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Potato leek soup is the kind of cozy, savory comfort food that earns its keep on the pantry shelf, and pressure canning it means you can pull down a jar on a cold evening and have dinner warming on the stove in the time it takes to slice a loaf of bread. The potatoes go soft and the leeks turn mellow and sweet right inside the jar, so all the real work is finished long before anyone is hungry.
Table of Contents
- Notes from My Kitchen
- Quick Look at the Recipe
- Choosing Potatoes and Leeks
- Ingredients for Potato Leek Soup
- Potato Leek Soup Variations
- How to Make Potato Leek Soup
- Canning Potato Leek Soup
- Altitude Adjustments
- Tips for Success
- Serving Ideas for Potato Leek Soup
- Yield Notes
- Potato Leek Soup FAQs
- Soup Canning Recipes
- Canning Potato Leek Soup Recipe
- Meal in a Jar Canning Recipes
This recipe has been reviewed for safety and accuracy by a Master Food Preserver certified through the University of Cornell Cooperative Extension.
This is a hearty pressure-canned soup, which means the jars are packed full of vegetables with broth filling the gaps around them, and it goes through the canner the same way as my vegetable broth and chicken broth. The recipe follows the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension hearty soup guidelines, the same tested basis I lean on whenever I build my own soup recipe from scratch.
I’ve written the recipe as a two-quart batch, which is the smallest load a pressure canner will safely process, but it scales up cleanly if you want to fill the whole canner at once. Leeks show up at the farmer’s market in big bundles in fall, so when I find them I tend to buy an armload and put up several quarts in one afternoon.
Notes from My Kitchen
My kids will happily eat potato leek soup any night of the week, but leeks aren’t something I always have in the crisper drawer, so having a few jars already canned takes the guesswork out of a busy weeknight. I picked up a bundle at the farmer’s market this fall and put up a canner batch so there’s always one waiting.
I tend to puree mine into something smooth and creamy at serving (a splash of cream stirred in off the heat does lovely things here), but my youngest likes it chunky and rustic straight from the jar. Either way, it heats up in minutes, and a jar plus a hunk of crusty bread is a full lunch.
Quick Look at the Recipe
- Recipe Name: Potato Leek Soup
- Recipe Type: Soup Canning Recipe (Hearty)
- Canning Method: Pressure Canning
- Prep Time: About 30 minutes
- Cook Time: About 15 minutes
- Canning Time: Pints 75 minutes, Quarts 90 minutes
- Yield: About 2 quarts (minimum batch), scalable to a full canner load
- Jar Sizes: Pints and quarts
- Headspace: 1 inch
- Ingredients Overview: Leeks, potatoes, salt, and vegetable or chicken broth
- Safe Canning Recipe Source: University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension, Canning Soups and Sauces (FNH-00065)
- Difficulty: Easy
- Similar Recipes: Canning potato leek soup is a lot like other hearty pressure-canned soups, such as Asparagus Potato Leek Soup and Sausage, Potato, and Kale Soup. If you like putting up a pantry of soups, try other soup canning recipes like French Onion Soup or Split Pea Soup.
Choosing Potatoes and Leeks
Potato leek soup keeps a short ingredient list, so the two main vegetables do most of the work, and a little attention to which ones you pick pays off after the long stretch in the canner. For the potatoes, waxy varieties like Yukon Gold or red potatoes hold their shape and stay tender without going to mush, while starchy russets break down more and can turn a touch grainy once canned. Either works, so it comes down to whether you want defined chunks or a softer, more rustic texture in the jar.
Leeks need a careful wash, since grit hides between the layers as they grow. I trim off the dark green tops and the root end, slice the white and pale green parts into rounds, and then swish them in a bowl of cool water so the dirt sinks to the bottom before I lift the leeks out.
Older, thicker leeks can have a tough core, so if yours are on the large side, slice them a bit thinner so they soften evenly along with the potatoes, which are themselves a hearty root vegetable canning staple.
Ingredients for Potato Leek Soup
Exact amounts are in the recipe card below, but here’s what each part brings to the jar and where you have room to adjust. The proportions of leeks to potatoes are flexible, so lean toward whichever you happen to have more of without worrying about getting it exactly right.
- Leeks: The backbone of the soup, mild and a little sweet once they’ve cooked down. Slice and wash them well to clear out any grit between the layers. There’s no separate single-ingredient leek canning recipe, so leeks are preserved here as part of a tested soup formula rather than on their own.
- Potatoes: They add body and make the soup filling enough to stand as a meal. Waxy potatoes hold their shape well, though russets work if you prefer a softer result. Peel and dice them into bite-sized pieces so they cook evenly.
