A hearty soup which is filling, tasty, and very easy to make.

Leek and Fennel Soup

olive oil

leeks,

celery,

white onions,

fennel bulb,

potatoes,

salt

black pepper

water

vegetable bouillon

In a large saucepan or soup kettle over medium-low heat, place the olive oil, leeks, celery, onions, fennel, potatoes, salt, and pepper, and cook and stir until the onions are translucent and the vegetables have begun to soften, about 10 minutes.


Pour 8 cups of water over the vegetables, bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and drop in the vegetable bouillon cubes. Simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally to dissolve the cubes,  until the vegetables are tender and the potatoes have begun to thicken the soup, about 30 minutes.


I made this soup, but I added more potatoes, and a bit of half and half and sprinkled some Parmesan cheese to thicken it. Also, I put about 1/2 of the soup into a blender to thicken the broth. Just a personal preference for a creamier version.

Didn't use potatoes. Fasted for a weekend on this soup, sipping the broth through out the day and eating the veggies when I got hungry. Lets just say I didn't once feel deprived or like I was missing out on anything else. Plus my tummy feels much better.

This was an enjoyable soup. I did not use vegetable bouillon - instead used half homemade chicken stock, and red potatoes rather than large baking potatoes. Will make again for a quick winter supper.

This soup was a real hit. I made it once to get rid of a leftover fennel that I had in the fridge. They liked it so much that the next day a bunch of leeks and random fennel ended up in my fridge by surprise. Apparently the veggie fairy made a visit. The message left was clear... time for more soup.

For such simple ingredients, this was very flavorful, and not nearly as oniony as I thought it would be. Hubby especially liked it. I used only 6 cups of water (but still used 2 bouillon cubes) because I didn't start with a big enough pot, and it was just right. Like another reviewer, I pureed part of the soup for a thicker texture. I'll definitely make this again.

Lovely soup - my husband definitely wants me to make it again.  My modifications: less water, blending (as another reviewer had suggested), and adding cream.  I used 2 bouillons, but only 5 cups of water and then one cup of cream.  Can't wait to make it again!

This recipe was a great way to use up some late summer/early fall veggies from my farm boxes. It's easy and extremely versatile. I used some fish stock I had in the freezer instead of bouillon, and tossed in some mussels toward the end of the cook time. Delicious! 

Good stuff.  I will definitely double the amount of potatoes next time, as the fennel was a little strong for my taste.  I used about 3/4 of the amount of liquid called for (broth instead of water/bouillon).

This is the best soup recipe to date. 

I made a modification reducing water to 6 cups and adding 2 cups of 35% cream. 
This gives the soup a creamy buttery flavor and thickens the liquid. 
Oh, and I use chicken bouillon which allows me to omit the salt.
I am making this for our family gathering this weekend. It is sure to be a crowd pleaser.

Haven't made yet but hopes it tastes like the French vegetable soup at Suzanne's.  A thin broth soup loaded w/ veg's.  I'll add carrots

Yum! I wanted to use up my leftover leek, fennel and 3 small red potatoes so I reduced the recipe to serve 3. I also threw in half a sliced red bell pepper that I had lying around. I did not blend the veggies for a thicker soup as I don't have a blender or food processor, however I ignored all the recipe's liquid ingredients and veg bouillon; instead I used 3/4 cup vegetable broth, 1.5 cup soymilk and 1.5 cup water. It came out delicious (although I'm sure it would have been nice and thick with the veggies blended)! The only problem with using soymilk is that it coagulates in a strange way when heated, but if this doesn't bother you then keep stirring when simmering and enjoy! Will serve with mini garlic toasts and make again! :-)

I really altered this b/c of what I had on hand: only half a bulb of fennel but lots of stalks and fronds. I chopped up the stalks, dried the fronds on a baking sheet @ 150F for an hour, crumbled them, and added to the soup. I had 8 tiny red potatoes that were sprouting and an onion. I used 3 cups homemade chicken stock and 3 cups water. Salt and pepper were the only seasonings I used. I blended half the soup and then added about 3 cups of rice milk (my husband has a dairy allergy). It was creamy and tasty.

