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This Vegan Potato Leek Soup blends buttery leeks, creamy potatoes, and rich coconut milk together for the ultimate rainy day comfort food. Gluten-Free and Grain-Free, Oil-Free Option.
This incredibly rich and creamy Vegan Potato Leek Soup transforms a handful of simple, wholesome ingredients into a silky, soul-soothing side dish or light lunch. Treat yourself to a bowl on a rainy day or make it during your Sunday meal prep. As a bonus, it’s easy to prep in 10 minutes and made in one pot!
Table of Contents
A Dairy-Free Twist on a Creamy Classic
Did you know that potato leek soup dates back to 19th century France? This classic version is called Vichyssoise or Potage à la Parmentier (after French agronomist and nutritionist, Antoine-Augustin Parmentier) and is made with lots of heavy cream and served cold.
I have nothing against the traditional French recipe, but when I want to warm up during the chilly fall and winter months, I need my creamy soups to be piping hot. That’s exactly why I keep this warm Vegan Leek and Potato Soup Recipe on repeat once the weather turns. It’s one of my favorite comfort foods!
While it’s just as rich and indulgent as the classic, my leek potato soup has a dairy-free, plant-based twist. Each bowl is soul-warming and has a wonderful depth of flavor, all thanks to simple and wholesome ingredients like leeks, yellow potatoes, fresh herbs, and coconut milk. If you’re as much of a fan of creamy potato soup recipes (like my Vegan Potato Soup and my Creamy Parsnip Soup) as I am, you’re guaranteed to love this recipe as well!
Ingredients for Potato Leek Soup
This potato leek soup calls for about 10 basic ingredients but tastes anything but. These are the key items you need:
- Leeks: leeks are in the onion family, which explains this soup’s sweet, grassy, and oniony flavors. When you’re shopping, look for leeks with long white and light green stems—these parts are tender, and you’ll get the most bang for your buck! You’ll only need the white and light green parts for the soup, but you can save the dark green ends for homemade vegetable broth or to fry and serve as a soup topping, à la my Creamy Mushroom Leek Pasta.
- Celery: you don’t typically see celery in potato leek soup recipes, but I like how it helps the soup’s savory flavors pop.
- Herbs: the fresh garlic, thyme sprigs, and bay leaf in this soup yield a vibrant, aromatic flavor that can’t be beat!
- Potatoes: opt for Yukon gold potatoes. Once they’re cooked and blended, they give the soup an indulgent and creamy consistency, almost as if it were made with real cream! Russet potatoes will work as a not-as-creamy substitute, but avoid waxy potato varieties such as red potatoes. They’re better off being used to make these Breakfast Potatoes.
- Broth: I find vegan-friendly “chicken”-flavored broth to be the most flavorful. Vegetable stock—homemade or store-bought—also never fails.
- Coconut Milk: a can of full-fat coconut milk adds an extra hit of creaminess here. Coconut cream also works well if you prefer a more decadent, thicker soup.
How to Make Vegan Potato Leek Soup
- Melt the butter in a large pot. Add the chopped leeks and a pinch of salt and pepper, then sauté until the leeks have shrunk in size.
- Add the celery, garlic, thyme, bay leaves, and more salt and pepper to the pot. Sauté until they’re soft and fragrant.
- Stir in the potatoes, broth, coconut milk, and water and heat to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are fork tender.
- Blend the soup until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve the warm soup in bowls topped with your favorite toppings. Enjoy!
Caitlin’s Cooking Tips
- Clean those leeks! Leeks, with their many folds and layers, are notoriously dirty. To clean them thoroughly, chop off the root end and dark green parts, slice the leek in half lengthwise, and rinse it under cold running water. Open up each layer to make sure you wash all of that dirt away. This helpful video tutorial by the Food Network shows you how it’s done!
- Use a blender with a venting lid: When blending hot soups, a dangerous amount of steam can build up inside the blender and cause the lid to blow off—yikes! To avoid this, leave a gap in the lid or use a blender with a venting lid and blend on low speed until the soup is smooth.
- No blender? No problem: You can blend this soup in your food processor instead. Like in a high-speed blender, leave enough space at the top for the hot soup to expand, then blend until it’s silky smooth.
Serving Suggestions
With the perfect balance between light and comforting, potato leek soup always makes for a satisfying light lunch or side dish with dinner. I highly recommend pairing each bowl with a hunk of crusty bread for dunking and garnishing it with lots of toppings, like frizzled leeks, a dollop of vegan sour cream, herby croutons, a drizzle of olive oil, or vegan bacon bits for extra body and flavor.
This rich yet wholesome soup would be a fantastic side dish for heartier main dishes, such as my Vegan Lentil Loaf, this Kale & Sweet Potato Quinoa Salad, and this Marvelous Mushroom Pot Pie.
Serving this soup as a meal? Feel free to top it with my Crispy Tofu, this crumbled Smoky Tempeh, or roasted chickpeas to help you stay fuller longer.
If you’re looking for more creamy vegan soup recipes, you’ll also love this Butternut Squash Soup, this Creamy Tomato & Red Pepper Soup, this Vegan Tortellini Soup, and this Feel-Good Red Lentil Soup!
How to Store Leftover Vegan Potato Leek Soup
Once it’s cool, transfer the leftover potato and leek soup to an airtight container. It will keep for up to 5 days in the fridge or up to 2 months in the freezer. Let the frozen leftovers thaw in the fridge for 1 to 2 days before reheating.
