Ultra Creamy Potato Leek Soup Recipe

Leeks may look like oversized green onions or scallions, but they have a much milder flavor and can taste slightly sweet. They're often paired with potatoes in soups, such as Julia Child's favorite, vichyssoise. They add just the right hint of oniony flavor without overwhelming the earthy, starchy potatoes.

Developer Julianne DeWitt's potato leek soup is fairly similar to vichyssoise, but it includes sour cream in addition to heavy cream, an ingredient she says "adds to the creaminess and provides a little tang." This soup, she tells us, is "comforting, delicious, and easy to prepare."

On its own, this potato leek soup could make for a tasty first course for dinner or a light lunch. Meal preppers, take note: It lasts up to three days in the fridge, tastes even better the second day, and even freezes well. For a heartier meal, you can serve the soup with a green salad, a bread roll, or a sandwich. DeWitt feels it would go well with a BLT, but a BLP (bacon, lettuce, and pickle) sandwich would also make for a fun pairing.

The main ingredients in this soup are leeks and yellow potatoes, and they're combined with chicken stock, heavy cream, and sour cream. Additional ingredients that you need for cooking and flavoring include olive oil, butter, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper.

Thinly slice the white and light green parts of the leeks.

Peel the potatoes and cut them into quarters.

Add the butter and olive oil to a large soup pot over medium heat.

Add the leeks and garlic and cook until the leeks are soft, approximately 5 minutes.

Add the stock, potatoes, and thyme.

Bring to a boil, then simmer for 25 minutes, or until the potatoes are very soft.

Using an immersion blender, blend the ingredients until smooth.

Add the sour cream, heavy cream, salt, and pepper. Stir.

Ladle the soup into bowls. Drizzle with chile oil and sprinkle with scallions, if desired.

Making the tastiest potato leek soup starts with the ingredients. Yellow potatoes are soft enough for boiling and blending, and they're not super-starchy like baking potatoes. They also have a slightly sweet flavor that complements that of the leeks. This soup is made with just the white and light green parts of the leek, not the tougher, slightly bitter tops. But, there's no need to throw those out — they can be repurposed to make a tasty garnish (more on that in a minute).

To ensure that your soup blends as smoothly as possible, cook the vegetables until the leeks are soft and the potatoes are practically falling apart. While the directions specify using an emulsion blender, if you don't own such a gadget, it's okay to use a stand blender. In this case, though, allow the soup to cool for five minutes before you begin blending. You may also need to work in batches since you should only ever fill a blender halfway with warm soup. Otherwise, the soup may shoot out the top and cause quite a mess.

If you aspire to a waste-free kitchen, you probably won't want to throw out your leek tops, nor should you. Instead, you can soak them in cold water for five minutes, then fry them for another five to seven minutes in oil or butter to brown them. Once you season the fried leek tops with salt and pepper, you'll have the perfect garnish to complement your potato leek soup. Other green soup toppers that you can use in place of the scallions shown here include extra thyme, chopped parsley, chives, or sliced jalapeños. You could also opt for a different color scheme by using roasted red peppers.

If you'd rather skip the chile oil drizzle, you may do so, but another option is to replace it with olive oil or cream, or swirl some sour cream on top of the soup. To add some texture, you might also wish to sprinkle the bowl with crunchy bacon bits, croutons, or even popcorn.