A wholesome chunky potato leek soup prepared with fresh ingredients and a selection of soup spices and herbs
This soup is for you if you are looking for a budget-friendly meal or a simple healthier homemade dinner.
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with Spices and Herbs
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🧅 Ingredients
Here is what you will need to prepare this potato leek soup from scratch.
All ingredients with adjustable US or metric measurements can be found in the recipe card further below.
- Olive Oil – extra virgin
- Onion - truthfully any will do. You can use whichever you have at home, yellow, white, or purple.
- Garlic
- Potato – pick a quick cooking mealy/starchy potato variety such as Russet potatoes. If you want your potatoes to hold shape, use a variety like Yukon Gold.
- Leek – freshly sliced
- Broth – I like to use vegetable broth, but you can opt for chicken or beef stock too.
- Salt
- Black Pepper – freshly crushed is the best!
- Bay Leaf – a must for all soups
- Nutmeg – a soup spice that you can't miss adding
- Juniper Berries – optional and ok to skip if you can't get it. But a typical soup spice.
- Thyme – adds a nice fresh Mediterraneans french touch to your soup. You can use dried or fresh thyme.
- Lovage – a herb made for soups. Lovage is also known as Maggie herb because it has a typical soup taste. If you can't get it, skip it, but if you are serious about cooking soup, then this is a spice pantry must have. Use fresh or dried.
- Parsley or Chervil – chervil is preferred, but can be switched with parsley, as it resembles parsley. You can use fresh or dried.
🔪 How to make it?
To help you get going, I have prepared a quick overview in 3 easy to follow steps.
You will find the complete recipe with detailed instructions further below in the printable recipe card.
Step 1
Prepare fresh ingredients.
Slice onion, chop garlic, clean and slice leek and cut potato into chunks.
Step 2
Sauté onion, garlic, leek, and potato.
Stir in stock and spices.
Step 3
Simmer the soup until all ingredients are cooked through.
Pick out whole spices and discard. Serve up your soup hot.
💡 Tips
- The smaller you cut your potatoes, the faster they will cook through.
- If you don't know how to clean leeks. This handy guide to cleaning and cutting leeks will be useful!
- You can choose to cut your ingredients into bigger or smaller chunks.
- The seasoning that I picked for this soup is specially made for soups. The spices and herbs are known as soup seasonings.
- I don't recommend skipping any of the spices but if you can't get juniper berries or lovage, you can skip those two. If you intend to make more soups in the future, get lovage and juniper and keep in your pantry.
- Simmer your soup covered so that all ingredients boil and cook through faster. This will also save some energy and the liquids in your soups won't condense that quickly.
- You may switch the vegetable broth with beef or chicken stock.
🍴 Serving Ideas
You can serve your homemade leek potato soup in bowls or in soup plates.
I love this soup with a quick garlic bread, slices of classic baguette or artisan full-grain breads such as spelt flour bread.
A small side dish salad is a suitable addition to your soup for dinner. We enjoy a simple green lettuce salad, a shredded carrot salad or a green bean salad.
🍱 Storing Instructions
Leftovers of your chunky potato leek soup can be beautifully stored in the fridge for up to 7 days.
Store your soup in a rectangular or square glass container and cover with a lid.
That way you can just take it directly out of the fridge, minus the lid, and reheat your soup in the oven or microwave.
Another idea is to double the recipe and freeze in two batches or more. Thaw overnight in the fridge or place it in the oven to reheat and defrost gradually.
💭 FAQs
Potatoes release starch when mashed or when overcooked, and then they get gummy or gluey. You can avoid that by not over mixing your soup, by not overcooking your potatoes or by using a different variety of potatoes, such as yukon gold (semi mealy)
This soup is vegan if you follow the base recipe. The soup is also gluten-free but not low-carb or keto. On the flip side it's more low-calorie than most soups.
👁️ More Chunky Vegetable Soups and Stews
- French Ratatouille
- Nourishing Vegetable soup
- Thai inspired Spiced Vegetable Soup
- Moussaka Stew
- Chunky Vegetable Soup
📖 Recipe
Chunky Potato Leek Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 large Onion purple, white or yellow
- 1-2 clove Garlic large
- 1½ pound Potato mealy variety such as Russet
- 1 large Leek
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil extra virgin olive oil
- 32 ounces Vegetable Broth homemade, carton, canned or bouillon mixed in water
- ⅛ Teaspoon Black Pepper ground
- 1 piece Bay Leaf
- 4-5 pieces Juniper Berries optional
- ⅛ Teaspoon Nutmeg
- 1 Teaspoon Lovage optional but I wouldn't skip it!
- ½ Teaspoon Parsley or Chervil
- ½ Teaspoon Thyme
- ¼ Teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- Prepare your fresh vegetables. Slice onion, chop garlic, slice leek and peel+ cut potato into chunks.1 large Onion, 1-2 clove Garlic, 1 large Leek, 1½ pound Potato
- Keep all soup ingredients ready.
- Heat up a soup pot and pour in olive oil. Keep over a medium heat setting and wait for it to get a bit hot.1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- Stir in sliced onion. Sauté until soft or they have gained color.1 large Onion
- Stir in sliced leek. Stir cook over a medium heat setting. Leave to sauté covered and control the heat, keeping it over a slower flame until the leek is turning a bit soft.1 large Leek
- Stir in garlic and potato chunks. Sauté briefly, stirring occasionally. Keep over medium heat.1-2 clove Garlic, 1½ pound Potato
- Pour in vegetable broth.32 ounces Vegetable Broth
- Add your seasoning: black pepper, bay leaf, juniper berries, nutmeg, lovage, parsley or chervil, thyme and salt. Mix it all well.⅛ Teaspoon Black Pepper ground, 1 piece Bay Leaf, 4-5 pieces Juniper Berries, ⅛ Teaspoon Nutmeg, 1 Teaspoon Lovage, ½ Teaspoon Parsley or Chervil, ½ Teaspoon Thyme, ¼ Teaspoon Salt
- Cover your soup pot and simmer for 35 minutes over a slow to medium heat setting or until all ingredients are cooked through. Uncover for the last 5 minutes.
- Pick out whole spices and discard. Taste and see if it needs more salt.
- Serve up your soup hot.
Notes
- You can use either purple, white or yellow onions. It's up to what you have in your pantry.
- 1 large leek equals about 2 small leek
- You can use homemade veg broth clear soup or commercially available broth such as from a carton, can or bouillon cubes. If you use bouillon cubes or powder mix it into hot water of the same quantity.
- Juniper is optional because not everyone can get it. But if you can get it, and you love soups, then keep it stocked in your pantry. It's an essential soup spice.
- Lovage is quite optional too because it's not always commonly available. Yet, it's another great soup herb, aka Maggie herb. You can use dried or garden-fresh lovage, both are almost equally flavorful.
- Bay leaf, nutmeg, and chervil are also common soup spices and herbs.
- If you can't get chervil, use parsley as a substitute. They are related herbs.
- Thyme rounds up all the flavors in this soup.
Equipment
- 1 8" Chef Knife
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