Smoky Bacon, Leek & Potato Soup

Smoky Bacon, Leek & Potato Soup is a welcome change from the usual creamy leek and potato version. Made in around 45 minutes, this golden coloured soup has bags of flavour, including smokiness from bacon or pancetta.

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Say ‘leek & potato soup’ and what probably comes to mind is a creamy, white soup made with whole milk or cream.

But I find that such dairy-rich soups can be a bit cloying.  That’s especially true when I’ve got a cold and (sorry, there’s no polite way to say this) I’m rather snotty. That was precisely the situation when I developed Smoky Bacon, Leek & Potato Soup.

I had an awful cold for the first few weeks of October and was craving soup, soup and more soup. Warming, nutritious, easily digestible and put together quickly, soup is the ideal meal when you’re feeling under the weather. Or any other time you want some simple comfort food.

Smoky Bacon, Leek & Potato Soup

As we often have leeks in the house at this time of year (and potatoes, of course, always), it was only sensible that leek and potato soup should appear in my bowl.

Mind you, what annoys me about many leek and potato soup recipes is that they say something like, ‘discard the green part of the leek as it’ll spoil the colour and flavour’

Sorry, no. There’s zero chance that I’m going to be chucking away tasty bits of leek. That’s another reason to re-think the traditional version.

Bacon

I did want to add another level of flavour besides the veggies, though. I like bold flavour at any time, but when you’ve got a cold your senses of taste and smell are muted so it’s even more important.

The obvious choice was to add some smoky pancetta, a small amount of which adds great depth to soups and stews as well as pasta dishes.

I’d recently used, to great effect, herby, smoky Tuscany style pancetta from the Port of Lancaster Smokehouse in my Bean, Bacon & Cabbage Soup . But any good quality smoked bacon, preferably cut thick, will be fine.

There’s also another reason for adding pancetta or bacon. Fat doesn’t just add flavour but also a silky, satisfying feel in the mouth. That’s why manufacturers use additives like starch to low-fat products such as yogurt; because they’d be even more thin and disappointing without this fakery.

But the real thing is so much better and will provide important calories to keep you satisfied. So go ahead and put some good fatty bacon or pancetta, plus olive oil, in your soup.

Making & Serving Smoky Bacon, Leek & Potato Soup

I won’t outline the steps for making the soup in any detail here –  it’s all in the recipe card at the end of the post. I expect you know the drill by now anyway (cook bacon until fat runs – sauté veg – add stock – simmer).

As with most of my soups, I go in with my stick blender to partly whizz up the ingredients. This gives a nice combination of smooth creaminess but with little pieces of bacon and veg dotted through the soup.

You can serve the soup as it is or perhaps with a sprinkle of parsley.

Some bits of crisply fried bacon on top make Smoky Bacon, Leek & Potato Soup extra special.

5 from 3 votes

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Smoky Bacon, Leek & Potato Soup

A tasty alternative to the dairy-rich, traditional leek and potato soup.

Course Soup, Starter, Lunch, Light Meal

Cuisine British

Cook Time 45 minutes

Servings 1 litre (approx 3 servings)

Author Moorlands Eater

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 100 g smoked bacon or pancetta diced small
• 2 medium onions roughly chopped
• 1 large leek roughly chopped
• salt & pepper
• 400 g potatoes, peeled & diced weight is after preparation
• 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 1 litre stock chicken or vegetable

To serve (optional)

• parsley finely chopped
• diced crispy bacon

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan then add the bacon or pancetta. Fry until the fat starts to run and the bacon is browning a little.

2. Add the prepared onion and leek. Season with a little salt & pepper, stir, and cook until the veg is softening and starting to take on some colour (10-15 min).

3. Stir in the potato and garlic and a little more salt & pepper. Cook for a couple of minutes.

4. Pour in all the stock, stir (making sure you scrape up any veg or bacon bits stuck to the bottom of the pot), then bring to the boil and simmer with a lid on until the potatoes are very tender (15-20 min).

5. Off the heat, take a stick blender and whizz the soup for a few seconds. You want it to be partly smooth, but with still some texture from little pieces of bacon and vegetables.

6. Taste and add more seasoning if necessary.

7. Serve with the parsley and/or bacon sprinkled over if using.

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