I loved this recipe!!  My grocery store didn't have fennel though, but I'll be on the look out for it from now on as I'm sure it would have been even better.  The only other thing I did different was I used only two leeks and it was plenty.  In addition, I mashed about half of it to make it a little bit creamy. Wonderful and VERY filling :)

The vegetables filled an 8 quart soup pot to the brim. The suggestion that this could all fit in a "large saucepan" is absurd. And this is all supposed to soften with 2tbsp olive oil?

Wow , this a very healthy great tasting soup . Don't have to measure to much and a great outcome .

Really good vegetable soup.  I had bought fennel and did not know what I was going to do with it.  After searching allrecipes I decided to try this one. I used one russet potato and one sweet potato.  The soup had a lot more flavor than I expected from a vegetable soup.  I like it more than I expected I would and am sure I will make this again.  I will use 1 russet and 1 sweet potato the next time too. Fresh herbs at the end of cooking are also a nice touch.  Thanks for sharing the recipe!

I was looking for a recipe to use up my leeks, fennel and finger sweet potatoes.  This was perfect!  I used two leeks, one fennel bulb, a handful of finger sweet potatoes, one large onion and one celery stick because that's what I had on hand.  I also had to use chicken bouillon instead of vegetable.  

I thought the soup was a little bland with just salt and pepper, so I added garlic powder, garlic salt and some 21 Seasoning Salute (it has no salt).  It added a nice spicy flavor to the soup.  I ended up pureeing it because I didn't care for all the veggie chunks in it.  Really liked the flavor better that way.  It distributed everything evenly.  Hubby enjoyed it too.  Healthy and delicious, thanks for sharing!

Very good!  I needed a recipe to use fennel and leeks from our CSA box, and this worked really well!  I was a little confused about what to do with the onions:  really just halve them?  I did this at first but then they were so large that I ended up slicing up one and throwing in a few more pieces.  I also used small red potatoes instead of baking potatoes and put in about 2 lbs., used 4 cups of chicken broth (low-sodium), 1 cup low-fat milk with 2-3 tbsp butter since I didn't have cream, and another 1-2 cups of water with a chicken bouillon cube.  I didn't feel like using the blender, so I mashed the soup up to add creaminess and added 1/4 to 1/2 cup grated Parmesan and a few dashes of cayenne pepper to add a bit more flavor.  Also added a can of corn towards the end.  A yummy potato-leek chowder, and the fennel flavor wasn't too strong either!

Taste is definitely worth 5 stars! The flavors of this soup go really well together!  I was a little confused on the instructions for the onions- do you really just half them? I would prefer if the onions and fennel were more chopped up, otherwise really good!  I didn't add celery or salt for personal preference and used chicken broth because I did not have bouillon.  Next time I will try it with less broth so it will be thicker.  Thank you for a great recipe!  Oh and I sprinkled in some crumbled bacon after trying it without- yummy!

This is a perfect recipe, as a base and something to play with. I made this, but I also cleared out a bunch of other veggies from the fridge. Carrots, corn, diced red/green peppers. I pureed this with some of the other ingredients, and to make it heartier, I also left some chopped ones along with adding cream to thicken. And I think I probably added a pinch of nutmeg.

Had some carmelized fennel to use up and so went looking for a soup recipe. This is very good! Only had red potatoes in the house and used canned chicken broth for the liquid otherwise made it exactly as written. Brothy and filling.. easy to make. I will try using the immersion blender and adding some half 'n half but wanted to make it as close to the original recipe the first time out. I like these flavors and I like that it's a healthy choice! Thanks Fiona G.!

