When it comes to soups, what’s your favorite? For me, nothing beats a hearty bowl of potato soup, unless of course it’s a hearty bowl of potato soup topped with bacon. Bacon wins every time. I’ve recently been trying out potato soup variations in my Instant Pot and I’m pleased to tell you that I’ve got a winning recipe to share with you today. This Instant Pot Potato Leek Soup is a crowd-pleasing, super easy recipe even an Instant Pot beginner can make.
While leeks may not be something I stock the fridge with each week, I’m beginning to think I should. They’re incredibly versatile, and they add just the right depth of flavor to a dish. Slightly peppery, they have a similar taste profile to the onion, though leeks are much more mild. In this soup, they serve to add a complementary layer of flavor to the potatoes. Whereas a traditional baked potato soup is fairly one dimensional until it’s topped, this soup can easily stand alone, though the addition of bacon raises the bar.
Start to finish, this Instant Pot Potato Leek Soup can be made in forty minutes or less, and much of that time is inactive, meaning you can pay bills, do some online shopping or catch up with Facebook while dinner makes itself. Win win, right?
If you’ve got family coming in for the holidays, this is a great dinner option. It can easily be kept warm until the whole gang is ready to eat and because the flavors are so familiar, it’s really quite crowd-pleasing. It can served alone or together with a seasonal green salad or grilled turkey sandwiches with melted pepper jack cheese. Of course, even if it’s just your immediate family, this Instant Pot Potato Leek Soup is an excellent, creamy and delicious choice.
Instant Pot Potato Leek Soup
Ingredients
- 3 leeks
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3.5 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes
- 5 cups chicken stock
- 1.5 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled *optional
- chopped chives *optional
Instructions
- Peel the potatoes and cut them into 1-inch cubes.
- Thoroughly rinse leeks, being careful to scrub dirt from between all the layers. Leeks can be stubborn to clean so take extra caution to complete this step well. When leeks are properly rinsed, cut off the root ball and the dark green leaves. Slice the remaining stalk of the leek very thinly.
- Set your Instant Pot to the sauté function. When it's hot, add butter until it's melted. Then, add the thinly-sliced leeks and sauté them until they're fragrant and mostly translucent -- about five minutes. Add minced garlic to the leek and butter mixture and continue to sauté just until the garlic is fragrant, one minute or less.
- Add potatoes, chicken stock, salt, thyme and bay leaves to the pot. Place the Instant Pot lid and lock it into place. Move the valve to the "sealing" position.
- Program the Instant Pot for the manual setting with a cooking time of 10 minutes.
- When the Instant Pot signals the cooking is complete, allow it to depressurize naturally for 10 minutes.
- Move the valve to the "venting" position and allow complete depressurization until the pin drops. Remove the lid.
- Using a potato masher, gently smash some of the potatoes, leaving about 1/2 in chunks. Stir in 1/4 cup heavy cream until combined.
- Top with bacon and chives if desired and serve.
Nutrition Information:
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 309Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 35mgSodium: 675mgFiber: 5gSugar: 6gProtein: 9g
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I stopped at the store on my way home from work to grab some leeks and made this last night. So good. I added a sprinkle of white cheddar on top and it was perfect.
YUM! I love potato leek soup but for some reason hadn’t made it in ages. So long, in fact, that I could not locate my original recipe, so this one entered my life at just the right time. We had a serious cold spell here a few weeks ago and I took the opportunity to make this in the Instapot while we were sledding outside. Not a bad way to cook. ;)
I followed the recipe exactly as written and it was outstanding. Our whole family loved it and it was simple enough that the kids could prepare it themselves (if mom wasn’t so paranoid about letting them near a pressure cooker). Thank you for sharing!
This looks great but I would remove the bay leaves before smashing the potatoes. Can’t wait to try it
loved it. Definitely don’t skip the bacon! I accidentally immersion blender before taking the bay leaf out. No one noticed!
I added a splash of amontillado sherry to the leeks and garlic to deglaze the pan before adding the other ingredients. Otherwise followed the recipe exactly. OMG. Maybe the best potato soup I’ve ever had, and so simple to make. Thanks for sharing!
I also added carrots to the ingredients
Oh my goodness. So good! Could have probably left out the cream to make it non dairy. Immersion blender to the consistency I like. Thank you!!