Enjoy a hearty Irish potato soup that's as easy on your wallet as it is on your taste buds. With only a few basic ingredients like potatoes and leeks, this traditional Irish recipe brings forth a rich, creamy, and utterly delightful bowl of warmth.
Whip up this tasty Irish potato soup with leeks - it's ideal for St. Patrick's Day or any chilly day of the year. This creamy potato leek soup recipe is incredibly easy and requires just a handful of pantry and freezer staples, making it a go-to meal for cozy evenings.
Try more of our St. Patrick's Day recipes: Irish Chicken, Dutch Oven Irish Stew, Bailey's Chocolate Cake, or Sweet Soda Bread.
Jump to recipe
🍀Ireland and potatoes
When you think of Ireland, you likely think of potatoes. Irish potato soup is a quintessential dish in Ireland, alongside Colcannon, a mashed cabbage potato dish.
Potatoes were introduced to Ireland in the 16th century and quickly became a staple food for the rural population. Interestingly, potatoes were initially unpopular, partly due to clerics associating them with the devil because they grew underground.
The Great Potato Famine in the 1840s led to millions of deaths and mass emigration, particularly to North America, shaping the global spread of people with Irish origins.
Check out more variations of this soup: Instant Pot Irish Leek and Potato Soup or Bacon Potato and Leek Soup.
📋Recipe ingredients
- A traditional Irish potato soup is made with simple ingredients: potatoes, onions, milk or heavy cream, stock, salt, and black pepper.
- However, a super common addition is the leek. Leeks and potatoes are often paired in Irish recipes; they both grow easily there, they are cheap, and they taste delicious when combined. I strongly recommend using the leeks; they elevate a regular potato soup to a new level, and you will not want to miss their sweetness, the extra flavor.
- And if you like leeks as much as I do, try these amazing Roasted Leeks.
- Other needed ingredients are vegetable or chicken stock, onions, garlic, butter, milk or cream (or a mixture of both), salt, and pepper.
- I added a little nutmeg as well, not traditional, but a spice I almost always add when making mashed potatoes or creamy potato soups. However, it is optional.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
🥔What are the best potatoes to use for soup?
- Ideally, you will use a mealy potato sort to make a creamy, pureed soup, something like Russet or Idaho.
- You could also use all-purpose, which has a medium starch content, somewhere in between starchy and waxy potatoes, for instance, Yukon Gold.
- Whatever you do, don't use a waxy sort; they are great for salads and many other dishes but not so great for making soup. Try our Sour Cream Potato Salad or the Potato Asparagus Salad.
👩🏻🍳How to make Irish potato soup?
Tip: Read Roasted Leeks to learn more about cleaning leeks.
Step #1: Cook the chopped onions in butter until golden.
Step #2: Add garlic, potatoes, and leeks. Cook for about 8 minutes, stirring often, until softer.
Step #3: Add stock and cook for about 15-20 minutes or until the vegetables are really soft.
Step #4: Blend and add milk, cream, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.
🔊Expert Tips
Creamy potato soup: Blend it completely with an immersion blender or in a food processor or blender.
If using a food processor or blender, puree in batches, and remember that it is very hot.
Don't turn the processor to its highest level from the beginning; do that gradually to avoid splatterings all over the place (or worse, on your hands). The built-up steam can sometimes even blow the lid off the food processor or blender.
I always place a kitchen towel on top of the food processor to avoid any drops messing up the kitchen walls.
Don't over-blend a potato soup, or it might turn gluey, which is really not nice. Try our creamy Red Cabbage Soup next!
Chunky soup: You can also leave the potato leek soup as it is (not blended – love it – more to chew) or mash it only partially with a potato masher.
Richer soup: Replace the milk with more heavy cream.
❓Recipe FAQs
Place all the prepared ingredients, except milk and cream, in the slow cooker. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours or until the potatoes are completely tender and cooked through. Blend as instructed, add milk or cream, and season. Try the Slow Cooker Pumpkin Soup next!
You can easily make this recipe vegetarian by using vegetable stock instead of chicken stock or vegan by replacing the butter, milk, and cream with vegan alternatives.
The Irish potato soup keeps well in the fridge for about 3 days. It tastes even better the next day when reheated.
I don't recommend freezing this rustic soup; frozen and defrosted potato dishes are not good, but at least I don't like them at all.
🍽️What to serve with it?
📖Recipe
Irish Potato Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1½ lbs potatoes 700 g, Note 1
- 2 large leeks about 350 g/ 12.5 oz, Note 2
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 onion
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 6 cups vegetable or chicken stock 1.4 liter
- ⅓ cup heavy cream 75 ml
- ⅓ cup whole milk 75 ml
- a few gratings of nutmeg optional
- fine sea salt and black pepper
- chives to garnish
Instructions
- Prepare vegetables: Peel and chop the potatoes, clean and chop the leeks. Finely chop the garlic. Set aside. Chop the onions, and set aside them separately.1½ lbs potatoes/ 700 g + 2 large leeks + 2 garlic cloves + 1 onion
- Saute vegetables: Melt the butter in a soup pot. Cook the onions for about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, potatoes, and leeks, stir well, and cook for about 8 minutes, stirring often, until the vegetables are softer.1 tablespoon butter
- Simmer soup: Add the stock, cover, bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the vegetables are perfectly soft.6 cups vegetable or chicken stock/ 1.4 liter
- Blend the soup with an immersion blender or in a food processor or blender. In this case, blend in batches and follow the safety instructions mentioned above. Do not over-blend the potato and leek soup, or it will turn gluey. You can also blend it only partially with a potato masher or leave it as it is (Note 3).
- Add the milk and the cream and reheat. Adjust the taste with nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle with finely chopped chives. ⅓ cup heavy cream/ 75 ml + ⅓ cup whole milk/ 75 ml +a few gratings of nutmeg + fine sea salt and black pepper + chives
Notes
- Potatoes: Ideally, mealy potatoes, like Russet or Idaho, or all-purpose potatoes, like Yukon Gold.
- Clean the leeks: Wash the leeks. Trim and discard the roots and the last 2 cm/ 1 inch or so of the dark green ends as well. Slice the leeks lengthwise. Carefully fan open the layers without taking the leek apart, and rinse under running water until all the dirt is removed.
- Consistency: If you feel the soup is too thick, you can add a bit more stock or milk after blending (not too much, though).
Sonia says
Was Easy and Delicious , easier than most other Potato and Leek Soups and enough for 2 People
Adina says
I am happy to hear it, Sonia. Thank you.