Creamy, velvety smooth Potato Leek Soup is simple and so comforting. Made with Yukon gold potatoes, leek, celery, chicken stock, and cream, this potato soup has the very best texture and flavor!
Enjoy more of my favorite soup recipes like Tomato Bisque Soup, Mushroom Soup and Split Pea Soup.
Table of Contents
This classic French soup is a family favorite for good reason! It’s very easy to make with a few simple ingredients. Gold potatoes and leeks compliment each other harmoniously and give the soup a really great amount of flavor. It’s simply seasoned with salt, pepper, thyme, and bay leaf. It’s made deliciously creamy with heavy whipping cream.
Yukon gold potatoes are the absolute best to be used in potato leek soup. It gives the soup its creamiest, softest texture and a slight sweetness. I also like to give the leeks a little sear first to bring out the natural flavors that get infused into the soup.
Other than that, all you need is some chicken stock to bring it all together! You can swap it with Vegetable Stock to make this potato and leek soup vegetarian if you’d like. I’m just a sucker for some Homemade Chicken Stock and love sneaking it in wherever I can!
How to Cut Leeks
Leeks are wonderful to add to many dishes likes soups, stews, pasta, or simply roasted and served as a side. Leeks are in the same family as onions, scallion, chives, and shallots but they have a very mild onion flavor.
Leeks look like very large scallions with white parts on the bottom, by the root, and dark green thick leaves. The only edible part of a leek is the white and slightly green part. Root and dark green leaves are discarded before cooking.
To clean and cut the leek:
Lay the leeks down on a cutting board and cut off the dark green leaves and the very bottom by the roots. Discard the dark green leaves or save it for making Homemade Vegetable Stock.
Cut the white stalks in half, length-wise. Rinse off each half under some cold running water. Make sure to get in between the layers because dirt likes to hide there! Shake the water off very well and start slicing.
Ingredient Notes
Potatoes – Yukon gold potatoes are the BEST to use in potato leek soup. They’re so soft, tender, and create a wonderfully smooth consistency.
Chicken Stock – I try to use Homemade Chicken Stock whenever I can for the very best flavor. Your favorite store-bought brand it also just fine!
Leeks – Keep in mind that the only edible part of a leek is the white and slightly green part. Root and dark green leaves need to be discarded before cooking.
Heavy Whipping Cream – You can substitute this with half and half for a lighter soup. Just note that heavy cream is what will give you the thickest, creamiest consistency.
See recipe card for complete information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Potato Leek Soup
Prepare the ingredients. Slice each leek half into thinly, width-wise. Wash and slice celery ribs as well. Peel or wash potatoes and cut them into cubes.
Sauté the celery and leeks. Preheat the pot over medium heat and melt butter. Sauté leeks in butter until soft (1). Add celery and saute it until leeks start to get some sear (2).
Add potatoes and stock. Add potatoes and sauté for a couple more minutes. Add bay leaf and thyme sprigs to the pot and pour in chicken stock. Pour in enough chicken stock just to cover the potatoes (3).
Cook. Season with salt and pepper, stir well, bring to boil (4) and lower the heat to medium low. Cook over gentle simmer until potatoes are tender (5).
Make it creamy. Take out the bay leaf and thyme sprigs. Stir in heavy whipping cream until completely incorporated (6).
Blend until smooth. You can transfer the soup into a blender or use an immersion blender to blend the soup. Blend it just until smooth (7). Don’t blend too much!
PRO TIP: Blending the soup too much will lead to a gummy texture. Break up as much of the potatoes as you can with a wooden spoon before adding them to the blender. Just pulse a few times until blended.
Freezing Instructions
You can freeze this potato soup but do so without cream. Prepare the soup according to the recipe but do not add the cream. Blend it and cool to room temperature before freezing.
PRO TIP: It’s best to cool food as quickly as you can before freezing it. After the soup is blended, place the pot into a larger container filled with ice and make sure to stir it from time to time as it cools.
You can use one large container, large freezer bag, or divide it into smaller zip-top freezer bags for individual servings. Be sure to leave some room at the top to allow for expansion as the soup freezes. Label and freeze for up to 2 months.
Thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Reheat it over medium-low heat on stovetop and stir in heavy cream.
Storing and Reheating
Wait for the potato leek soup to cool to room temperature prior to storing in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Properly stored, it should keep for 3-4 days.
To reheat individual portions in the microwave, reheat for 30 seconds at a time and stir each time it stops. Be careful not to overheat it!
