This savory vegan potato casserole will easily become the star of the night, either as a stunning side dish or a complete entree. Thinly sliced potatoes are layered with veggies, a flavorful cheesy sauce, and topped with a crunchy breadcrumb mixture. A…
This savory vegan potato casserole will easily become the star of the night, either as a stunning side dish or a complete entree. Thinly sliced potatoes are layered with veggies, a flavorful cheesy sauce, and topped with a crunchy breadcrumb mixture. And it only takes 45 minutes and one skillet to make! Potato-based meals are...
This warm and hearty Italian potato pasta is the perfect answer to those cold fall and winter evenings at home. Its creamy sauce is packed with flavorful herbs and veggies, creating a nutritious and filling one-pot comfort food that the whole family wi…
This warm and hearty Italian potato pasta is the perfect answer to those cold fall and winter evenings at home. Its creamy sauce is packed with flavorful herbs and veggies, creating a nutritious and filling one-pot comfort food that the whole family will love! If you love Italian pasta as much as we do, you...
This hearty potato stew makes weeknight dinners easy and nutritious! This stew will do the trick if you want a warming yet filling comfort meal to whip up for the family on a cold fall or winter night. Even better. It requires minimal ingredients and i…
This hearty potato stew makes weeknight dinners easy and nutritious! This stew will do the trick if you want a warming yet filling comfort meal to whip up for the family on a cold fall or winter night. Even better. It requires minimal ingredients and is ready in only 30 minutes! Check out my other...
This easy and tasty vegan breakfast pizza with hash brown crust proves that pizza is just as great in the morning as in the afternoon and evening! Made with a flavorful, crunchy potato crust and topped with a zesty tomato sauce, cheese, and plenty of v…
This easy and tasty vegan breakfast pizza with hash brown crust proves that pizza is just as great in the morning as in the afternoon and evening! Made with a flavorful, crunchy potato crust and topped with a zesty tomato sauce, cheese, and plenty of veggies and herbs, this breakfast dish is just as nutritious...
Ready in just 30 minutes, these crispy, spicy skillet breakfast potatoes are the perfect dish to add to your dining table. This simple recipe uses fork-tender potatoes and a variety of veggies and spices to create a flavorful, filling, and nutritious b…
Ready in just 30 minutes, these crispy, spicy skillet breakfast potatoes are the perfect dish to add to your dining table. This simple recipe uses fork-tender potatoes and a variety of veggies and spices to create a flavorful, filling, and nutritious breakfast or brunch dish. Saying no to a second serving will be difficult! There...
This potato leek soup recipe is classic and lusciously creamy! Cozy up to a bowl of this simple fall favorite.
Here’s a creamy soup recipe that stands above the rest: Potato Leek Soup! There’s just something about cupping your hands around a steaming bowl or mug that comforts the soul, isn’t there? This classic combines the sophisticated sweet essence of leeks with humble potatoes and rich cream for a truly luxurious dish. Here’s our spin on the classic recipe: silky smooth, and warming. It’s the ideal winter or fall soup for a gathering or a simple weeknight.
Ingredients in potato leek soup
Potato leek soup is a classic soup of European origin made with potatoes, leeks, broth, seasonings, and heavy cream. There are traditional versions of this dish in Welsh, Romanian and French cooking. Another variation is vichyssoise or potage Parmentier, made with similar ingredients but served cold.
This spin on the recipe is made the classic American way: we’ve added a few other ingredients to flavor the body of the soup like garlic and leeks. While we love embracing healthy recipes on this website, the heavy cream really does pull this soup together! It’s a small quantity per serving and the milkfat helps to add a luxurious richness. Here’s what you’ll need:
Salted butter
Leeks
Celery
Garlic
Russet potatoes
Broth (vegetable or chicken)
Fresh thyme
Bay leaf
Salt
Heavy cream
How to cut and clean leeks
Leeks are a vegetable that’s part of the onion (allium) family. They look like a large green onion, with a white stalk that fades to light green with darker green leaves. Leeks are typically much dirtier than green onions: sand and dirt can get stuck between the layers of the white portion. For that reason, it’s very important to cut and clean leeks before working with them. Here’s how to do it:
Cut off the root and greens: Using a large chef’s knife, slice off the root end of the leek. Slice off the tough dark green top and discard.
