Gordon Ramsay’s leek and potato soup is silky, rich and made from just six ingredients: leeks, potatoes, onion, butter, stock and cream. It takes about 35 minutes from chopping board to bowl, which makes it perfect for midweek evenings when you want comfort without fuss.
This recipe comes from Ramsay’s Leek, Potato and Smoked Haddock Soup in his Fast Food cookbook. He sweats leeks and Charlotte potatoes in butter with a bay leaf, then blends everything smooth. I love the base so much that I started making it without the haddock, and honestly it stands on its own as a beautiful bowl of soup.
The reason it works is how he handles the leeks. He keeps the heat low, the lid off, and lets them soften slowly in butter until they turn sweet. In Ultimate Home Cooking he explains why: covering the pan traps steam and makes leeks waterlogged and mushy, which is the fastest way to ruin this soup.
Gordon Ramsay’s Leek and Potato Soup
Course: Soup, Starter4
10
minutes25
minutes285
kcal35
minutesEasy
A creamy Gordon Ramsay potato leek soup built from his Fast Food cookbook technique. Leeks sweated low and slow in butter, simmered with Charlotte potatoes, then blended silky smooth with double cream and white pepper. Ready in 35 minutes.
Ingredients
30g (1 oz) unsalted butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
3 large leeks, white and light green parts, washed and sliced
400g (14 oz) Charlotte potatoes or Maris Piper, peeled, cut into 1cm cubes
750ml (3¼ cups) chicken or vegetable stock
150ml (⅔ cup) double cream
Sea salt and white pepper
Directions
- Soften the onion: Melt the butter with the oil in a large saucepan over a low heat. Add the onion and cook for 3 minutes until soft but not coloured.
- Sweat the leeks: Tip in the sliced leeks with a good pinch of salt. Keep the lid off and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until the leeks are completely soft and sweet. You don’t want any colour on them.
- Cook the potatoes: Add the potato cubes and stir them through the buttery leeks for about a minute so they pick up all that flavour.
- Simmer in stock: Pour in the stock, bring everything to a gentle simmer and cook for 15 minutes. The potatoes are ready when they break apart easily if you press one against the side of the pan.
- Blend until smooth: Take the pan off the heat and blitz with a stick blender until completely smooth. For the restaurant-style finish Ramsay uses in his books, push it through a fine sieve as well.
- Finish with cream: Stir in the double cream, season with salt and white pepper, then warm through gently. Ladle into warm bowls and serve with crusty bread.
FAQs
What potatoes work best for leek and potato soup?
Ramsay uses Charlotte potatoes in his Fast Food version because they hold their shape during cooking but still blend into a creamy soup. Maris Piper is the best supermarket swap if you can’t find Charlottes.
Avoid very floury varieties like King Edwards here. They break down too fast and can turn the soup gluey if you over-blend, because floury potatoes release more starch when blitzed.
Is this the same as vichyssoise?
Pretty much. Vichyssoise is just leek and potato soup served cold, created by French chef Louis Diat at the Ritz-Carlton in New York.
This recipe works both ways. If you want to serve it chilled in summer, thin it with a splash of cold milk after blending because it thickens as it cools. A squeeze of lemon lifts the flavour when it’s cold.
How much does this soup cost to make?
About £4.50 for four bowls based on current Tesco prices. The leeks are the most expensive part at around £0.70 each loose, so three sets you back about £2.10. A bag of Charlottes is roughly £1.80 and you’ll use less than half. Stock, butter, cream and an onion fill in the rest.
That’s comfortably under what you’d pay for a tin of premium soup. It goes nicely alongside something like chicken pie or bangers and mash if you want a full meal.
Can I add bacon to this soup?
Fry 4 rashers of smoked streaky bacon until crisp, chop them up and scatter over each bowl. The smoky crunch against the silky soup is brilliant. Ramsay takes this idea further in his Smoky Bacon, Sweetcorn and Potato Soup in Ultimate Home Cooking, which builds bacon and creamed corn right into the base.
Does leek and potato soup freeze well?
It freezes fine for up to three months, but leave the cream out. Freeze the soup after blending, then stir in the cream fresh when you reheat it. Dairy can split and go grainy after freezing, so adding it at the end keeps the texture right.
One thing to know: it thickens a lot overnight because of the potato starch. Just add a splash of hot stock when you reheat and whisk it back to the right consistency.
Can I leave the cream out?
Yes, and it’s still good. The potatoes give enough body that the soup feels creamy even without dairy. Ramsay’s Fast Food version actually uses milk rather than cream, which keeps it lighter.
If you want richness without cream, stir in a tablespoon of cold butter right at the end and whisk it in. That’s a classic French technique called monter au beurre, and it gives a glossy finish without the heaviness.
