This hearty, leek and potato soup is dairy free, oil-free and still delicious! You won’t miss the cream, I promise. This soup is so satisfying and filling, but also guilt free. I made some substitutions to make this soup extra healthy, which I will explain below! My measurements served about 10 large bowls of soup and comes together super quick! This recipe is Vegan but feel free to add anything you want to this! Use this as inspiration and create something that you feel good eating. If that means adding some dairy or some olive oil, you go for it.

Ingredients

• 6 Leeks
• 1 large onion
• 6-7 cloves of garlic
• 2 large sticks of carrot
• Half a head of Cauliflower
• 1 large potato (or 2 small ones)
• 6-8 cups of vegetable broth
• 2 cups of water
• salt and pepper to taste

The prep for this soup is very simple and pretty much the same as the prep for every soup. Starting with your vegetables, cut up your onion, carrot, and leeks into a fine chop. We’re going to blend the soup at the end so it really doesn’t matter if the cutting isn’t perfect. 6 Leeks may seem like a lot but if you’re making Leek and Potato soup, you want that sweetness of the leeks to come through. Place all your cut up onion, carrot and leeks into a bowl and grab your garlic.

Garlic has so many health benefits. If you haven’t noticed, most of my recipes include a hefty amount of garlic. Garlic is not only detoxifying and great for the inside of your body but its also great for your skin, and for healing scars and blemishes. So, don’t skip on the garlic! Slice your garlic thinly and place in another bowl. We’re going to cook the garlic after the vegetables so don’t mix them.

The last step of prep is the cauliflower and the potatoes. Dice your potatoes into one inch cubes and just roughly cut up your cauliflower. Place that into a separate bowl as well. These are going to be added in after the liquid has been simmering so we don’t want to add this right away. This is what is going to make the soup creamy and thick without the dairy.

To start the soup, Place a large pot with high sides on medium-high heat. Add your carrots, leeks and onion to it and add your 2 cups of water. The water is going to help the vegetables break down and soften. Also, the water will take on the flavours of the vegetables, creating its own quick little stock. You don’t need oil when you’re cooking down vegetables for a soup! The vegetables will infuse the broth with flavour when you’re simmering it, so no need for the extra fat. Once your onions are translucent and your carrots are beginning to become tender, add in your garlic. Garlic only takes about a minute to cook, so stir it around for about 60 seconds then add in your stock. You can use as much vegetable stock as you need. I used about 7 cups for my soup, but if you use 6, your soup will be a thicker. If you use 8, your soup will be thinner. Adjust the broth level depending on what consistency you want your soup to have.

Simmer this on medium-high heat for about 25 minutes to let the flavours get to know each other. Once its been simmering for that long, toss in your potatoes and your cauliflower. I chose to do half potato and half cauliflower because I wanted this soup to be a little lighter and also a little healthier. Adding cauliflower still makes it creamy, but adds a bit more vegetable to this soup. You can add all potatoes if you wish, but I found the cauliflower really did the trick and also made this soup even more guilt free than it already was, which i’m all for!

Cook the soup until the potatoes and cauliflower are breaking down and almost falling apart.

The last step is to blend the soup smooth. This soup, even though lacks the creaminess in colour, makes up for it in the texture. It is both smooth and creamy.

Once your soup is blended, taste for salt and pepper and season to your taste. I find this soup is best with a good helping of black pepper, but if you’re not into that, by all means, put less!

To finish it off, I added some sliced chili on mine because I love the heat, and some scallions for freshness!

It’s great to indulge in food once in a while, but if you can avoid using oils in your food, you should. Oils can be a bad fat if used too sparingly. If you’re looking to lose a few pounds, the first thing to cut down on should be your oil intake. It makes a big difference. Also, whenever you’re making creamy soups, I suggest using the trick of half potatoes and half cauliflower. It keeps the creaminess but is just a tad better for you than using all starchy potato.

I hope you all enjoy this hearty soup, even though it’s not needed in this hot weather!