This chicken and leek soup is a new family classic. A traditional leek and potato soup updated for the modern home cook. It's quick and easy to make and makes the best leftovers.
This leek and chicken soup is mildly spiced with curry and turmeric making it a healthy and nourishing soup for this chilly time of year. It's just the kind of thing you'll be gratefully spooning down when you feel any hint of the sniffles.
It's made creamy from the blended potatoes not the addition of cream, so it's still healthy and low in calories but packed with nutrition. The pale golden colour is from the aromatic hints of curry and turmeric and the poached chicken is shredded rather than diced making sure you get lots of it with every mouthful.
This was inspired by my baked potato soup on this site, and pairs well with these amazingly soft and fluffy cheese rolls. I often prefer my soups on the mild side like this broccoli and stilton soup or the classic homemade tomato. But of course, every once in a while we need something bold to blow the chill away. A case in point would be this Thai chicken noodle soup or this sweet potato and carrot soup.
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Ingredients
Nothing but simple affordable ingredients go into this chicken and leek soup. Here's everything you're going to need.
- Baking potatoes- or any large waxy potato.
- Leeks
- Onion
- Celery
- Garlic
- Vegetable stock cube dissolved in boiling water
- Curry powder
- Turmeric
- Chicken
- Lemon juice or cider vinegar
*Disclaimer- almost all the recipes on Savvy Bites will require salt, olive oil and often pepper. I don't usually list these up here because I assume you will have those items in your cupboard already.
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Step 1 & 2
Creating the base of your soup
- To make a soup truly remarkable you have to build the flavour early. Heat some olive oil in a large cast-iron Dutch oven over medium heat. Once the oil is hot and starts to shimmer add in the diced onion, garlic and some thyme leaves. Let this gently sweat for about 5 minutes until the onions are very soft and translucent but have no colour.
- Add in the cleaned and thinly sliced leeks and celery. Continue to cook until the leeks are soft and tender and starting to smell fragrant. Again, we're only looking for the leeks to soften and not colour at all.
- The best way to clean a leek is to slice off the root and the dark green tops cut down the centre and rinse them under cold water. If you'd like a more in-depth tutorial this one works really well.
Step 3 & 4
Cutting and cooking the potatoes
- Peel the potatoes and cut them into large chunks. About 3.5cm cubes is what we're looking for. This ensures that they cook evenly and quickly without breaking down too much.
- Stir the potatoes into the softened onions and leeks and stir well to make sure that the potatoes get fully incorporated.
Step 5 & 6
Cooking the soup and the chicken
- Pour the vegetable stock into the pot and stir in the curry and turmeric. Bring the soup to a boil then turn it down to a simmer and cook covered until the potatoes are tender. See the recipe card below for exact timings.
- You can absolutely poach the chicken in the soup. To do that, place the whole chicken breasts into the simmering soup for about 15 minutes until they are cooked through. I prefer to cook mine separate in salted water with a sprig of thyme. But either way works.
- Once the chicken is cooked remove the breasts to a chopping board and let cool for a few minutes before using 2 forks to pull apart and shred the chicken.
Step 7 & 8
Blending and finishing the soup
- Once the potatoes are cooked all the way through use a stick blender or an upright blender to blend the soup until it's smooth and has a thick creamy consistency. Depending on how thick you like your soup, you may need/want to add more water.
- Once the soup is blended place it back in the pot if you used an upright blender and stir the chopped parsley and shredded chicken into the soup. Taste and adjust the level of seasoning if required. Add in the lemon juice of a small splash of cider vinegar to balance out the flavours and bring some much-needed acidity to the soup.
Hint: You can use a handheld stick blender for this soup, or an upright blender. Either one works great, but for ease of cleaning up, I'm a HUGE fan of this cheap and easy stick blender.
Chef's top tip- Because cast iron pots are so conductive and heat up quickly and retain that heat for a very long time, you can saute the onions, garlic and leeks at a lower temperature than if you use a regular stainless steel pan. But both work really well.
Substitutions
- Potatoes - instead of using King Ed poatoes you can use something like a red potato just be sure you rinse the starch off before adding to the pot.
- Chicken - use thigh instead of breast. Just be sure that they are boneless and skinless so that they cook well and are easy to shred with the forks once cooked.
- Vegetable stock - feel free to use chicken stock cubes here instead of the veggie. It will just give you a soup with a stronger flavour. Not a bad thing, I was just wanting a mild soup.
This recipe is naturally gluten-free and dairy-free making it a great choice for anyone on a special diet.
Variations
I completely understand that even though this recipe is a new family classic you may want to change it up sometimes, so here are a few ideas to do just that.
