Cauliflower Potato Leek Soup
Boasting a rich, creamy consistency and a deliciously complex flavor without any fuss, this is a recipe you’ll want to make again and again. Add a drizzle of cream, a handful of crushed kettle chips, and some crispy frizzled leeks for texture and visual appeal, and BOOM! You’ll have yourself a bowl that would even impress Martha Stewart.
Equipment
- Dutch Oven or large pot
- Salad Spinner or bowl, colander, and clean kitchen towel
- Immersion Blender or blender
- Air Fryer optional
Ingredients
- 2 pounds Cauliflower broken into florets; if using the whole head, stems peeled and chopped, leaves roughly chopped
- 4-6 cloves Garlic whole or sliced vertically in half (hot dog)
- 2-3 tablespoon Neutral Oil, divided e.g. avocado, canola, grapeseed
- 2 teaspoon Kosher Salt divided, plus more to taste
- 1 tablespoon Butter
- 2 large Leeks well soaked and drained, whites and pale greens sliced into rounds, medium greens sliced vertically into thin sticks
- 2 pounds Yukon Gold Potatoes cut into 1" pieces, no need to peel
- 8 Cups Vegetable Broth e.g. Better Than Bouillon or homemade
- ½ Cup Cream or half-n-half; optional
- Cracked Black Pepper to taste
- 1-2 Cups Lightly Crushed Kettle Potato Chips optional, for garnish.
Instructions
Roast Cauliflower & Garlic
- Preheat oven to 450F. Line sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Toss cauliflower and garlic cloves with oil, then season with 1 teaspoon kosher salt.
- Roast for 20-25 minutes, shaking once halfway. Cauliflower should be golden and garlic soft.
Make Soup Base
- While the cauliflower roasts, melt butter in Dutch oven over medium heat. Add whites and pale green parts of the leeks plus a large pinch of kosher salt. Sauté until softening and a fond is beginning to form on the bottom of the pan, about 8-10 minutes.
- Add cubed potatoes and sauté for 1-2 minutes, then add the vegetable broth. Simmer over medium heat for about 15-20 minutes while cauliflower roasts.
- Add roasted cauliflower and garlic to the pot. Continue to simmer over medium heat until potatoes are fork tender.
- Blend the soup using an immersion blender (or working in batches with a regular blender). Add cream if using, then season again with kosher salt and pepper to taste.
Frizzled Leeks
- While the soup base is simmering, dry the thin, vertically sliced medium greens of the leeks. Toss with 1 teaspoon of oil and big pinch of kosher salt. Spread out in the basket of your air fryer in a single layer.
- Air fry the leeks at 350F for 8-12 minutes, until most are browned and crispy.
Plate & Garnish
- Scoop blended soup into bowls. Garnish with a thin drizzle of cream (if using), a handful of crushed potato chips, and frizzled leeks. Enjoy!
Notes
Expert Tips:
- Use what you've got. I like plain kettle chips, but sour cream and onion or salt and vinegar are both tasty too. My photographer used the tail end of her tortilla chips and said it was good, so you do you!
- Soak the leeks well. Because of the way leeks are shaped, dirt gets down between just about every layer. I suggest slicing the leeks first, then soaking them in a bowl of water for about 15 minutes, agitating them every so often to move them around. Drain them, rinse thoroughly, and use your fingers to separate the layers. Repeat the soaking process as needed to remove all the dirt. Also, make sure to keep the rounds separate from the matchstick slices, soaking them separately to make life easier.
- If you’re using a head of cauliflower, use the WHOLE head! The leaves can be roughly chopped, and the stems can be peeled of any tough skin before chopping into floret-sized pieces. Roast these parts alongside the florets to get the most bang for your buck.
- Use parchment paper. Not only is it great for easy cleanup, it also makes it super easy to add all the cauliflower and garlic to the pot. I like to lift the parchment by the corners and fold it into a quasi-taco, then tilt the whole shebang to pour the contents into the pot with minimal splashing.
- The amount of added salt needed will depend on your veggie broth. If your broth is already seasoned, you’ll need less. If it’s a low- or no-sodium vegetable broth, you’ll need more.
- There’s no need to peel Yukon Gold potatoes for this roasted cauliflower potato soup recipe; they blend in beautifully. Less work + more nutrients = Yay!
- If you want to freeze it, don’t add the cream. You can always add it when you heat it up, but if you add it before freezing, the soup is liable to break.
- Dairy-Free/Vegan - Swap in vegan butter and either omit the cream or use vegan whipping cream or vegan half-n-half to make a vegan cauliflower potato soup.
- Leek-Free - As much as I love these mildly flavored alliums, they’re not always so easy to get your hands on. If that’s the case, you still have options! Here are some of my favorites:
- Roasted Garlic - The nutty, buttery flavor of roasted garlic is perfect for paring with potatoes and cauliflower. Grab a whole head (or two!) of garlic, slice off the pointy top enough to expose all the cloves at least a little bit, drizzle with about a teaspoon of oil, season with a pinch of salt, then wrap it all up in tinfoil. Roast in the oven alongside the cauliflower, adding 5-10 extra minutes to the cook time as needed to make the garlic soft enough to squish out of the papery skin.
- Shallots - These pretty little beauties are a near perfect swap for leeks. You’ll want about 2-3 shallots per leek, depending on how big they are.
- Scallions - Green onions don’t just look like mini leeks, they kind of taste like them too! To frizzle them, slice them into roughly 2-inch pieces, then halve and quarter them vertically to create matchsticks and separate the layers.
- Onions - Sweet onions, yellow onions, or red onions will all do the trick.
- Swap the frizzled leek garnish for crispy fried onions (like the kind you put on green bean casserole). You can also frizzle green onion, regular onion, or shallot slices in the air fryer instead. Alternatively, roast or air fry some tiny cauliflower florets for texture.
- Protein Boost - One of my favorite hacks for adding extra heft and protein to just about anything (including mashed potatoes!) is by swapping in chicken bone broth in place of regular veggie or chicken broth.
Nutrition
Calories: 287kcalCarbohydrates: 38gProtein: 6gFat: 14gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 20mgSodium: 1639mgPotassium: 1005mgFiber: 6gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 1069IUVitamin C: 83mgCalcium: 68mgIron: 2mg
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