Really great soup, and pretty easy to make as well. I made a few modifications to the original recipe to get it perfect: First, I did puree about 1/2 the veggies to get a creamier mixture. And I added some cream as well. Next, I used 4 cups of vegetable broth, 2 cups of water, and 1 vegetable bullion cube. Finally, I added some cayenne pepper.

This soup was a hit. It was filling, had a nice creaminess to it, and had a kick at the end with the pepper.

Very soothing soup. If you have homemade chicken stock thats the way to go. I added some chopped parsley last 5 min cooking time made for nice color.
I decided to fast on this too as another reviewer, its an excellent soup for that!
I only used a very small amount of potato and pureed that to thicken, it worked nicely.

This was wonderful! I used a couple of extra leeks and one extra fennel bulb because I had more than the recipe called for and didn't want the extras hanging around in the fridge.  I also used low-sodium chicken broth in place of the bouillon cubes and water. The final touch was that I diced some smoked sausage and sauteed it with the vegetables. Yum, yum. This is a keeper!  Thank you!

I must say this is amazing soup.   I embellished it with Caraway seed, reduced salt due to having salty bouillon broth and served with Toasted Rye bread.

Pretty bland.  I had to add extra salt and pepper, and had to add half and half to make it "creamy" to make it better.  Don't think I will be trying this one again.

I was cooking collards at the same time, so I added that veg water to the soup as it was still simmering.  
I cook a lot, so I just want to say that for anyone that doesn't cook, this is so simple to make.

Excellent ! pureed half with a plunge blender, used the chicken stock I had on hand since I didn't have vegetable bullion or stock. Will make again!

We loved this and will make it again. My only substitution was to use unsalted, homemade chicken broth in place of the water and bouillon because I had a lot of it to use up. I’m sure it would be great as is and I’ll use the vegetable bouillon when cooking for vegetarians.  Most all the other comments were on point. It s peppery, we liked it but some may not and may want to reduce the amount. Even though my broth was unsalted, the tablespoon of salt called for was more than enough. When I make it again, I will reduce the salt , especially and greatly if I’m using bouillon.

Truly enjoyed this soup.  We also added extra potato.  I guess it just depends on how you plan to serve this soup.  If as a meal or a pre-dinner entree.

I really don't like fennel.  So I changed this recipe a bit to suit my tastes, and it turned out great.  I used green onions instead, and added a can of coconut cream.  Delicious!

Nice simple recipe. Comes out good always.  I added turmeric and a little cumin which gives it a more earthy homemade taste.

Okay, so here is what I did to make this recipe my own. I trimmed and halved the leeks, and quartered my fennel bulb, used small red potatoes, halved, and gave all a quick brush of olive oil, followed by a sprinkling of freshly ground pepper and sea salt. I then roasted all these lovely pieces on my cast iron griddle for about 2 minutes per side, just enough time to give them a grill mark. Then I removed them from the griddle and cut them into about 1 inch pieces. I added these to the chopped celery, and let them steam in a dutch oven for the 10 minutes called for in the recipe. I then added 1/2 cup Marsala and let the mixture cook another 5 minutes. I then added only 4 cup of stock, brought the mixture to a boil, reduced heat to low and let it simmer about 45 minutes. During that time I tasted the broth, and ended up adding a total of 1 tsp. of fennel pollen to the pot. After that I went at it with my immersion blender and love the end result.

Lovely for dinner. Only had one leek, used the fronds and stalks on the fennel, two onions, maybe an extra potato and didn't add any spices. Vegetable broth was a couple teaspoons of better than bouillon vegetable broth with a little more than 8 cups water because it looked too thick. Hubby found some frozen radishes in the back of the fridge that he sliced up and I just did a couple twirls with the immersion blender. Filling and very tasty. Whole family had at least their own bowl and this was dinner.