Recipe FAQs
When potatoes are blended too much or overly mashed they release more starches. These starches mix with the broth and create a gummy texture.
To avoid that, simply rinse the potatoes a couple of times with cold water after you peel and cut them. This will wash off some starches. Also, searing potatoes before boiling them helps reduce the gummy texture. And of course, don’t blend too much! Break up as much of the potatoes as you can with a wooden spoon before adding them to the blender. Just pulse a few times until blended.
Like with any blended soup, you’ll want to serve something crunchy on top! My favorite way to top off a blended soup is with homemade croutons. You can also garnish this soup with crackers, dried chickpeas, crispy bacon bits, seared diced ham, pepitas or sunflower seeds.
Serving grilled cheese with a bowl of smooth and creamy soup is always a classic option.
Heavy whipping cream is a great addition to creamy soup because it’s rich and creates the best consistency. If you don’t have any, you can always use a couple of tablespoons of sour cream and either half and half or whole milk. To keep it dairy free, you could use plant based milk and a little plant based sour cream.
More Recipes To Try
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Potato Leek Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 3 leeks
- 3 celery ribs
- 2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 fresh thyme sprigs
- 4 cups chicken stock
- salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
Cleaning Leek:
- Cut off the dark green leaves and the very bottoms by the roots. (Discard the dark green leaves or save it for making homemade stock.)
- Cut the white stalks in half, length-wise. Rinse off each half under some cold running water. Make sure to get in between the layers because dirt likes to hide there. Shake the water off very well and the halves are not ready to slice.
Potato Leek Soup:
- Slice each leek half into thinly, width-wise. Wash and slice celery ribs as well. Peel or wash potatoes and cut them into cubes.
- Preheat the pot over medium heat and melt butter. Saute leeks in butter until soft. Add celery and saute it until leeks start to get some sear.
- Add potatoes and saute for a couple more minutes.
- Add bay leaf and thyme sprigs to the pot and pour in chicken stock. Pour in enough chicken stock just to cover the potatoes. (Too much stock will result in a thin soup.)
- Season with salt and pepper, stir well, bring the soup to boil and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook until potatoes are tender, make sure to stir from time to time.
- Take out the bay leaf and thyme sprigs.
- Stir in heavy whipping cream until completely incorporated.
- You can transfer the soup into a blender or use an immersion blender to blend the soup. Pulse a few times just until smooth. Note: Blending the soup too much will lead to a gummy texture. Break up as much of the potatoes as you can with a wooden spoon before adding them to the blender. Just pulse a few times until blended.
Video
Notes
-
Storing: Wait for the potato leek soup to cool to room temperature prior to storing in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Properly stored, it should keep for 3-4 days.
To reheat individual portions in the microwave, reheat for 30 seconds at a time and stir each time it stops. Be careful not to overheat it! - Freezing: You can freeze this potato soup but do so without cream. Prepare the soup according to the recipe but do not add the cream. Blend it and cool to room temperature before freezing.
You can use one large container, large freezer bag, or divide it into smaller zip-top freezer bags for individual servings. Be sure to leave some room at the top to allow for expansion as the soup freezes. Label and freeze for up to 2 months.
Thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Reheat it over medium-low heat on stovetop and stir in heavy cream.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in October 2019.
Joyce says
This soup was amazing and so easy to make. Because I bragged about now everyone wants the recipe. For the topping I added shredded cheddar cheese , sour dough croutons. Just one tip: after cutting up potatoes rinse under cold water and put on bowl of the chicken stock while sautéing the leek and celery. I used a Dutch oven and kept it on med-low and it was perfect.
LyubaB says
I am so glad you liked the recipe. Sour dough croutons sound amazing with it!
Karen says
Can this be made without adding the heavy cream? Milk products cause problems for someone in my family. We can use the butter. It looks delicious. Thanks
LyubaB says
Hi Karen,
There are a few options they can try. If it’s lactose, there is lactose-free half and half you can use. You can check their store for brands of dairy free half and half or Heavy whipping cream options, I know Silk makes dairy free Heavy whipping cream, country crock makes one too and horizon organic. I don’t recommend milk substitutes like almond milk because it has an odd flavor when heated you may not like and oat milk is sweet.
Hank Berumen says
Found your recipe and made it today- EXCELLENT! Love it!
LyubaB says
So happy you love it, Hank! Thanks for stopping by to let me know! 🙂
Eva Coppersmith says
This looks wonderful. Do you have any recipes that use celery stock besides a celery soup? I have been making my own stocks and have a bunch of celery pieces I thought maybe would make some good stock. Thank you