Reheat the leftover soup in the microwave or a small saucepan on the stovetop until it’s heated through and silky smooth once again.
Substitutions and Variations
- Oil-Free Option: Sauté the aromatics and leeks in a splash of water or broth if you prefer an oil-free dish.
- Coconut Milk Substitution: If you have a coconut allergy or you’re out of coconut milk, use full-fat oat milk, unsweetened vegan creamer, or homemade cashew cream (3/4 cup soaked cashews blended with 1 cup water until smooth) instead.
- Protein Boost: Blend 1 can of drained and rinsed soft white beans (like cannellini beans) into the soup for a boost of plant protein.
Recipe FAQs
It was probably blended for too long. Potatoes release their starches when over-mashed or over-blended, which will make the soup gluey and gummy. Only blend until it’s smooth.
No, not really. Most of the coconut flavor disappears after simmering, so all you’re left with is a creamy soup.
The key is to sauté the leeks low and slow for the full 6 to 8 minutes in a quality fat such as oil or vegan butter. This allows the natural sugars in the leeks to caramelize and infuses them with the rich flavors from the fat, giving you an overall better-tasting soup.
I haven’t tested this recipe in the Instant Pot yet. If you’re looking for Instant Pot soup recipes, check out this similar Instant Pot Potato Spinach Soup or try this Quick Vegan Minestrone Soup.
Yes, you can make this soup 1 to 2 days in advance and keep it in the fridge until it’s time to eat. The flavors get even better as it sits!
Enjoy! If you make this recipe and decide to share it on Facebook or Instagram, don’t forget to tag me @FromMyBowl + #FromMyBowl! I would also love it if you could leave a comment below with a recipe rating! Thank you for the support 😊
Comforting Vegan Potato Leek Soup
Ingredients
- 3-4 leeks see instructions for cleaning
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or vegan butter
- 2 stalks of celery chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes (no need to peel)
- 4 cups imitation “chicken” broth or sub vegetable broth
- 1 cup water
- 1 13.5- ounce can full-fat coconut milk (see notes for substitutions)
- Serving suggestions: chives or green onions croutons, chopped parsley, etc.
Instructions
- Prep the Leeks: Cut the root ends and dark green parts off of the leeks, leaving only the tender white and light green parts. Cut each leek in half lengthwise, then run under water until clean, making sure to check the outer few layers of the leek for hidden dirt. Chop into ¼” pieces. Prepare the remaining ingredients, if you haven’t already
- Sauté Aromatics: Melt the butter in a dutch oven or large pot over medium heat. Add the chopped leeks along with a pinch of salt and pepper. Sauté for 6 to 8 minutes, until the leeks are translucent and their volume has reduced by half. Add the celery, garlic, thyme, bay leaves, and additional salt and pepper (I used ½ teaspoon of each) to the pot and sauté for an additional 2 minutes, until the garlic is fragrant.
- Simmer: Add the potatoes, broth, coconut milk, and water to the pot and stir well. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Then, reduce the heat to medium and maintain a simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork-tender.
- Blend: Use an immersion blender to blend the soup until smooth, or carefully transfer the soup to a blender with a venting lid and blend until smooth. I prefer my soup to be smooth, but you can leave a portion of it unblended for a chunkier texture, if you wish. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste if necessary. If the soup is too thick for your liking, thin it out with more water or broth.
- Serve: Serve warm, topped with chopped chives, parsley, celery leaves, or croutons. Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or can be stored in the freezer in jars or airtight containers for up to 2 months.
Recipe Notes
- Coconut Milk: I don’t find that there is a big coconut taste in this recipe after simmering. That being said, you can also use equal parts full-fat oat milk, or an unsweetened vegan creamer. You can also make your own homemade cashew cream by blending 3/4 cup soaked cashews with 1 cup water.
- Make it Smoky: if you want to add an imitation “bacon” flavor, add 1/2 teaspoon of liquid smoke along with the coconut milk and broth in step 3!
- Potatoes: I recommend using yukon gold potatoes for this because of their waxy texture, which will make the soup more thick and creamy. Red potatoes would be an okay substitute, but I don’t recommend using Russet Potatoes as they are a bit too starchy and dry.
Easy to make and tastes so good
I’m so happy you loved it!
Please disregard previous comment…I conflated this recipe with another I made at the same time. I did NOT put shallots in this soup in place of onions, because there are no onions in this recipe! This IS however the recipe about which my boyfriend raved and kept saying the soup was so good and basically claimed the leftovers for himself telling me what he would like to have with them for lunch today!
Delicious! Will definitely make again!
so glad you both enjoyed!!
Oh my goodness…this is SO good. I made it yesterday and my boyfriend said at least three times during dinner how much he liked it. It’s definitely going in my recipe journal for future meals! I did substitute one shallot for the diced onion (I think this was a huge flavor enhancement), and I used baby red potatoes.
Thank you Heather! I love how you made the recipe your own too 🙂
I absolutely love this soup! It made on the rotation :). I like to sub the coconut milk with some silken tofu (at the blending stage) to add some protein and make it more meal-like.
Love that idea!!
Oh…I wish I would have read this before I made the soup yesterday…I’m DEFINITELY going to try your modification and add tofu in the future! Thanks for the tip!