Dairy Free Leek & Potato Soup in the Slow Cooker

This is a leek & potato soup with no cream or milk.  This month I’ve made a dairy free leek & potato soup in the slow cooker.  It’s not that I’m following a dairy free diet, I simply didn’t have any milk or cream in the house, but was trying to use up the leeks I froze earlier in the year, to make room for Christmas food.

Can You Use Beef Stock in Leek & Potato Soup?

You can use beef stock, chicken stock, or vegetable stock!  The choice is yours.

Here’s the recipe I used, which makes just under 1 litre of soup.  The photo shows my 3.5 litre slow cooker, which is why it looks quite full.  You can add more potatoes, or more leeks, or more stock if you wish to make it up to a full 1 litre:

Ingredients:

• 2 large leeks, chopped (400 grams)
• 8 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly (700 grams)
• 500 ml/1 pint beef stock, made from granules, a stock cube or a stock pot
• salt & pepper to taste
• a splash of Worcestershire sauce (optional)

Method:

• I’d previously washed and chopped the leeks into small pieces.  I’d frozen the leeks, so I defrosted the leeks in the microwave for 2-3 minutes before putting them into the slow cooker. Leeks can trap grit and dirt in the layers, so you do need to wash them thoroughly before cooking with them.
• Peel and slice the potatoes thinly.  You don’t have to peel the potatoes if you wish to retain the skins, just give them a good scrubbing so they’re clean.  My potatoes were cheap ones, so the skins were unappealing to me, which is why I peeled them.
• Add the potatoes to the slow cooker.
• Add the made up stock (I made it with boiling water) and add this to the slow cooker, along with any salt and pepper you wish to use to season the soup.  I also added in a splash of Worcestershire sauce; this isn’t necessary, I just had it there and couldn’t help myself 🙂
• Cover the slow cooker and turn it on high for 2 hours.
• Turn the slow cooker to low and let it cook for a further 3-4 hours.
• Mash, or blitz the leek and potato soup with a stick blender, food processor, or regular potato masher or even a fork, to make it as smooth as you wish it to be. Note: If you’re going to use a potato masher, then remove the slow cooker pot from the slow cooker and mash it on the worktop – your body weight pressing down into the pot might damage the slow cooker workings!
  I tend to not blend it too much at this point, as I can do that once I decide to eat it; sometimes I use a soup as a quick stew base, where being chunkier works better.

You can further season the soup with more salt/pepper if you wish, or even stir in some cream / milk just before serving if that’s your choice.

Serve hot.

How Long Does Soup Keep?

What I did was pour my soup into old margarine tubs that I keep in the fridge.  This gives me a great portion size for myself.  If you pour the soup into a lidded pot and keep it in the fridge it’ll be good for 3-4 days.  I find these tubs are handy for quickly portioning up food to keep in the fridge, as they’re “food safe” plastic.

Serve With:

I sometimes put cheddar cheese on the soup to serve!

Can You Freeze Leek & Potato Soup?

Yes, you can freeze this.  Simply pour the soup into freezer-safe pots or bags, leave to cool down, then pop into the freezer.  You can cook the soup from frozen, or defrost it in the fridge overnight.  It’ll be fine for 3-4 months; after this time the colour might deteriorate, it might lose some of its taste.  It won’t become unsafe, just look less appealing!

Menu Cost: 

This is cheap, I used cheap potatoes and the leeks had been bought when Lidl had a special offer week.  Overall I’d estimate that the whole pot cost me under £0.60, so £0.15 per bowl.  It’s certainly cheaper than buying a tin of soup, and contains no preservatives or additives.

Serve this with a couple of bread rolls as you’ve a hot dinner for well under 50p!