- Broth or stock: This fills the jar around the solids and carries the flavor. I’ll often use vegetable broth to keep it a meat-free vegetarian soup, or chicken broth when I want a richer, rounder result. Homemade or store-bought both work fine.
- Salt: For seasoning, and you can adjust it to taste or leave it out entirely without affecting safety. Herbs like thyme, rosemary, or a bay leaf are also fine to add before canning if you like a more aromatic soup.
What stays out of the jar matters as much as what goes in. Cream, milk, and any kind of thickener get stirred in later when you reheat the soup, never before canning, since dairy and flour or cornstarch interfere with the safe movement of heat through the jar during processing.
Potato Leek Soup Variations
This recipe follows the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension hearty soup guidelines (publication FNH-00065), packed as a hearty soup with the jars filled with solids and broth poured into the gaps. The processing time and pressure are what make the soup safe to store at room temperature, so they can’t be shortened, lowered, or traded for a water bath. Potato leek soup is a low-acid food, and only a pressure canner reaches the temperature needed to make it shelf-stable.
You can change the seasonings freely and shift the ratio of leeks to potatoes to suit your taste, since those choices don’t affect the safety of the process. Save the cream, milk, cheese, and any thickener for serving time, stirring them in on the stove as the soup reheats. If you’d rather build a different combination of vegetables and broth from scratch, my choice soup recipe walks through these same tested guidelines step by step.
How to Make Potato Leek Soup
Potato leek soup comes together quickly on the stove before it ever reaches the canner, and the canner does the real cooking from there. The stovetop step is mostly about getting everything hot and evenly mixed so it packs well and processes safely.
Nothing about the method is fussy, but the order matters: prep the vegetables, get them simmering, pack the jars hot, and let the pressure canner take it from there. Here’s how it goes, start to finish.
Prepare the Ingredients
Start by washing and slicing the leeks, taking care to rinse out any grit caught between the layers, then peel and dice the potatoes into bite-sized pieces. For a two-quart batch you’ll want about 4 cups of sliced leeks and 4 cups of diced potatoes, give or take, depending on how you like the balance between the two.
Get your pressure canner heating and your jars warm before you start filling, so everything moves hot into a hot canner. This is a hot-pack soup, which keeps the vegetables evenly distributed through the jar and helps heat move all the way through during processing.
Simmer and Pack the Jars
Combine the leeks, potatoes, and salt in a large pot, add enough broth to cover, and bring it all to a boil. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes, which softens the vegetables just enough that they pack down and hold up better in the jar. Then ladle the hot soup into your prepared jars, using a slotted spoon to add the solids first and a ladle to top them off with broth, leaving 1 inch of headspace. The jars should be filled with solids and the broth poured into the gaps around them, which is what makes this a hearty pack.
Run a bubble remover or a thin spatula around the inside of each jar to release any trapped air, then check the headspace and adjust if it has dropped. A wide-mouth canning funnel keeps this part tidy. Wipe the rims clean, set the lids on, and screw the bands down to fingertip tight.
Canning Potato Leek Soup
This is a hot-pack, pressure-canned soup, and the smallest batch a pressure canner can safely process is 2 quarts (or 4 pints). The recipe is written for that minimum, but you can scale it up to fill a full canner load without changing the processing time or the pressure.
To can, prepare your pressure canner, jars, and lids. Pack the soup to the hearty protocol, leaving 1 inch of headspace, then remove air bubbles, wipe the rims, and apply the lids and bands fingertip tight. Set the jars in the canner, lock the lid, and let the canner vent a full 10 minutes of steam before you bring it up to pressure.
Process pints for 75 minutes or quarts for 90 minutes at 10 pounds pressure in a weighted gauge canner or 11 pounds in a dial gauge canner, adjusting for altitude. Use a natural pressure release when the time is up, and never try to force cool the canner. Once the pressure has returned to zero, wait a few minutes, then remove the jars and set them on a towel or rack to cool undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours before checking the seals.
Altitude Adjustments
With pressure canning, the processing times stay the same at higher altitudes, but the pressures change. Here are the altitude adjustments for pressure canning potato leek soup:
For dial gauge pressure canners:
- 0 to 2,000 feet: 11 lbs pressure
- 2,001 to 4,000 feet: 12 lbs pressure
- 4,001 to 6,000 feet: 13 lbs pressure
- 6,001 to 8,000 feet: 14 lbs pressure
For weighted gauge pressure canners:
- 0 to 1,000 feet: 10 lbs pressure
- Above 1,000 feet: 15 lbs pressure
Tips for Success
Waxy potatoes are worth seeking out if you want the chunks to stay intact, since starchier potatoes soften more and can cloud the broth. Cutting the potatoes and leeks to a similar size also helps everything cook evenly, both on the stove and in the canner, so the soup processes the way it’s meant to.
