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Instant Pot Leek And Potato Soup – quick and easy to make in an electric pressure cooker. Creamy, flavorful and delicious soup, that requires minimal ingredients and effort to prepare. Perfect for the whole family, made and served year round.
This potato soup is thick and creamy, comforting and perfect to pair with pretty much any meal. French cuisine classic, that has gained a lot of popularity. A few simple steps to follow for an amazing restaurant quality soup made at home. The perfect “made from scratch” cold weather soup.
Don’t own a pressure cooker? Try our Stove top Leek and potato soup instead. The soup can be made in a slow cooker, but it takes longer time.
I’ve been making most of my soups in the Instant pot lately. And this Potato and leek soup is not an exception.
Potatoes could sometimes take forever to cook. I’m the type op person, that will always cook soup on the stove top, because let’s be honest: A lot of soups take only 30 minutes to make on the stove top. Even though a lot of Instant Pot soup recipes say “pressure cook for 10 minutes”, Pressure cookers require between 5 and 15 minutes to reach pressure. Then the pressure float valve will pop up, the Instant Pot will beep and show the minutes you’ve set for cooking.
Ingredients:
- Leeks – leeks are one of the main ingredients in the recipe. It is important that you pick leeks that are nice and dark blue green at the top. The bottom (white part) should be at least 3 inches or 7 cm long at harvest. To prep the leeks you cut off the green part (We are only using the white). Cut off the root as well. Then the half of the white part (the one on the root side), which is pure white, you can slice after washing. The other part (greenish white), you need to peel 1-2 layers, wash and slice. Keep in mind, that leeks are “dirty – have dirt between the layers) and this needs to be thoroughly washed. Cut the white part lengthwise, then wash off the dirt inside and cut into half rings. You can store unwashed leeks wrapped in plastic wrap in the fridge for 2 weeks or more. These keep well in the fridge.
- Potatoes – what type of potatoes work best for this soup?
Best potatoes for this soup (and for soups in general) are waxy potatoes like Yukon Gold in my opinion. With thin skin, high moisture and not too high starch content, these work for soups, where we need the potatoes to hold their shape or can be blended for creamy soups.
Russet potatoes will work in this recipe, too. Keep in mind that soup made with them will be thicker, because they are more starchy. You may not need cream or half and half in this case.
- Chicken or vegetable stock (depending if the soup is vegan or not)
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Half and half or heavy cream. For dairy free soup, use either coconut (canned) or almond milk. This ingredient is optional for me. The soup hets a lot of creaminess from the potatoes.
- Water + cornstarch to thicken the soup – optional, potatoes are quite starchy
- Toppings
While the original recipe does not include carrots in it, I’ve tried adding a carrot (about 1/3 cup of chopped carrots), when I make this soup for my kids and the result was super delicious.
How long to cook leek and potato soup in the Instant Pot
After you sauté the leeks for 3-5 minutes, add the rest of the ingredients and close the lid of the Instant Pot. Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes with either natural of quick release.
How to garnish
The type of garnishing you use, depends on the kind of soup you are making. There are two options – vegan or non vegan soup.
For Vegan soup, some toppings could include:
- Hemp hearts
- Nutritional yeast
- Vegan cheese
- Chopped nuts
- Coconut cream (a drizzle of it)
- A drizzle of olive oil
- Chopped herbs
- Spices
- A drizzle of lemon
Remember, the vegan toppings could be consumed by non vegan people.
For non vegan potato and leek soup, the toppings I recommend are:
- Crumbled bacon
- Parmesan cheese
- A scoop of yogurt or sour cream
How about add-ons? My grandmother once made this soup and added cooked sausage to it. It tasted really good! The soup was also extra filling.
The best way to serve this Instant Pot potato leek soup is with some crusty bread. This No Knead Dutch Oven Bread is my all time favorite.
How to store this soup?
Store in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat on the stove top or in the microwave. If the soup appears too thick, add a little bit of water to thin it. You may then need to add some more salt/pepper to balance the taste.
More Instant Pot recipes:
Instant Pot Leek And Potato Soup
Video
Equipment
- Pressure cooker
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- 4 cups chopped leeks, about 4-5 leeks
- 3 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
- 1 tsp salt, or to taste, depending on the stock you are using
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- Pinch of nutmeg, optional
- 4-5 cups chicken stock
- 1 lb Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces
- 1/2 cup half and half, optional
- Toppings like bacon, olive oil parsley
- 1 tsp cornstarch + 1 tablespoon cold water
Instructions
- Set Instant Pot to Sauté . Add the oil and butter, let the butter melt.
- Add the chopped leeks and stir. Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add garlic and cook for 1 minute, stirring occasionally.
- Add the potatoes, salt, pepper, stock, nutmeg and close the lid. Set the valve to seal and cook for 10 minutes on high pressure.
- You can do natural release to quick release. It doesn’t really matter.If you choose natural release, the soup will be very soft and smooth, if you prefer chunky soup, do quick release.
- Blend the soup (half or all of it). Add the half and half and cornstarch mixture. Set the Instant pot to Sauté and cook for 1-2 minutes, keeping an eye on the soup, so it can thicken.
- Store in the fridge in an air tight container for 1 week.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This looks like a viable recipe. But need some clarification on the recipe for the garlic !! How is it cut? Chopped or minced? Line 3 of recipe needs to be updated. It says Ass instead of Add
The garlic is pressed. Line 3 is updated, thank you!
Perfect for chilly day