I don’t know about you, but I love leeks. They have such a delicate and sweet flavor, so unlike their more robust onion cousins. I have paired them with salmon to make this delicious, creamy Leek & Salmon Soup. There’s something really wonderful about the richness of salmon as it plays against the sweet vegetable here.
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I came up with this recipe because Mr Meatified really doesn’t care for salmon very much, but I wanted him to get some of the benefits of eating it. Salmon is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D and selenium, all of which are great for reducing inflammation in the body. Definitely a good thing: make sure you are eating healthy wild caught oily fish! This salmon soup has lots of other positive points going its favor, too. I used thawed frozen salmon, which makes it super economical. This Leek & Salmon Soup stretches 1 lb of salmon into 4 generous dinner sized servings of soup! It’s also FAST. You can have a hot steaming bowl of homemade soup on the table in about half an hour AND all the ingredients used are common enough that you probably have all of them in your home already! Yay!
The creaminess, of course, comes from the addition of coconut milk to the broth at the end. One thing that really is essential here is the thyme: it marries together all of the other flavors beautifully. I used dried because that’s what I had, but I can only imagine how good this would taste if you used the fresh herb! Whatever you use, this Leek and Salmon Soup is a fantastic recipe to have in your stash because it’s simple, fast and gosh darn tasty!
Creamy Leek & Salmon Soup
This dairy free creamy salmon soup is made even more delicious by the addition of leeks and thyme. Perfect comfort food that’s ready in 30 minutes or less!
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 4 large servings 1x
Ingredients
- 2 tbl avocado oil
- 4 leeks, washed, trimmed and sliced into crescents
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 6 cups seafood OR chicken broth
- 2 tsp dried thyme leaves
- 1 lb salmon, in bitesize pieces (thawed frozen salmon works really well here)
- 1 3/4 cup coconut milk
- Salt & pepper to taste (omit pepper for AIP)
Instructions
- Heat the avocado oil in a large saucepan or dutch oven at a low-medium heat.
- Add the chopped leeks and garlic and cook until slightly softened.
- Pour in the stock and add the thyme. Simmer for about 15 minutes and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Add the salmon and the coconut milk to the pan. Bring back up to a gentle simmer and cook until the fish is opaque and tender.
- Serve immediately!
Lovely recipe. I adore anything with salmon. Great way to skip dairy. The salmon soups I’ve had all seem to have dairy. I will have to give coconut a try.
Thank you! The other thing I’ve tried for an extra creamy soup is to use coconut milk and then puree some white sweet potato into the soup as well. I did that here to make a dairy free “chowder”. You do get a little sweetness that way, but it’s not totally overwhelming.
This was seriously the best soup I have ever had!
Surprisingly very good soup! Thank you for the recipe. It made for a very good start to our valentines day dinner
Yay! It IS surprising how much flavor it has from such simple ingredients 🙂
Oh my goodness, I just made this and it is absolutely heavenly. So easy but tastes like it came out of a five star restaurant. Kudos!
Fantastic, so glad you liked it! 🙂
Would love to make this and I have all the ingredients except leeks. I know you love leeks, but think this could work with green onion? I know the end result would not be the same, but hopefully still good, no? 🙂 Also, thank you for the plethora of gourmet looking AIP recipes. I am just starting, and seeing all these delicious options does not make me feel “deprived” AT ALL!
You could try those and adding in an onion or so for bulk would help, too!
So good!!! Eating it right now and so glad to have this recipe!
I recently purchased some canned, wild pink salmon for some paleo salmon cakes, could you use that in the soup? I have the leeks and coconut milk in the fridge on a regular basis
You absolutely could! Avoid any skin or bones if there are any and add the salmon at the end – the only difference is that canned salmon is already cooked, so you just need to warm it through 🙂
Would this freeze well?
I’m not sure that the texture of cooked, frozen and then reheated salmon would be that great. I’d try making the soup base itself for freezing, then add the salmon once the soup is thawed and reheating 🙂
Thank you so much for this delicious recipe. Believe it or not it curbs my sweet cravings too. It has become a meal staple of mine. I eat it for breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinners. This AIP diet is so tough and this is truly getting me through. THANK YOU!!! 🙂
I could believe that… the magic of healthy fats! So happy to hear that you’re enjoying this recipe and big hugs to you – you got this! 🙂
Can i use some other kind of milk for the creaminess? Have nut allergies and stay away form soy..coconut may be an issue, so what about hemp milk?
I don’t see why not! Feel free to substitute in whatever non dairy milk works for you 🙂
This is a beautiful delicate soup, not lacking in flavour or overwhelming. I adored it!
★★★★★
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Made this soup while on whole30 and it was packed with flavor!! Our grocery store was out of leeks, so I substituted it for a yellow onion. I was expecting it to be thicker and creamier based on the photo, but mine turned out really brothy. Did I do something wrong or is that how it’s supposed to be? Either way, it was still delicious!
★★★★★
Hi Hannah, if you subbed the leeks which are more fibrous for onions which have a little higher water content, then that will leave you with a thinner soup in the end. Like you said, still delicious, but not as thick. If you do make it again with the leeks, you should find it turns out closer to the photo 🙂