Potato Leek Bacon Soup An Easy Lunch Or Dinner

This chunky potato leek bacon soup is a leisurely lunch or dinner recipe everyone loves. Simple pantry ingredients combine to make a flavorful soup naturally thickened with pureed goodness. Leeks infuse a deep and delicious flavor in this lighter cream soup. It’s a perfect light dinner all on its own.

Maybe it’s the Irish in me, but leek and potato soup has been a classic in our family for a while. It’s so simple with just a few ingredients but brings such warmth of flavor to the table. Paired with homemade biscuits or bread rolls, it’s a filling meal that is relatively easy to prepare.

As a mom, I love that soups like this don’t take hours. The longest part of the soup is cooking the bacon. Some add it in while it’s a little more flabby, but I prefer it to be extra crisp. One, bacon is easier to break up when super crisped, and two, it will stay crispier in the soup. Since this makes a big pot, you will likely have leftovers, so bacon needs to keep its quality.

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Making the chunky potato soup base

Simplicity makes this beautiful classic soup a standby favorite. First, we peel our potatoes. I like to use firm white potatoes for this soup as they don’t get mealy while sitting in the broth overnight, which is essential if you are making this for lunch the next day or want to reheat it later.

The leeks we buy in our local grocery store are super large and have solid stalks of white. They are much milder when compared to the local cousins found in the early spring woods around here. If you are fortunate enough to have foraged those leeks, by all means, use them but in sparing because they have a more pungent flavor.

The large store-bought leek needs to be cleaned well. Slice it down the entire length of its center so that the outer leaves split open. There is often dirt way down in the stalk, so cutting it this way allows us to clean it better.

Once cleaned, you can slice them up into thin pieces. We use the entire leek. There is no need to waste the green of these great veggies. Plus, the added green is appreciated when looking at the otherwise white of the soup bowl.

Slice up four stalks of celery, complete with any celery leaves. They impart a beautiful, fragrant flavor to the soup base.

Now, we are ready to start cooking our soup. Add some oil to saute the leeks and celery in the large soup pot. We are sauteing just enough to have them wilted; that takes approximately five minutes. We don’t want to see browning.

Add the stock, water, and potato to the soup pot and stir. On the top, you will drop two bay leaves. We will remove the bay leaves later, so don’t stir them in. Let the soup simmer on medium-high heat for fifteen minutes. Remove the bay leaf and take out two cups of the soup, including the potato chunks.

Transfer the removed soup to the blender or food processor. Pulse on high until it is pureed; then return to the soup pot and mix in. The pureed soup is what thickens the potato soup. Add the crisped bacon broken up and the fresh parsley with the milk. Stir well.

Season your finished soup with a dash of pepper before serving. Serve hot with a slice of homemade bread and butter or your favorite biscuit.

Serve the chunky potato leek bacon soup as a meal or for a hearty lunch at school or work.

The soup also serves as a great starter before the main course of your meal.

Ingredients:

White Potatoes: Are a great multi use potato. They are starchy but also hold their shape quite well. This makes them ideal for mashing, boiling and baking.

Leeks: Are from the same family as onions, garlic, scallions, and chives. There are several varieties of leeks but the large green ones found tin the grocery store are what are used in this soup recipe. With a slightly crunchy texture they maintain a slight crisp even after sautéing making them an excellent addition to soups.

Celery Tops: Often overlooked and thrown out for compost the celery leaf offers great flavor to the soup as well as offering anti-inflammatory properties.

Suggested Serving Ideas:

Serve the chunky potato leek bacon soup as a meal by itself or for a hearty lunch at school or work.

The soup also serves as a great starter before the main course of your meal.

Substitutions for the chunky potato leek bacon soup:

• Potato: Although the whole premise is potato in this savory soup you can switch the root vegetable out for sweet potato for a unique version of this classic soup.
• Leeks: If not available in the local grocer you can use two large white onion instead. Dice them up fine before sauteing.
• Milk: If you find that you don’t have milk on hand or you want a richer soup base you can use cream instead.

Expert Tips:

1. Potatoes: The white potato has a medium starch base so it will break down slightly with out totally disintegrating in the soup. Avoid using potatoes that are too waxy as they won’t purree correctly.
2.  Puree: If you like your soup, thicken puree more of the contents than two cups. Be sure to include more potato to liquid.
3. Leeks: Proper cleaning of leeks is needed. As stated above, slice the entire length of the leek from the green to the bottom of the white. Remove the ends. Spread open the leaves, paying close attention to where they are tightest at the base. Make sure to wash any grit from the veg.