- Spicy - add chili pepper (jalapeno) while cooking to imbue heat into the dish, and sprinkle with chilli flakes for serving.
- Deluxe - drizzle with some garlic olive oil and serve with a poached egg in the bottom of the bowl.
- Kid friendly - serve with these puff pastry cheese straws.
Equipment
Equipment can have a big impact on how a recipe turns out. So I'm sharing with you exactly what I used and how you can modify anything you don't have.
- Cast iron Dutch oven with lid - if you only have a stainless steel pot that's absolutely fine, you may need to have your stove temperature a little bit higher to compensate for how hot cast iron can get.
- Stick blender - if you don't have a stick blender or an upright blender then you can use a potato masher to help breakdown the potatoes, but you will have a soup with a chunky texture rather than the smooth creamy one.
- Upright blender - depending on the size of the blender container, you may need to mix the soup in batches.
As a top tip- because this soup has turmeric in it rinse your blender right away to prevent it from staining yellow.
Storage
As mentioned this recipe makes great leftovers. To make them the best they can be, here are some top tips! Store the finished soup in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. The soup freezes really well in an airtight container or freezer bag for up to 3 months.
To reheat the soup, place it in a small sauce pan and gently heat over medium-low heat until the soup just starts to bubble around the edges. You can also heat in the microwave but be careful that it doesn't make a mess.
Top tip
That little splash of lemon juice or vinegar really is the key that pulls all the flavours together. Don't skip it!
Easy Creamy Leek and Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons (2 tablespoons) olive oil
- 1 (1) yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves (3 cloves) garlic, minced
- 2 (2) sprigs thyme, leaves picked
- 2 (2) celery stalks, sliced
- 2 (2) leeks, washed and thinly sliced
- 1.2 (1.2) litres vegetable stock, made with a stock cube *see note 2
- ¼ teaspoon (¼ teaspoon) turmeric
- 1 ½ teaspoons (1 ½ teaspoons) curry powder
- 3 (3) large King Ed potatoes, peeled and chopped into cubes
- 2 (2) chicken breasts, boneless skinless
- ½ (½) bunch parsley, finely chopped
- ¼ teaspoon (¼ teaspoon) cider vinegar or juice of ½ lemon
Instructions
- Pour the oil into the cast iron pot. Once the oil is hot and starts to shimmer add in the diced onion, garlic and the thyme leaves. Let this gently sweat for about 5 minutes until the onions are very soft and translucent but have no colour.
- Add in the cleaned and thinly sliced leeks and celery. Continue to cook until the leeks are soft and tender and starting to smell fragrant.
- While the onions and leek are sweating peel the potatoes and cut them into large chunks. About 3.5cm cubes is what we're looking for. Stir the potatoes into the softened onions and leeks and stir well to make sure that the potatoes get fully incorporated. Season well with sea salt. *see notes
- Pour the vegetable stock into the pot and stir in the curry and turmeric. Bring the soup to a boil then turn it down to a simmer. Add in the whole chicken breasts and cook covered until the potatoes are tender. Once the chicken is cooked (this should take about 10 minutes) remove the breasts to a chopping board and let cool for a few minutes before using 2 forks to pull apart and shred the chicken. *see note 3
- Once the potatoes are cooked all the way through use a stick blender or an upright blender to blend the soup until it's smooth and has a thick creamy consistency. Depending on how thick you like your soup, you may need/want to add more water.
- Once the soup is blended place it back in the pot if you used an upright blender and stir the chopped parsley and shredded chicken into the soup. Taste and adjust the level of seasoning if required. Add in the lemon juice or a small splash of cider vinegar to balance out the flavours and bring some much-needed acidity to the soup.
Notes
- Potatoes are notoriously bland in flavour. This is what makes them such a great addition to soups, but it also means that they need to be seasoned very well. You will need to add more salt than you think.
- To help with seasoning the soup, you can use two stock cubes to help enhance the flavour.
- The internal temperature of the cooked chicken breast should be 74ºc.
Nutrition
Food safety
We sometimes take for a granted that we have years (or decades) of cooking experience, that the average visitor may not. Add to, or remove from, the list below with health and safety tips.
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 74 °C (165 °F)
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
- Wash hands after touching raw meat
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
See more guidelines at https://www.food.gov.uk/.
Nina
Was sick this week and made this soup. It's mild but full of flavour and it is the most comforting soup I've had in a long time. And easy to make! Thank you.
Deborah Rainford
Hope you're feeling better! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment and a rating. It's much appreciated! 🙂
Rachel
Loved this recipe! Easy to make but really great and complex flavour using only basic spices. Definitely make this again!