Slice in half: Slice the leek in half lengthwise.
Thinly slice into half-moons: Place both halves cut side down. Then use a circular motion to cut the leek into thin half-moons.
Clean the leek slices: Leeks generally have quite a bit of sand and dirt between the layers. Place the leek slices into a bowl of water and the dirt will settle to the bottom. Use your hands to shake loose any visible dirt.
Dry: Scoop the leeks out of the bowl with your hands, allowing any dirt and sediment to stay on the bottom of the bowl. Pat the leeks dry with a towel, and you’re good to go!
How to use leek greens
What’s the best way to use use leek greens? Some people say you can use them for vegetable broth, but others say that leek greens have the potential to add bitterness to recipes. Our recommendation? We discard them and add them to our compost pile: they’re great for compost! If you’re wondering how to get started composting, here’s our Composting 101 tutorial.
Tips for this potato leek soup recipe
Once you’ve cleaned and chopped the leeks for this recipe, the rest of the soup is a breeze! Here are a few more notes on making this cozy recipe:
Use thyme sprigs and bay leaf, or a bouquet garni. Whole herbs add flavor to the soup, which you’ll remove after simmering. If you like, you can use a bouquet garni, which ties the herbs in cheesecloth and kitchen string. This makes them easier to remove from the pot after simmering.
Use a standard blender, not an immersion blender. Typically we like the slick method of placing a stick blender right into a pot of soup and blending away. But with this soup, it doesn’t get it nearly creamy enough. We recommend carefully transferring to a blender (careful! the soup is hot).
Don’t lighten up on the cream. Stirring in heavy cream at the end gives just the right rich body to this soup. Don’t be tempted to use milk: it works, but it’s not nearly as satisfying.
Ways to serve potato leek soup
How to serve this potato leek soup once you’ve got a steaming pot? This pureed soup is not quite a meal on its own, since it doesn’t have a source of protein. But add a few more elements to make it a meal! Here are a few ideas:
Serve as a first course to chicken or seafood (or for Thanksgiving)
In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the leeks, celery and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, for 7 to 8 minutes until the leeks are very tender but not browned.
Add the chopped potato, vegetable broth, water, fresh thyme, bay leaf, and salt and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Remove the thyme and bay leaf.
Transfer to a blender and blend until smooth. Add the cream and blend again. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.
This creamy vegan potato soup is the stuff dreams are made of! Cozy and rustic, you’d never guess it was plant based. Here’s a recipe that’s cozy and creamy, perfect for wrapping your hands around a cup in chilly weather. Try our best Vegan Potato Soup recipe! This one is so full of flavor and impossibly dreamy that you’d swear it had cream or milk in it. Turns out, it’s easy to make a potato soup without dairy that’s the equivalent of wearing a cozy sweater next to a roaring fire. There’s no blender needed: this soup is beautifully chunky and flavored with savory Old Bay. Load it up with toppings and it’s a stunner. We couldn’t stop shoveling in bites! Ingredients in vegan potato soup What’s the magic behind this vegan potato soup? This one is a spinoff on our Loaded Potato Soup, with a few simple tweaks to make it plant based. The flavor is out of this world good. Here are the ingredients you need for a vegan potato soup: Shallots: The delicate flavor of this small onion is just what’s needed for a potato soup. Garlic Russet potatoes: Make sure to use russet potatoes here: they […]
This creamy vegan potato soup is the stuff dreams are made of! Cozy and rustic, you’d never guess it was plant based.
Here’s a recipe that’s cozy and creamy, perfect for wrapping your hands around a cup in chilly weather. Try our best Vegan Potato Soup recipe! This one is so full of flavor and impossibly dreamy that you’d swear it had cream or milk in it. Turns out, it’s easy to make a potato soup without dairy that’s the equivalent of wearing a cozy sweater next to a roaring fire. There’s no blender needed: this soup is beautifully chunky and flavored with savory Old Bay. Load it up with toppings and it’s a stunner. We couldn’t stop shoveling in bites!
Ingredients in vegan potato soup
What’s the magic behind this vegan potato soup? This one is a spinoff on our Loaded Potato Soup, with a few simple tweaks to make it plant based. The flavor is out of this world good. Here are the ingredients you need for a vegan potato soup:
Shallots: The delicate flavor of this small onion is just what’s needed for a potato soup.
