This Vegan Potato Leek Soup is the perfect soup for those chilly winter days when you feel like eating something comforting, healthy, and delicious. Our Leek and Potato Soup is creamy from the added cashews and served with crispy leeks on top. Your whole family will love this satisfying one-pot meal!
Why you will love this creamy vegan soup
I am just a big soup lover and this delicious soup is a great meal to prepare for the family while batch cooking for the week. You just add the ingredients to a big pot, leave them simmering and blend them to your favorite texture at the end.
Potato Leek Soup is such an easy one-pot meal to make, using just a few ingredients that you will most probably have already at home such as potatoes, leek, onion, celery vegetable stock, and cashews.
We use cashews to make this soup plant-based while keeping it hearty and creamy.
It is naturally gluten-free and at home, we serve it with crispy leeks, which add a satisfying crunch to your meal.
The best part? You can make this meal in 30 minutes!
Our Potato Leek Soup recipe is:
- Vegan
- Gluten-free
- A winter soup
- Creamy
- Family-friendly
- Comforting
How to make the best Creamy Vegan Potato Leek Soup
Ingredients
Potatoes. To make this creamy soup you can get Russet potatoes, Purple potatoes, Yellow or Yuko Gold potatoes, New red potatoes, or any other type of potatoes that are great for soups to add a creamy texture.
Leek. You will need just the and light green and white parts of the leek. You can keep the rest in the freezer for when you want to make vegetable stock. Make sure you clean the leeks carefully as they can come with soil in between layers.
Garlic, onion, and celery. These are optional ingredients, as the main ingredients for this wintery soup are leeks and potatoes but they add flavor and more nutrients to the meal. We use red onion but you can use white or yellow onion or shallots.
Cashews. We use raw unsalted cashews for this recipe as they add a creamy texture to the soup while adding protein as well. You can use other nuts such as almonds or macadamia. If you want to make this recipe nut-free, try using unsweetened soy milk or coconut milk.
Seasoning. For our vegan Potato Leek Soup recipe we use a combination of nutmeg, black pepper, and salt. You can add other spices such as white pepper, garlic powder, nutritional yeast, or cinnamon.
Sage. We love using fresh herbs when possible and sage is always at its best during the winter months at home. We add fresh sage but you could add rosemary, thyme, oregano, bay leaf, or basil, whether is fresh or dried.
Vegan Butter. We use vegan butter to sauté the vegetables. You can use olive oil, or another vegetable oil alternatively.
Vegetable broth. To add extra flavor to this delicious soup we use vegetable broth. You can use water alternatively but may need to adjust the amount of salt.
Step-by-Step Method
- Heat some vegan butter or olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. We like using our cast-iron pot or dutch oven when we make soups. Once the butter has melted, add chopped onion, celery, and leek. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes until the leek starts to soften.
- Add finely chopped garlic, black pepper, nutmeg, and the sage finely chopped and sauté for an additional 2-3 minutes or until the garlic is fragrant.
- Pour in your vegetable broth and add the cashews and potatoes cut into medium-size cubes. Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.
- Blend the soup using an immersion blender or a food processor. Blend until the soup is smooth and creamy. Adjust with salt and pepper and serve.
Variations to our Vegan Potato Soup
- Make it nut-free. You can use coconut milk or coconut cream to prepare the soup keeping it creamy but nut-free.
- Make it vegetarian. You can use heavy cream and regular butter to make this soup vegetarian.
- Blend the soup to your favorite texture. For our Vegan Potato Leek Soup, we blend it until is smooth as that is how our kid Luca likes it the most, but you can partially blend it so it keeps a little texture from the potatoes, cashews, and veggies.
- Change the herbs and spices. You can use other spices such as white pepper, cinnamon, and cloves, or herbs such as oregano, basil, rosemary, or thyme. They will slightly change the flavor and aroma of the dish to your taste.
- Toppings. Something that I love about making soup is the toppings that we prepare to serve them. For this leek and potato soup we use crispy leeks. They are fun to make and absolutely delicious. You can add other toppings such as vegan cheese, croutons, fresh chives, green onions, or crispy onions.
