Golden Potato-Leek Soup with Cheddar Toasts

33 Reviews
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Yield
8 servings (serving size: about 1 cup soup and 1 toast)
By Mark Bittman
October 2005
RECIPE BY Cooking Light

Yukon gold potatoes are the key ingredient to give the soup rich, buttery flavor. This makes a generous amount, so share the bounty with friends or freeze half of the batch for a future meal.

Ingredients

  • Soup:
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 3 cups thinly sliced leek (about 3 medium)
  • 6 cups cubed peeled Yukon gold potato (about 2 1/4 pounds)
  • 2 cups water
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 (14-ounce) cans organic vegetable broth (such as Swanson Certified Organic)
  • 2 thyme sprigs
  • Cheddar Toasts:
  • 8 (1/4-inch-thick) slices diagonally cut sourdough French bread baguette
  • Cooking spray
  • 1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
  • Remaining Ingredients:
  • 1/3 cup whipping cream
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • Thyme sprigs (optional)

Nutritional Information

  • Calories 299
  • Caloriesfromfat 25%
  • Fat 8.6g
  • Satfat 4.7g
  • Monofat 2.7g
  • Polyfat 0.6g
  • Protein 7.5g
  • Carbohydrate 48.4g
  • Fiber 3.9g
  • Cholesterol 25mg
  • Iron 2mg
  • Sodium 660mg
  • Calcium 113mg

How to Make It

Step 1

Preheat oven to 375°.

Step 2

To prepare soup, melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add leek; cook 10 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally (do not brown).

Step 3

Add potatoes, water, salt, broth, and 2 thyme sprigs. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes or until potatoes are very tender.

Step 4

To prepare cheddar toasts, place baguette slices in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 375° for 7 minutes or until toasted. Turn slices over; coat with cooking spray, and sprinkle 1 tablespoon cheese over each slice. Bake 5 minutes or until cheese melts. Sprinkle evenly with red pepper.

Step 5

Remove pan from heat; discard thyme sprigs. Partially mash potatoes with a potato masher; stir in cream. Sprinkle with black pepper. Serve with cheddar toasts. Garnish with thyme sprigs, if desired.

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Ratings & Reviews

stimply's Review

scottintulsa
January 14, 2015
I'm with one of the other reviewers who was disappointed in the flavor after reading so many good reviews. We made it with homemade vegetable broth and maybe that was a mistake. It needed more than salt but definitely more salt helped. Would go for 4 cups of leeks, much more thyme, and something else...dunno what though.

scottintulsa's Review

Im so Hungry
December 08, 2010
Don't know what happened with this one. I only make 4-5 star recipes but this one was bland and tasteless. Didn't even save the leftovers.

Amy0324's Review

NanaPat
December 04, 2010
I love CL recipes, but this was TERRIBLE. It had absolutely NO favor. I will not waste my time on this again. To make it edible, I had to add so many extra ingredients (including garlic, S&P, bacon and cayenne). After all that, it still was not great. The cheese toasts are really good. My advice, make a worthy soup and these toasts for a good winter meal.

Twinmom88

tryin2cook
November 28, 2016
I don't know whats happening with these other peeps, but i've made this soup for years and its always turned out perfectly.  I do use an immersion blender and leave some of the potatoes chunky.  My family loves it!!

daneanp's Review

hautemaman
February 10, 2015
This pretty tasty and we loved the cheese toasts. My teenager prefers the Loaded Potato Soup from CL more - probably because of the bacon. But DH and I enjoyed this soup. Using an immersion blender makes these types of recipes so easy!

frenchfrydtater's Review

NHDebbie
February 11, 2014
I don't know where 3 leeks yield 3 cups of sliced leeks but not in my world. You're only supposed to use the white part, right? Otherwise I like this recipe. It's one of my staples.

audreysings's Review

erinmatthews
June 03, 2011
I like it, super easy

goosesc's Review

KatyKaty
March 27, 2011
This soup was very tasty and was served as a course at a dinner party (great for the vegetarians at the party that wouldn't be eating the meat course.) It definitely needed the thyme though, because it could run a little bland. Easy to make and good though.

nellyb's Review

twinmom88
March 19, 2011
Average review because I was disappointed that this soup is more potato-y than leek-y. My expectations were probably wrong, but if you're looking for more leek than potato, please note that as it's written, this recipe isn't it. I adjusted by caramelizing an onion, deglazing the pan with some vermouth, adding one chicken bouillon cube, then used an immersion blender to puree the entire batch. End result was delicious. The potatoes made it very creamy and rich, and the added onion, vermouth and bouillon gave it some extra life.

tryin2cook's Review

stimply
March 18, 2011
Not sure what i did incorrectly but to make it less watery and weak I had to add more cheddar cheese as well as hot pepper and pepper. After i did all this it wasn't too spicy.