Potage Parmentier
Silky leek and potato soup, the simplest French classic.
Ingredients
- 3 Leek
- 4 Potatoes
- 40 g Butter
- 1200 ml Vegetable stock
- 1 tsp Salt
- 100 ml Heavy cream (optional)
- 2 tbsp Chives (optional)
Method
- Slice the leeks and cube the potatoes.
- Melt the butter in a pot and sweat the leeks gently until soft without letting them colour.
- Add the potatoes and stock, season with salt, and simmer until the potatoes are completely tender.
- Blend the soup until silky smooth.
- Stir in the cream off the heat. (optional)
- Ladle into bowls and finish with chives.
Tap “Start cooking” for live timers that flag what to get ahead on while something simmers.
About Potage Parmentier
Potage Parmentier is the plain, elegant leek-and-potato soup that sits at the root of French home cooking and, famously, of vichyssoise, its chilled cream-enriched descendant. Named for Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, the 18th-century agronomist who championed the potato in France, it is built from almost nothing: leeks softened in butter, potatoes, stock, and a final loosening of cream. The technique is the whole recipe — sweating the leeks slowly so they turn silky and sweet without taking on any color, which keeps the finished soup pale and delicate rather than caramelized and heavy.
The result is smooth and mellow, with the leek's gentle allium sweetness carrying the starchy body of the potato into something genuinely luxurious for how little it contains. Blending it to a velvety purée and stirring the cream in off the heat — so it enriches without breaking — gives the soup its characteristic sheen, and a scatter of chives adds a fresh, oniony lift and a touch of color. It works equally as a light lunch, a first course, or, chilled, as a summer starter. This is a soup that rewards attention to the quiet steps rather than any dramatic one, which is exactly why cooks return to it.
Potage Parmentier: frequently asked questions
How many calories are in Potage Parmentier?
A serving has about 243 calories — 4.9g protein, 38.6g carbs, 8.7g fat, 4.4g fiber. Figures are estimated from the ingredient amounts and will shift with your portions and brands.
Is Potage Parmentier gluten-free?
Based on its ingredients, Potage Parmentier has no gluten-containing components, so it's naturally gluten-free — as always, check that any packaged ingredients you use are certified gluten-free to be safe.
Is Potage Parmentier dairy-free?
Not as written — it uses Butter, Heavy cream. Swapping those for a plant-based alternative makes it dairy-free.
How long does Potage Parmentier take to make?
About 35 minutes start to finish, but only around 20 of those are hands-on — the rest is largely unattended cooking time you can step away from. In the Homecooked app the timers and parallel steps are sequenced for you so the hands-on part feels even shorter.
Do I need every ingredient to make Potage Parmentier?
The core ingredients are essential, but you can leave out heavy cream, chives — they're optional and mainly there for extra flavor or finish.
How many servings does Potage Parmentier make?
This recipe makes 4 servings. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.