Name: Instant Pot Potato Leek Soup
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 55 min
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 2 cloves of garlic, sliced; 1 shallot, finely diced; 400g leeks, cleaned and sliced; 500g potatoes, peeled and halved; 800ml chicken stock (I used real broth); 40g butter; Salt and Pepper; 1 sprig thyme; 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce; 2 tbsp cream; 1 tbsp chopped chives to garnish

Jump to Recipe

Instant Pot Potato Leek Soup

This post gives you an easy recipe for Instant Pot Potato Leek soup. This soup is also known as Vichysoisse when eaten cold, and was the first food ever to inspire the late American chef Anthony Bourdain, according to his book Kitchen Confidential.

Instant Pot Vichysoisse

I decided to make this soup in the Instant Pot as it just seemed the logical thing to do, as I would only need the single pot to make it. The Instant Pot does make it easy as you can sauté and pressure cook in the same pot, and this recipe calls for some of the ingredients to be sautéed before the cooking in stock.

High Pressure Cook for 30 minutes

The Instant Pot really is a great invention. If you do not already have one, I do recommend that you consider purchasing one. They are great for speeding up meals as well as making pressure cooking a bit safer as well. There are some other Instant Pot recipes listed at the end of this post.

You could of course also just boil these ingredients on the hob or in a slow cooker, but it would just take a little bit longer. You just need to cook until all the ingredients have been properly cooked.

Vickysoisse is the soup that Anthony Bourdain first tasted on a Cunard liner on a trip to France as a kid, which he recalled as being such a shock to find a soup that was ‘cold’, and yet the ‘first food he enjoyed, and remembered enjoying’.

I must say, although the thought of eating soup cold is not something I would imagine enjoying, I found this soup much tastier cold than hot.

The creamy taste of the potatoes and leeks really does come out well, just as Bourdain described in his book.

How to make real chicken stock

In this recipe I used real chicken stock in the recipe, as opposed to an OXO cube, that I had made from the remains of our roast chicken Sunday dinner.

I boiled the chicken bones and what meat was still on the bone in a pan of water with a bay leaf and an onion, for about 3 hours, until all the goodness from the chicken had been absorbed into the water.

Served with some buttered Irish Wheaten toast

I then sieved out the liquid and stored it in the fridge overnight until I needed to use it in this recipe.

Any signs of fat in the liquid that had floated to the top, I removed with a lapel before use. There was not much, as most of it had rendered during the roasting of the chicken.

I think using real fresh chicken broth definitely added to the tastiness of this dish.

But if you wanted to make a vegetarian potato and leek soup, you just replace the chicken stock with some vegetable stock. And if you wish to make a vegan potato and leek soup then sauté in vegetable oil instead of butter and avoid the cream, of course.

Instant Pot Potato Leek Soup

Potatoes and leeks have always gone well together, and I hope you enjoy trying out this recipe. If you do, then please let me know how you get on in the comments section below!

And don’t forget to try it out when cold!

Enjoy!

How to make Instant Pot Potato Leek Soup

Instant Pot Potato Leek Soup

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

This instant pot potato leek soup is easy to make and produces a Vichysoisse soup that can be eaten hot or cold.

Ingredients

2 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 shallot, finely diced
400g leeks, cleaned and sliced
500g potatoes, peeled and halved
800ml chicken stock (I used real broth)
40g butter
Salt and Pepper
1 sprig thyme

Optional

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp cream
1 tbsp chopped chives to garnish

Instructions

Pre-heat your Instant Pot using the sauté setting and melt the butter. Then slice the garlic and shallot and sauté them in the pot.
Meanwhile, clean the leeks by slicing them lengthways and running them under a cold water tap to remove any sand or earth. Then slice the leeks into circles and add them to the pot and sauté until they are soft.
Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and rinse them. Then add to the pot together with the stock, thyme and season to taste.
Then put the lid on the Instant Pot and set to high-pressure cooking for 30 minutes. This will take a bit longer as it takes about an extra 5 minutes to get up to pressure.
When the cycle has finished, cancel the setting and remove the pressure from the pot using the quick vent valve on the top, being careful not to burn yourself.
When the pressure is released remove the lid and then liquidize the contents using your immersion blender.
Taste the soup and season to taste. Add some Worcestershire sauce if you think it needs some.
If you wish the soup to be extra creamy, stir in the cream before serving. Garnish with some fresh chopped chives if you have some.

Notes

Serve up with some buttered toast or bread. We first ate this hot with some buttered Irish Wheaten Bread. Delicious!

The next day we ate this delicious Vichysoisse soup cold with some toast and chicken liver pâté. It is surprisingly tasty when served cold. Great for alfresco eating in the summer.