If you’re new to pressure canning, give yourself time to let the canner vent the full 10 minutes before the weight goes on, and don’t rush the cooldown afterward. The natural pressure release is part of what finishes the soup, and lifting the weight early can pull liquid out of the jars and leave you with weak seals. My full pressure canning guide walks through the whole process, and Pressure Canning for Beginners and Beyond is a good reference to keep on the shelf if you want one.
Serving Ideas for Potato Leek Soup
To serve, empty a jar into a pot and heat it through on the stove, or warm it in the microwave. This is the point to stir in any cream or milk for a richer bowl, add a handful of fresh herbs, or thicken it slightly if you like, since none of those could go in before canning. I often puree the whole jar into a smooth soup, but it’s just as good left chunky and rustic.
A little grated parmesan, a spoonful of sour cream or creme fraiche, or a drizzle of good olive oil all dress it up nicely, and a slice of crusty bread turns a jar into lunch. If you’re filling out a pantry of pressure canning recipes for quick meals, this sits comfortably alongside the other soup canning recipes you can pull down on the nights you want dinner without much fuss.
Yield Notes
As written, this recipe fills about two quarts, which is the smallest load a pressure canner will safely handle. Exact yield shifts a little with how densely you pack the jars and the ratio of vegetables to broth, so treat two quarts as a starting point rather than an exact promise.
The recipe scales up cleanly, so doubling or tripling it to fill a full canner load works without any change to the processing time or pressure. Just keep the minimum in mind: never run a pressure canner with less than 2 quarts or 4 pints, since smaller batches don’t have a tested safe process.
A few common questions come up about canning this one, so here are the answers before you get started.
Potato Leek Soup FAQs
No. Potato leek soup contains low-acid vegetables, so it is not safe for water bath canning. You need to use a pressure canner to make safe, shelf-stable jars.
No. Flour, cornstarch, and other thickeners are too dense to let heat move through the jar safely, so they are never added before canning. Thicken the soup on the stove when you reheat it to serve.
No. Dairy is not added before canning, since cream and milk interfere with safe heat penetration in the jar. Stir them in when you reheat the soup to serve instead.
Properly processed and sealed jars keep for about 12 to 18 months in a cool, dark place, though they stay safe longer as long as the seal holds. Refrigerate after opening and use within 3 to 4 days.
There are plenty of other soups worth putting up by the canner load, so try a few more of these next.
Soup Canning Recipes
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Canning Potato Leek Soup
Equipment
- Canning Jars, Lids and Bands
Ingredients
For a small two-quart canner batch, you’ll need:
- 4 cups leeks, sliced (about 300 g)
- 4 cups potatoes, diced (about 600 g)
- 2 tsp salt, adjust to taste
- Vegetable broth to fill, about 4 cups
Pack each quart jar with:
- 2 cup leeks, sliced (about 150 g)
- 2 cup potatoes, diced (about 300 g)
- 1 tsp salt
- Vegetable broth to fill, about 1 1/2 to 2 cups
Instructions
- Wash and slice the leeks, rinsing out any grit between the layers. Peel and dice the potatoes into bite-sized pieces.
- Prepare your pressure canner and warm the jars and lids before you begin filling.
- Combine the leeks, potatoes, and salt in a large pot. Add enough broth to cover the vegetables and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes, until the vegetables soften slightly.
- Pack the hot soup into prepared jars, adding the solids first with a slotted spoon, then ladling broth over the top. Leave 1 inch headspace, with the jars filled with solids and broth filling the gaps around them.
- Remove air bubbles, adjust headspace if needed, and wipe the rims clean. Center the lids and screw on the bands to fingertip tight.
- Place the jars in the pressure canner and vent steam for 10 minutes before bringing to pressure.
- Process pints for 75 minutes or quarts for 90 minutes at 10 lbs pressure in a weighted gauge canner or 11 lbs in a dial gauge canner, adjusting pressure for altitude (see notes).
- Use a natural pressure release. Once the canner returns to zero pressure, remove the jars and cool undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours.
- Check the seals before storing. Refrigerate any jars that did not seal and use them first.
Notes
- 0 to 2,000 feet in elevation – 11 lbs pressure
- 2,001 to 4,000 feet in elevation – 12 lbs pressure
- 4,001 to 6,000 feet in elevation – 13 lbs pressure
- 6,001 to 8,000 feet in elevation – 14 lbs pressure
- 0 to 1,000 feet in elevation – 10 lbs pressure
- Above 1,000 feet – 15 lbs pressure
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
And if you’re stocking the shelf with ready-to-heat dinners, these meal in a jar canning recipes are worth a look too.
Meal in a Jar Canning Recipes
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Potato leek soup is such a classic and this one doesn’t dissapoint!