Healthy Leek Recipes

This traditional French dish is delicious, impressive meal for when you are up for an extra challenge. We're not going to lie—deboning a chicken and rolling it into a ballotine takes time and skill. Our recommendation: get your butcher to debone the bird, then you can stuff and roll it.

The mashed potato-covered shepherd's pie was originally created to use up the leftovers from a festive roast. This version blends peas, leeks and carrots with diced turkey, all in a creamy herb sauce. The dish is a perfect way to create a second meal with the holiday turkey but if you like, use leftover roast chicken, duck or goose.

Sixteen cups of sweet onions may look like a huge amount, but they cook way down to create this very aromatic and warming recipe reminiscent of French onion soup. Parmesan croutes are a lighter topping than the traditional blanket of bread and cheese.

Bring the allium family--onions, leeks, garlic--together in this simpler and heartier version of French onion soup. If you've always found the traditional melted cheese topping too intimidating to try at home, you'll find this version user-friendly; just top toasted bread with cheese and pour the soup over to melt it. Including chickpeas makes it filling enough for a main course.

This good-for-your-gut-health food gets super-silky when slowly cooked in the oven. Serve these flavorful braised leeks with roast chicken or fish.

This rustic vegan potato-leek soup proves you don't need cream to make a hearty soup. The recipe calls for two types of potato--red potatoes, which hold their shape and add color to the soup, and russet potatoes, which break down slightly when cooked, adding texture and body to the soup. And not only is this comforting soup vegan--it's also gluten-free. Serve with a salad and crusty bread for a healthy dinner.

Grated butternut squash, pine nuts and sautéed leeks in a creamy white sauce are layered with sheets of whole-wheat pasta for this wintery variation on a vegetable lasagna. Any Parmesan cheese can be used in this casserole, but we recommend Parmigiano-Reggiano for its superior flavor.

Inspired by the flavors of loukaniko, a classic Greek sausage, these sausage patties are flavored with orange, fennel and leek.

Caramelized leeks, fresh scallions and chives give this French-onion-inspired dip a triple hit of allium flavor. Serve with crudités and potato chips.

Al dente farro with earthy leeks, thyme, savory mushrooms and bacon is a match made in culinary heaven. The result is a hearty and toothsome dish that you'll crave time and again. Garnish with fresh thyme sprigs, if desired.

This galette recipe pairs very classic French flavors--sweet onions, thyme and tangy goat cheese--with creamy potatoes. A whole-wheat crust adds nutrition and also a slightly sweet and nutty flavor. This whole-wheat galette makes for a delicious light meal or a hearty side.

A touch of heavy cream, a few garlic cloves and thyme sprigs round out the flavor of tender braised leeks with chicken in this recipe. The rich, silky sauce is wonderful over whole-wheat egg noodles or mashed potatoes. Leeks grown in the garden and those that you find at the store can be vastly different in size. Garden leeks tend to be smaller, so if you're using leeks from the garden, make sure you pick enough to fill up the pan.

Kohlrabi is a root vegetable related to cabbage that can be eaten raw or cooked. Here, we blend it with potatoes for a more nutritious take on the classic potato-leek soup.

This silky kabocha squash soup has a warm flavor profile and a slight spicy kick from Fresno chile. Apple adds a nice tang and sweetness to complement the coconut milk. Enjoy this vegan soup as a starter course to a fall meal, or double the serving size and serve with a green salad for a full meal.

We've discovered the perfect pairing for this moist, lemony, slow-cooker salmon--slightly chewy leeks. Like other alliums, leeks become sweet and rich when roasted slowly for a long time. When cooked in the slow cooker they "melt," becoming jam-like but still retaining pleasant chewiness. Garnish with fresh sage leaves and thyme sprigs, if desired.

This healthy veggie-loaded soup is an easy way to use up leftover Thanksgiving turkey. Adding the lemon juice right before serving sharpens the taste, making it light and bright.

This creamy chicken and asparagus pasta is a quick, warming meal all cooked in one pot. The cream cheese adds a silky texture to the sauce, while fresh asparagus and lemon brighten the dish.

We mix Yukon gold and red-skin sweet potatoes with mild leeks in this easy au gratin recipe. The combination of Parmesan and Cheddar makes this dish irresistible.

It's hard to believe how rich and creamy this potato-leek soup is even though there's not a drop of cream in it. Croutons topped with anchovy, olives and leek are a crunchy, savory foil to the soup. But skip them if you like and incorporate all the cooked leeks into the soup instead.

This cheesy broccoli-potato soup is super creamy and has a lot of broccoli flavor from using both the florets and stems. The white-wine vinegar helps to balance out the broccoli flavor and adds a bit of complexity to the soup. Topping with cheese and chives gives it a loaded baked potato feel.

Stuff pork tenderloin with apple and leek to take it from ordinary to elegant. Our easy method of tying the roast together keeps the filling inside while you brown and roast it. We use applejack, brandy made from apple cider, for depth of flavor in the pan sauce, but you can use 1/2 cup cider if you prefer.

French onion soup is a favorite but it usually isn't substantial enough to make a complete meal. We've solved this problem by adding fiber-rich chickpeas to a broth flavored with sherry and three kinds of onions. Of course, we didn't forget the gooey topping, we've just made it a little lighter and a lot easier to prepare at home--simply top toasted whole-wheat bread with cheese and pour the soup on to melt it.

Herb-crusted scallops served with crispy baked leeks make an easy yet impressive dish to serve to friends. You may have seen “frizzled” or fried leeks on a restaurant menu before, but you might not guess how easy they are to make at home. Here we toss thinly sliced leeks with paprika- and garlic-seasoned flour and bake them until crispy. While the leeks bake you have time to sear the scallops. Serve with: Mashed potatoes and kale sautéed with garlic.

Leeks and carrots add a fresh-from-the-garden note to chewy barley and tender chicken in this satisfying main dish stew recipe.