Wild Leek Recipe: Grandma’s Potato Leek Soup with Bacon

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Wild Leek Soup Recipe: Grandma’s Potato Leek Soup with Bacon

Since last week’s post was on harvesting wild leeks (also known as wild ramps), here’s a great wild leek recipe that uses some. This delicious wild leek soup uses up fresh leeks, along with potatoes, milk, butter, flour, salt, and black pepper. Oh, and a generous helping of crispy bacon and cheddar cheese, too!

About this Soup

My grandmother would make this simple soup almost every year. It’s a family favorite and a fond flavor of spring. Usually, we’d go down and gather a few leeks in the woods for her, then bring them back up so she could make the soup for dinner. 

If you’ve never had wild leeks before, note that they’re very, very smelly. My grandmother remembered eating them on Friday nights so her breath would be better by school on Monday. Their potency hasn’t changed over the years, so if you work at a job with coworkers nearby, you might want to make this dish early in the weekend. 

Potato Leek Soup Tips

Here are a few helpful tips for making this creamy potato leek soup recipe:

How to Dice a Leek

You may be wondering how to properly slice ramp bulbs and leaves. While there’s no one right way to do it, I start with clean leeks with the outer skin removed (refer to the harvesting post for tips on cleaning them). Trim roots off on the bottom, then slice your leek bulb into two or four pieces lengthwise depending on its size. Chop through those and the pink stems section, then cut each leaf into five or six long sections, then dice that up as well. 

You may have some larger pieces of leaves still, which can stay in the soup. If you’re bothered by them and want a more smooth and creamy texture once the soup is finished, put it through a regular blender, immersion blender, or food processor to chop the pieces up more finely. 

Again, there’s no one right way to do this, so chop them up however you like.

How to Blanch Leeks

To blanch leeks, start by bringing three cups of cold water to a boil in a large soup pot, then add the chopped leeks. Boil them for 2 minutes, then pour the mixture through a strainer, catching the water in another large pot underneath for later. Set the leeks aside and resume with the rest of the recipe.

Using Regular Leeks (Commercial Leeks)

If you try making the soup with commercial leeks, use more than three cups. Wild and commercial leeks are similar in many ways, but wild leeks have a much stronger flavor, so you need fewer for recipes. While not available in grocery stores, you could try to find them in a farmers’ market or local grocers’ store in early spring.

Other Tips

Don’t hesitate to use the whole ramp in this recipe: stems, leaves, bulb, the whole thing. The only thing we don’t use is the roots.

You can use any kind of potatoes you like for this recipe – Yukon Golds, red potatoes, butterballs, whatever. 

Use medium heat or medium-low heat to make the soup so it doesn’t burn.

This a creamy soup, but you won’t need to purchase half and half or heavy cream to make it. Regular milk is fine. Whole milk is best, but less fat will still work, you’ll just have a thinner bowl of soup. If it seems too thin, you could try adding a little bit more flour.

The cheddar and bacon really put it over the top. You can bake or fry bacon fresh for this, or use leftover bacon from the refrigerator. You could even try bacon bits if you wanted. 

We recently tried adding Ritz crackers as well, which tasted amazing! You can always try your own toppings and additions to see what you like best. It goes really well with warm crusty bread or buttered biscuits on the side to make a great light dinner. You could serve it in bread bowls for extra fun, too.

As soups go, it really doesn’t take that long to make and is pretty foolproof. I made it recently and thought I screwed it up royally, but it tasted good just the same. (For example: I didn’t get the right amount of leeks, I didn’t reserve the leek water and substituted tap water, but put too much in… I won’t go on). 

FAQs About Wild Leek and Potato Soup with Bacon

Can you freeze potato leek soup?

Yes, you can easily freeze potato leek soup for later use! Once you’ve made it, put it in a freezer-safe airtight container (you could try freezer bags, but that would get messy later on). Freeze normally, and enjoy months later! It’s particularly tasty in cold winter months when you want some comfort food (and warmth) in a hurry.

What is the difference between a leek and a wild leek?

Regular commercial leeks are not as strong as wild leeks, so you’ll need more of them to get the same flavor in a wild leek recipe.

What part of a wild leek is edible?

All parts of a wild leek are edible, except for the roots. The white part of the leeks (the bulb) is generally strongest, with the green parts (leaves) being slightly less potent.

Enjoy this Wonderful Soup!

Let me know what sides and additions you put in the soup; your picks might make it even better! This is one of those delicious recipes you can make your own, so play around with it and see what works. 

This is an easy potato soup recipe with wild leeks and bacon that just takes a little time on a spring evening. Enjoy!