- Add more veggies. We kept this vegan soup recipe basic so you can make it easy with the ingredients that you have on hand but there are other veggies you can add to this soup such as carrots, parsnip, cauliflower, broccoli, or sweet potato.
How to make Crispy Leeks
Crispy leeks are easy and fun to make and they are a lovely addition to your soups as they add a satisfying crunch to those first spoonfuls.
To make crunchy leeks, simply cut the white part of the leek into thin and long slices. Coat them with cornflour and deep fry them using a small frying pan so you won't need to add much oil.
We fry the leek into batches so we don't overcrowd the pan and they cook nicely. Once they are golden, transfer them onto a plate with kitchen paper to release any excess oil.
Serving Suggestion
At home, soup and bread go together. We like serving our wintery soups with some freshly baked crusty bread or croutons and vegan butter or oil, and this creamy vegan potato leek soup is no exception.
To add some crunch to this one-pot meal, we add crispy leeks and some black pepper to enhance that lovely peppery flavor. You can add as well a drizzle of olive oil.
Store
You can store any leftover soup in the fridge or freezer using an airtight container. This soup freezes well, making it a perfect soup for batch cooking.
Check out what other Vegan Spring Soups we enjoy at home.
FAQ & Tips
- What are the best potatoes to make soup? According to "The Best Homes and gardens" the best potatoes to use to make soups are Russet potatoes, Purple potatoes, Yellow or Yuko Gold potatoes, or New red potatoes.
- Can I make this recipe nut-free? Yes. You can use coconut milk instead.
- How can I add extra protein to this soup? You can serve the soup topped with smoky tempeh or tofu.
- To blend the soup you can use an immersion blender or a regular blender. If you are using a blender jug, make sure you do it in batches to not overcrowd the jug when the soup is hot. fill it just halfway and repeat until all the soup is blended.
- Is the traditional Potato Leek Soup vegan? Normally no. Potato Leek Soup is normally cooked with chicken broth or chicken stock. As well, to sauté the vegetables, regular butter and heavy cream are used to make this meal creamy. Our recipe uses vegetable broth or stock, vegan butter and cashew cream as plant-based alternatives to the ingredients used traditionally.
Creamy Vegan Potato Leek Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegan butter or 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion
- 2 leeks
- 1 celery stalk
- 2 garlic cloves
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- A pinch black pepper
- 5-6 sage leaves fresh
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- ⅔ cups cashews
- 16 oz potatoes
- Salt and pepper to taste
- crispy leek for garnish optional
Crispy Leeks
- 1 leek just the white part
- 1 tablespoon cornflour
- oil to fry
Instructions
- Prepare the vegetables. Chop the onion, celery, the white and light green part of the leeks and.
- Finely chop the garlic and peel and cut into medium-size cubes the potatoes.
- Heat some vegan butter or olive oil in a big pot and once the butter has melted, add the onion, celery, and leek. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes until the leek starts to soften.
- Add garlic, black pepper, nutmeg, and the sage finely chopped and sauté for an additional 2-3 minutes or until the garlic is fragrant.
- Pour in the vegetable broth and add the cashews and potatoes.
- Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.
- Blend the soup using an immersion blender or a food processor. Blend until the soup is smooth and creamy.
- Adjust with salt and pepper and serve.
For the crispy leeks
- Cut the white part of a leek in thin and long slices.
- Coat them with cornflour and heat frying oil in a small frying pan.
- Fry the leek into batches so you don't overcrowd the pan and they cook nicely.
- Once they are golden, transfer them onto a plate with kitchen paper to release any excess oil. Add some sea salt and they are ready to top your soup.
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If you tried our recipe, please leave a comment or tag us on Instagram @sixhungryfeet. We are always happy to see your creations!
Stephanie says
Delicious! I used a little extra sage but other than that, followed the recipe. I will definitely be making this again and again.
Laura Arteaga says
Thank you Stephanie!