This hearty potato soup recipe has a secret ingredient that gives it amazing taste! Part of the Sunday Supper series at On Sutton Place.
At least once a week, sometimes more, I take dinner to my parents. We have a rotation of their favorite dishes but every now and then we try to think of something new. A few weeks ago my dad suggested potato soup but followed it up with the comment that his mother made the best potato soup ever. OK. Was that a challenge? I am not the cook my Grandma was for sure, but I felt like I needed to see what I could come up with. I knew I had a hearty potato soup recipe given to me by a neighbor but I hadn’t made it in years. I dug it out and got started.
One of the ingredients that gives this recipe its amazing flavor is the addition of a leek. If you are like me, the first time I made this soup, I wasn’t sure what a leek was. It looks like a giant green onion but has a very different taste. To prepare a leek just chop off both ends and discard. You should have about a 6 inch piece that includes both the green and white parts. It has a lot of layers so wash it very well under running water. Slice it in half length-wise, then slice each half in thirds. Finely chop the 6 slices and add it to your pot. If the layers sort of fall apart just keep chopping. That’s all there is to it.
UPDATE 12/18/2015: I feel like I need to say something about my method for chopping a leek. I have had comments on Pinterest from people saying that this method wastes too much of the leek. One woman even called me out on Twitter. If you want to use the whole leek, by all means do so. Personally, I don’t like the dark green ends so I always cut them off. Who knew that a leek could cause such controversy? Ha!
The only thing I didn’t like about this hearty potato soup recipe was the fact that it took two pots. Other than that, it was easy and quick.
Hearty Potato Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 small onion chopped
- 1/2 to 1 cup chopped celery
- 1 leek finely chopped
- 3 large potatoes or 6 regular size red potatoes peeled and chopped in 1/2 in. cubes
- 4 Tablespoons butter
- 1 box chicken broth 32 oz.
- 5 Tablespooms butter
- 1/3 cup Flour
- 1 cup half and half
- 1 cup Milk
Instructions
- In a large soup pot on medium heat melt 4 Tablespoons butter. Add onion, celery and leek. Saute for 2 minutes. Add chicken broth and potatoes. Cook 10 minutes or until potatoes are fork soft.
- In a separate sauce pan, melt 5 Tablespoons butter. Add flour and whisk. Combine milk with half-and-half. Slowly pour into flour/butter mixture. Whisk constantly until it comes to a full boil and thickens.
- Add the milk mixture to the potato/chicken broth pot. Simmer for a few minutes stirring to mix well.
- Top with grated cheese and crumbled bacon if desired.
Notes
Drain 2 cans of clams reserving the clam juice. Add the clam juice when you add the chicken broth. Add the reserved clams at the very end right before serving.
Both my parents gave it their stamp of approval although my dad did mention he didn’t think his mother’s recipe called for chicken broth. Oh well…can’t win them all. I asked if they wanted it added to the winter rotation and they both said yes. Whew. I try to test all my recipes twice if I can before I post them. The second time I made this I added clams and clam juice to make a New England Clam Chowder. It was really good and got the thumbs up from my husband.
UPDATE 4/6/2018: For those of you who have been around for a while, you know my mom passed away in February of 2016. I am in the process of updating and organizing all my recipes. When I came upon this one that mentioned a meal when my mom was alive…well, for just a minute, it felt like she was still here. If you make this soup, I hope you enjoy it with your family. If your mom is close-by, share some with her.
*Some links lead to websites where I am an affiliate. Click HERE for my disclosure statement.
You can find my favorite kitchen tools
and supplies in my Amazon Shop!
Click for more Sunday Supper Recipe suggestions!
