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Creamy Vegan Vichyssoise Soup with Potatoes and Leeks

This creamy yet creamless potato and leek vegan vichyssoise is my vegan interpretation of vichyssoise, which by definition and tradition would be a cold leek and potato puree made with butter and cream. 

There’s really no reason to use butter or cream when you can enjoy this delicious completely plant-based vichyssoise with a whole lot less calories!

Vichyssoise, pronounced vihsh-ee-SWAHZ, is a classic French soup served cold. Traditional vichyssoise recipes begin with sautéing the veggies in butter instead of olive oil, and they have you stir in heavy cream, sour cream or yogurt after the puree has chilled.

Potatoes and leeks for Vegan Vichyssoise
Does it matter what variety of potato for this soup?

New potatoes aka red potatoes will make the creamiest soup, but it doesn’t matter that much. If you have the starchier russet potatoes or Yukon golds, use them. You want vichyssoise to be creamy white, so sweet potatoes or purple potatoes would not be a good choice.

White miso adds the umami dimension to this vegan vichyssoise. Simply dissolve the miso in some hot water while the vegetables cook, and then stir in the miso and water mixture after you turn off the heat.

Tip: Miso loses flavor and much of its beneficial probiotic qualities when boiled, so make sure your vegan vichyssoise doesn’t boil after adding the miso. Read more about miso here.

This recipe takes advantage of the potatoes and leeks we found in our CSA farm share box. The potatoes were a new potato varietal called Warba, a very early season maturing potato that’s round with white skin that has deep red eyes and white flesh.

I specify new potatoes in this recipe because they’re the closest to the Warba potato, but really, any white-fleshed potato will make darn delicious creamy vegan vichyssoise.

An immersion blender (affiliate link) makes short work of the puree business.  Simply place the immersion blender in the soup pot and whir away.

No immersion blender? Carefully transfer a couple cups of the hot liquid to the blender. Blend until smooth, then pour back into the cooking pot. Repeat until all the liquid has been pureed. ***If you puree the broth and vegetables all at once, it’s likely the blender lid will pop off and spill hot potatoes and leeks all over your kitchen counter.

Savor this soup chilled on summer’s lovely warm days, or warm yourself on chilly days by serving it hot! If you serve it hot, technically it wouldn’t be vichyssoise, which is a chilled French soup made with tons of cream.

Vegan or not, be sure to sound the “s” at the end–even though you may have heard it mispronounced ve-she-SWAH, it’s a French soup and it’s pronounced vee-she-SWAHZ.

Here are some more creamy vegan soups you might enjoy:

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4 comments

  • Jeanne Hackett

    Made this last night when our south Texas temps reached almost 100. It is an easy and delicious soup, perfect on a hot day. Thanks for a keeper recipe! Reply · 6 June, 2018

    • Thank you Jeanne. What a delight to know that the recipe came out perfectly for you! Reply · 6 June, 2018

  • Madeleine McBride

    How about some quantities? 3 or 4 potatoes? Tell me how many ounces or grams of potatoes I need!!! Reply · 7 May, 2022

    • Thank you Madeleine. I hear your frustration. I’ve updated the recipe with more accurate amounts of potatoes and leeks. Reply · 9 May, 2022

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