Garlic
Russet potatoes: Make sure to use russet potatoes here: they have just the right texture. Waxy potatoes don’t quite work!
Coconut oil: You can also use olive oil: it will give the soup a slightly more yellow hue
All purpose flour: Substitute gluten-free flour for gluten free
Vegetable broth
Oat milk: Oat milk is the creamiest, best option here: see below!
Old Bay: Old Bay is an American seasoning blend invented in Maryland that’s popularly used to flavor seafood or potato chowder. Find it online or make it homemade.
The best non-dairy milk for potato soup?
Vegan potato soup is tricky: not only can it not use cream and butter, there’s no dairy milk allowed. What’s the best non-dairy milk to stand in that can still provide creaminess? Here’s what we’ve found:
Oat milk is perfect in vegan potato soup. It has a creamy enough texture and a neutral flavor that makes it perfect for vegan soups.
Almond milk works, but it’s less creamy. The texture of almond milk is very thin, close to water.
Not recommended: coconut milk or soy milk. Both of these non-dairy milks have too strong of a flavor for this potato soup.
No blender needed: use a potato masher!
This vegan potato soup recipe is naturally creamy: there’s no need for a blender! Cook the potatoes until they’re falling apart, then mash them right in the pot using a potato masher. This cuts down on mess, and makes for a great creamy but chunky texture (my favorite part about this easy potato soup). Personally, we love potato soups with a bit of texture: not ones that are perfectly smooth. This one hits the mark for us!
Toppings for vegan potato soup
The next challenge to a vegan potato soup recipe: what to use for toppings? With no cheese, bacon, or sour cream allowed, there’s still plenty of options! Here are our favorite toppings to make a loaded vegan potato soup:
Coconut bacon: It might sound odd, but coconut bacon really hits the mark here! Chewy and smoky, it infuses bacon-y goodness without the meat. Or try shiitake bacon or tempeh bacon.
Vegan sour cream, cashew cream or yogurt: There are a few creamy options: you can make homemade vegan sour cream or cashew cream. Or try store-bought vegan yogurt (what we used).
Chives or green onions: Thinly sliced chives or green onion tops is ultra classic for a potato soup.
Sliced orange pepper: To incorporate the orange color of shredded cheese, we used thinly sliced orange pepper: the look is remarkably similar! The flavor is good enough that you don’t need vegan cheese, though you could use it if you have a brand you love.
Variation: vegan potato leek soup
Want to make a vegan potato leek soup instead? Potato leek soup is one of life’s great pleasures: the leeks add even more savory, oniony flavor to the potato puree. Here’s what to do if you’d like to transform this soup:
Chop 3 leeks: Substitute 3 large leeks for the shallots. Chop off the dark green stems of the leeks and the bottom root, then slice them in half lengthwise. Place each leek half cut-side down on the cutting board, then chop it into thin slices, resulting in half-moon shapes, then rinse them thoroughly in a colander.
Add them in place of the shallots: Add the leeks with the garlic and cook about 4 minute until tender, then follow the remainder of the recipe.
Ways to add more protein!
Last idea for mixing up this potato leek soup: want to add more protein? You can add sliced vegan sausage to the soup and simmer until heated through, just a few minutes. We happened to have a vegan sausage in the refrigerator when we made this soup, so the next day we tried it. It’s even more filling!
When you’re shopping for a vegan meat substitute, check the package ingredients to make sure it’s not too processed. There are several brands on the market now that are made with real food ingredients: but you’ll have to review the ingredient list. Also make sure the ingredients fit your dietary preferences (some contain gluten or egg).
Sides to serve with vegan potato soup
Once you’ve got your vegan potato soup recipe, what to serve with it? There are lots of great sides to go with potato soup. Here are a few that would be fantastic here:
Mince the shallots. Mince the garlic. Peel and small dice the potatoes.
In a large pot, heat the coconut oil over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Shake the flour over the vegetables and stir to coat. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes until just starting to brown.
Slowly stir in the vegetable broth, adding it bit by bit and then stirring until mostly smooth. Once incorporated, add the oat milk, potatoes, kosher salt, and Old Bay.
