect from the potatoes and the fresh leeks add so much flavor.
Mel is an IT guy turned blogger and is discovering his love of cooking and photography. If you ever have Fantasy Football questions, he's your guy.
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