Happy Ostara, first day of Spring, and Ironically-Snowy-Day-in-YYC! :p Click here to skip the ramble and go straight to this Cream of Leek recipe
Last week, it was more spring-like. Warm, sunny and lightly breezy. Today, on the first day of spring: overcast, snowy, with freezing wind. Feeling a little trapped in my own home (because let’s be real, this west coast girl is NOT going out there), I decided to keep busy and do some pantry and fridge cleaning. That’s when I discovered some leeks I had hiding in the back of the fridge. I had meant to try a certain recipe with them when I first bought them, but somehow never collected the rest of the ingredients that I needed. They were looking kind of sad so I cleaned and chopped them up, still not knowing what to make out of them.
It was more than an hour later, after I finished organizing my pantry, that I settled on making a quick and easy creamy leek soup. There really isn’t any cream or cream-replacer in this recipe. The cream in this soup is simply a slurry of flour and water added to a rich veggie broth.
I have to credit my very first roommate for this “cream” technique. She taught me that adding flour to water and cooking it created a cream-like liquid. My mind was blown. Before I learned this, the only cream of such-and-such soups I had was out of a can. You know, the white and red label. I thought the cream had to be real cow cream. At the time, I had no problem with that but my attempts at cream soups from scratch were always thin and way too milky tasting.
But first thing’s first: cooking down those leeks!

The leeks: before and after cooking.
These leeks were cooked down on medium heat for about 10 minutes. That’s just enough time for them to soften, break down and sweeten up.


- 2 cups chopped leeks, whites and light green parts only
- 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cups veggie broth, cold or room temperature
- 2 1/2 tablespoons white flour
- salt, to taste
- pepper, to taste
- lime juice
- basil chiffonade to garnish
- Heat oil on medium heat in your soup pot.
- Add garlic, leeks and a generous pinch of salt.
- Cook, stirring occasionally, until leeks are very tender. About 10 minutes.
- Transfer the cooked leeks to a blender, add the veggie broth and flour.
- Blend until smooth or desired consistency.
- Pour back into the pot and heat until bubbling, stirring constantly. About 10 minutes.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Let cool before serving.
- Optionally, add a squeeze of lime juice to each bowl and garnish with basil chiffonade.
- Enjoy!
- Lemon or lime juice will add a bright dimension to this savory soup but it's great even without.
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[…] a nut-free creamy leek soup, check out this Cream of Leek soup recipe that I posted […]
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I love leeks and anything with leeks! We spent some time in Paris and cooked a lot of meals using leeks (plus they were so cheap, about $1 a piece). I made a leek risotto a few times and it was so good! Now this cream of leek looks so delicious right now for “midnight snack.”
$1 a piece! What a good deal! Leek risotto sounds nice. I’ve only ever cooked with leek twice and that sounds like a good idea to expand my leek repertoire. 🙂