Bring to a simmer and cook on low heat for 20 to 25 minutes (make sure the heat is just at a simmer and does not boil). Stir often and scrape the bottom to make sure nothing sticks. The soup will get extremely creamy; make sure to keep stirring or a skin will form on the top. It’s done when the potatoes fall apart when you mash one against the side of the pot with your spoon.
Remove from the heat. Use a potato masher to break up the potatoes so that a creamy but chunky texture forms. Stir to incorporate the mashed potatoes. Then serve topped with toppings of your choice: we used purchased vegan yogurt, thinly sliced green onions, chives, orange bell pepper, and coconut bacon. Leftovers store refrigerated for up to 5 days: reheat on the stovetop and add a splash of milk.
Notes
*To make vegan potato leek soup: Substitute 3 large leeks for the shallots. Chop off the dark green stems of the leeks and the bottom root, then slice them in half lengthwise. Place each leek half cut-side down on the cutting board, then chop it into thin slices, resulting in half-moon shapes, then rinse them thoroughly in a colander. Add the leeks with the garlic and cook about 4 minute until tender, then follow the remainder of the recipe.
Stuffing is always a popular Thanksgiving side dish, isn’t it? Basically just crispy pieces of bread intertwined with chunks of delicious veg. Almost like a warm panzanella! This vegan version is just as good – I cook down leeks and garlic until soft and sweet to fold into the crusty sourdough chunks. Then the whole thing is covered with herby broth and dotted with salty soy-coated mushrooms for those who you know might miss the meat! Other than that it’s a simple affair as that helps it pair really well with all the other side dishes you have at a roast (and definitely goes well with gravy!). The most extravagant part really is the decent amount of garlic I add whiiiich basically makes it into a big ol tray of garlic bread. Other vegan Thanksgiving recipes Vegan Pecan Pie Vegan Cauliflower Cheese Gratin Brussels Sprouts with Chestnuts & Smoky Olives Hassleback Squash with Garlic-Sage Butter
Stuffing is always a popular Thanksgiving side dish, isn’t it? Basically just crispy pieces of bread intertwined with chunks of delicious veg. Almost like a warm panzanella!
This vegan version is just as good – I cook down leeks and garlic until soft and sweet to fold into the crusty sourdough chunks. Then the whole thing is covered with herby broth and dotted with salty soy-coated mushrooms for those who you know might miss the meat! Other than that it’s a simple affair as that helps it pair really well with all the other side dishes you have at a roast (and definitely goes well with gravy!). The most extravagant part really is the decent amount of garlic I add whiiiich basically makes it into a big ol tray of garlic bread.
Preheat the oven to 200C (400F) and grease a medium roasting dish (around 1.5 litre capacity) with a bit of extra olive oil.
Heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the coins of sliced leek and season with a pinch of salt. Stir to coat with oil and turn the heat to low. Leave to cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring every now and then, until soft. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 more minute. Tip the cooked leeks and garlic into a large bowl.
Place the frying pan back on the heat and add the mushrooms to the pan with a pinch of salt. Allow to cook, stirring often, until most of the water has been drawn out and evaporated from the mushrooms. Once you see them start to brown, add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, the white pepper and soy sauce and let cook until reduced and dry. Set aside to cool.
To the bowl of leeks add the vegetable broth, rosemary, thyme and bread cubes. Stir to allow the bread to soak up the liquid. Tip into the prepared roasting dish. Dot with spoonfuls of the soy sauce mushrooms. Drizzle with a bit of extra olive oil.
Bake for 25-35 minutes until the top is crisp and starting to brown. Serve hot.
Notes
To make ahead:
Prepare up until just before you bake it. Cover the dish (I just use a baking sheet to cover it) and place in the fridge for up to 2 days. Uncover and bake straight from the fridge, no need to bring to room temperature.
Have you made this recipe? I’d love to see how it went! Tag me on instagram @izyhossack and hashtag it #topwithcinnamon so I can have a look & reshare in my stories!
Potato Leek Soup is a classic! Nothing’s better than a bowl of hearty potato soup on a chilly day. And it’s easy, too! No cream needed, just purée the soup to make it thick and creamy. Continue reading “Potato Leek Soup” »
Potato Leek Soup is a classic! Nothing's better than a bowl of hearty potato soup on a chilly day. And it's easy, too! No cream needed, just purée the soup to make it thick and creamy.