Excellent!  Made it with ingredients from CSA box.  Didn't do celery but carrots instead, and also did not use boullion as all mine is full of MSG and I'm trying to cut that out.  However, I honestly didn't miss it!  Put in a little garlic, a tad extra salt, and some white pepper along with the black.  Truly delicious, and for those of us concerned about such things, VERY low points!  Will make again and again!

Substituted chicken broth and milk for the liquids. Added a dash of hot pepper sauce when serving.  Mashed the veggies as other recommended. Added a bit of garlic powder and Nature's Seasons with the salt and pepper. This was so good I ate three bowls full at one sitting.

I loved the fennel taste to this soup - delicious.

The soup was delicious. However, I found it definitely needed some seasoning. I added some butter, dill, ground cloves and nutmeg. It came out wonderfully.

Awesome with just minor changes:  more potato, good chicken broth instead of the water and bouillon cubes (I used 3 cans) and roughly mash with an old fashioned potato masher at the end (this thickens the broth but still leaves chunks of potato).  So good on a chilly night with a big hunk of crusty bread and a nice glass of wine!

Better than i expected,very tasty,made with chicken broth, added some rice.

This is really good. My local grocery store didn't have any fresh fennel, so I substituted fennel seeds. I also added a clove of elephant garlic and subbed half of the water with chicken broth and decreased the vegetable bouillon to one cube. I used an immersion blender on half of the soup so that I could thicken it up. The soup was fantastic. I can't wait to make it again with fresh fennel. I bet that it'll be even better.

I make a lot of soups, but my husband thinks this is the BEST soup I have ever made.  It is a hearty full flavored soup that I will make again and again.  

I quartered a large sweet onion instead of the white onions.  I substituted chicken stock and broth for the water.  Since I did not have vegetable bullion, I used vegetable broth, and cut the salt slightly.  Thanks for a great recipe!

Fantastic soup, had some fennel I needed to use so this recipe was perfect.  I took some suggestions from other reviews, only had chicken broth vs bouillon, used 5-6 cups, added four potatoes to make it heartier and added about one cup of half and half to thicken.  Also chopped the onions vs having big chunks as I didn’t think my kids would be a big fan if they had a big bite full of onion!  The depth of flavor the fennel provides makes this recipe a keeper!  I didn’t even know i liked fennel.

I made it more or less as is and very much liked it.

Big hit with my family!  Had all the ingredients from a CSA and no idea what to do with them.  I'd make this again for sure in the fall. May cut back on the amount of salt or buy boullion without sodium.

My family loved this soup. I will make it again for sure. I am going to put it in the crock pot next time to have after work. I did add some baby bok choy and black kale. The flavor was so good. I also added a little more oil.

Alway make a few changes but good basic recipe for fennel soup.

Weight Watchers friendly!  Hearty and delicious.   I didn't have the white onions and had some cooked chicken breast that needed to be used.  

I used one yellow onion, two large bulbs of fennel and 5 large baking potatoes and only 4 cups of chicken broth.  When the soup was cooked I used an immersion blender leaving some chunks.  I added the chopped cooked chicken breast  and mixed it until it was hot.  I tried one bowl with a large spoonful of Fage non-fat Greek yogurt to make it creamy and one bowl without.  Both were great!   My husband complemented me twice and had a second helping.

I didn't have all the ingredients but still it was too bland for me. I added it to a bowl mac and cheese (to increase the vegetable content) and that was great.

I tried this soup because it seemed easy to make and dairy free. I followed the recipe exactly but used only 5 cups water. Didn't have bouillon cubes but had the jarred kind and added to taste, about 3 tsp. Had some Ghee on hand and threw in a tbsp. The flavors were much better mixed together with a hand blender as others had suggested.  It was really difficult leaving the last bowl to a friend because I couldn't stop eating it. Definitely doubling this recipe next time and try garnishing with carrot shreds.

leek and fennel soup

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total: 1 hours, 10 minutes

Servings: 10

Cost: $3.97 /serving

Author : Fiona G

Ingredients

Instructions

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