Healthy Potato Leek Soup Recipe- With Vegan Option
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This thick, creamy, and healthy potato leek soup recipe is the perfect hearty soup for a chilly night. Leeks are sauteed with onions and garlic until their flavors are developed and then they are simmered with potatoes, broth, and herbs until tender. This is a healthy meal the whole family will love. Follow my simple swaps below if you want to make this recipe vegan.
Healthy Potato Leek Soup Recipe Backstory
Soup is one of my love languages, next to ice cream of course. I make a giant batch of soup every week, usually a variation of this chicken and lentil soup, and then we eat it throughout the week as a quick and easy lunches.
Just heat and serve. The best real food lunch there is. It’s like healthy fast food, but made in my own kitchen.
My husband doesn’t like soup because it is too hot, and takes to long to eat. He literally inhales his food in 3 seconds flat… I’m not even exaggerating.
I’ve basically been making soup every Monday for at least 6 months now. My mom calls me on Facetime, sees I’m making soup and goes, oh it’s Monday isn’t it. Ha. She knows.
The other day I texted him stating soup was for dinner and he goes… “I noticed we have soup a lot on Mondays, maybe we should have it on another night of the week so we can start the week off better than soup!”
He was kind of kidding. This made me laugh for so many reasons, but mostly because I’ve been making it on Mondays for over 6 months and he is just now saying something hahah.
Anyway, back to healthy potato leek soup. This recipe got two thumbs up from my anti-soup man. He likes that it is creamy (without cream), is thick and hearty. Basically he likes that it fills his belly up.
Tips For Making Healthy Potato Leek Soup
- This recipe is thick and creamy without any cream. I added cream to the pictures to make it prettier and you can definitely add a touch if you would like, but it is delicious without it.
- Cut the potatoes in the same size so they cook evenly. You don’t want to have some potatoes totally cooked and others not so cooked when you go to puree it.
- You can switch up the herbs if desired, use fresh basil, thyme or oregano.
- If you want to make this with more texture, you can leave some of the potatoes chunks and not blend them all up to a smooth puree.
- This recipe is on the messier side, so be aware.
- Allow the onions and leaks to simmer on a lower temperature to develop flavors.
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Tools you will need:
Blender – standard (I love this blender) or an immersion blender
Pot
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Cutting board
Knife
Ladle
Best Potatoes For Soup
Russet potatoes work great for soup because they contain a high starch content which will help thicken the soup. Yukon Golds will also work well in this recipe.
How To Make This Healthy Make Potato leek Soup Recipe:
Step 1: How To Prepare Leeks for soup:
Leeks are grown in sandy soil and tend to be dirty so they need to be cleaned well.
- Slice the leeks lengthwise and cut off ends. Slice dark green tops off.
- Run under cool water separating the different layers and washing thoroughly.
- Move to cutting board and slice.
Step 2: Sautee Leeks And Potatoes To Pot
- In a large pot over medium low heat, add butter, chopped leeks and onions.
- Saute for 5 minutes or so until they are soft and started to turn color. Stirring occasionally.
- After the leeks have been sauteing for about 3 minutes or so add in chopped garlic and continue to saute for a few more minutes.
- Add in flour – regular or gluten free and stir in. Allow to cook for 1-2 minutes.
- While the leeks and onions are sauteing, peel and chop potatoes. Make sure to chop potatoes in an even thickness for consistent and even cook times.
Step 3: Add Potatoes And Broth
- Add potatoes to the pot, chicken broth (I like to use homemade chicken broth), herbs, and seasoning.
- Cover and bring to a boil. Boil for about 15 minutes until potatoes are fork tender.
Step 4: Puree Soup
- Ladle soup into a blender only filling it about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way up. Place lid on and place towel on top to prevent splattering and burning.
- Puree until smooth and pour back into pot. Do this 2-4 times until soup is pureed to your liking.
- Or use a immersion blender and blend soup right in the pot.
- Taste and salt if desired.
- If you want to add a little bit of cream or non-dairy milk you can at the end.
- Enjoy!
How To Make This Potato Leek Soup Vegan:
This soup can be made vegan by making a few simple swaps. Use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock, vegan butter substitute in place of butter. If you want it to be creamier you could add a touch of vegan creme like cashew or almond cream or milk.
Can you freeze potato leek soup?
Potato leek soup can be frozen. Allow to cool completely in the fridge. Place in a container, I like to use a gallon size freezer bag and lay flat to freeze. *If you plan to add dairy cream to this recipe, cream doesn’t freeze well so add it after you freeze it.
How do you thicken potato leek soup?
This recipe is thickened with flour – regular flour or gluten free flour for those of you who need to be gluten free (like us).
If you do not have flour or don’t use flour you could also thicken this with cornstarch. Once the potatoes have completely cooked and you have pureed the soup you can create a cornstarch slurry by adding a spoonful of cornstarch to a jar and add a little bit of cool water (so specific I know) and mix together. To the soup I add about a tbs of the slurry at a time, letting it come to a boil, and determining if it is thick enough. If not, add a little bit more and let it come to a boil.
Want more delicious soup recipes? Check out our family favorites!
- Chicken Lentil Soup: Easy Weeknight Soup
- Chicken and Rice Soup: Easy 10 Minute Recipe
- Sausage Potato Soup {Instant Pot}
- Minestrone Soup with Bacon
- Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Healthy Potato Leek Soup Recipe Card
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Potato Leek Soup
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Ingredients
- 2 leeks cleaned and chopped
- 1 onion
- 4 tbs butter vegan butter for vegan option
- 3 cloves garlic
- 3 large potatoes russets work great
- 1 tbs flour all purpose or GF flour for those who are sensitive to gluten
- 6-8 cups chicken broth vegetable broth for vegan option
- 1/2 tsp salt
- fresh pepper
- small handful of fresh herbs basil, thyme, oregano or parsley would work well.
- 1/2 cup heavy cream optional but delicious. Vegan option opt for cashew milk or almond milk.
Instructions
- Slice the leeks lengthwise and cut off ends. Slice dark green tops off.Run under cool water separating the different layers and washing thoroughly. Move to cutting board and slice.Step
- In a large pot over medium low heat, add butter, chopped leeks and onions. Saute for 5 minutes or so until they are soft and started to turn color. Stirring occasionally.
- After the leeks have been sauteing for about 3 minutes or so add in chopped garlic and continue to saute for a few more minutes.
- Add in flour - regular or gluten free (if you are gluten free) and stir in. Allow to cook for 1-2 minutes.
- While the leeks and onions are sauteing, peel and chop potatoes. Make sure to chop potatoes in an even thickness for consistent and even cook times.
- Add potatoes to the pot, chicken broth, herbs, and seasoning. Cover and bring to a boil. Boil for about 15 minutes until potatoes are fork tender.
- Ladle soup into a blender only filling it about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way up. Place lid on and place towel on top to prevent splattering and burning. Puree until smooth and pour back into pot. Do this 2-4 times until soup is pureed to your liking. Or use a immersion blender and blend soup right in the pot.
- Taste and salt if desired.
- If you want to add a little bit of cream or non-dairy milk you can at the end you can. Not necessary but delicious.