Instant Pot Potato Leek Soup Recipe

If there is a more classic dish than potato leek soup, it's one classic dish indeed. Potato leek soup has been enjoyed for hundreds of years, with recipes abounding in French cookbooks from the 19th century, with beloved 20th century chefs like Julia Child creating their own take on "Potage Parmentier," and with chefs — and of course diners — still loving the soup today. 

Potato leek soup is often one of the first dishes taught in culinary schools, as it is used as a base for many other dishes. But to think of the stuff as lacking when enjoyed without further adornment is way off base. "This soup is so good," says chef, recipe developer, and registered dietician Kristen Carli of Camelback Nutrition & Wellness, adding: "This is a true classic potato leek soup."

The only thing not exactly classic here? Because the soup is made using a trusty Instant Pot, it's ready after just 15 minutes of cooking. And given the mere 10 minutes of prep time, that's a pretty efficient dish. This soup makes a superlative starter or side for a large dinner, or can be a great lunch on its own. Well, maybe not quite on its own: "I love to pair this with a big hunk of bread for dipping," says Carli. And so will you.

There are a hundred and one ways you can alter and garnish and dress up or spice up potato leek soup, but first you owe it to yourself (and your taste buds) to make the classic without over adorning it.

To that end, you'll need unsalted butter, leeks (just the white and light green parts), minced garlic, dried thyme, good ol' russet potatoes, vegetable stock (or chicken stock works fine too), salt, pepper, and a good dose of heavy cream.

Not really a mystery why this soup is delectable, is it? Cream, butter, salt, pepper ... yum!

First things first: it's prep time. Peel and chop the potatoes, taking care to be thorough. "Make sure to peel the potatoes," says Carli. "You might think you can skip that step, but the peels will change the texture and color of the soup."

Next, dice the white and light green parts of the leeks. Rinse the leeks carefully with water to remove any dirt present — they deserve their notorious reputation for harboring the stuff. Now measure out the salt, thyme, pepper, minced garlic, stock, and the butter, and get ready to get cooking.

Set the Instant Pot to the sauté setting, then add the butter and leeks. Cook the leeks for several minutes until they are tender, which will take about 5 minutes at the most.

Now add the garlic, thyme, potatoes, salt, pepper, and vegetable stock and close the lid to Instant Pot and place valve to "sealing." Pressure cook everything for 6 minutes, and while it is all cooking, go ahead and measure out that cup of heavy cream and have it at the ready. Once the 6 minutes have elapsed, quickly release the sealing valve.

As soon as you have popped open the lid of the Instant Pot, add the cup of heavy cream. Stir the soup to combine all of the ingredients, and then, using an immersion blender, blend until the soup is smooth, which will take about 3 minutes.

If you don't have an immersion blender, you can transfer the soup to a standard blender in batches — do not try to run a full blender of hot soup — and then transfer each batch to a pot on the stove to keep the soup warm, stirring it all together evenly. 

Now serve and enjoy your French classic!