Healthy Leek Recipes

Find healthy, delicious leek recipes including chicken and leeks, leek stew and leeks and vegetables. Healthier recipes, from the food and nutrition experts at EatingWell.

Staff Picks

Easy Chicken & Broccoli Soup

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This easy chicken and broccoli soup is creamy and luscious, but still light. The broccoli florets absorb the creamy soup base, while the chicken stays tender. This is the perfect soup to make on a busy weeknight when you have leftover roast chicken or rotisserie chicken on hand. While the recipe calls for chicken breasts, if thighs are what you have on hand, feel free to use those.
By Marianne Williams

Cream of Broccoli Soup

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This simple and healthy cream of broccoli soup recipe gets its flavor from a mixture of aromatic vegetables, including leeks and celery. Using an immersion blender (or regular blender) gives it a smooth, creamy texture. Enjoy this easy homemade cream of broccoli soup as a comforting appetizer or pair it with a sandwich or salad for lunch or dinner.
By Marianne Williams

Vegan Lentil Stew

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This comforting vegan lentil stew is incredibly satisfying thanks to hearty lentils and sweet potato. The leeks provide a savory allium note while the tomato paste, miso and cumin add bold flavor.
By Ali Ramee

Frittata with Asparagus, Leek & Ricotta

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In this quick asparagus frittata recipe, asparagus, leeks and ricotta combine to create a tasty meal that's perfect for spring.
By Breana Lai Killeen, M.P.H., RD

Roasted Vegan Cauliflower Soup with Parsley-Chive Swirl

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Blitzed cauliflower gives this very easy vegan soup recipe its creamy taste without adding any dairy. To get the silkiest texture, puree the soup in a blender rather than using an immersion blender.
By Kathy Gunst

Cheesy Zucchini Quiche

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This cheesy crustless zucchini quiche has plenty of leeks and zucchini enveloped in a light custard. Feta and fontina cheeses add a rich depth of flavor. Serve it for brunch or anytime you have extra zucchini on hand.
By Karen Rankin

Crispy Gnocchi Pasta with Tomatoes & Leeks

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These gnocchi are crispy on the outside, tender on the inside because you sauté them in hot oil. Plus, they leave a little fond (crispy brown bits) in the pan that adds toasty flavor to the tomato and leek sauce, which is cooked in the same pan. Since this easy gnocchi recipe calls for store-bought shelf-stable gnocchi, it's quick to prepare--just 20 minutes, start to finish. Opt for whole-wheat gnocchi to get 2 extra grams of fiber per serving compared to white. This easy and healthy dinner is easy to customize too: see Tips for variations with shrimp, pesto instead of butter, and pork chops instead of gnocchi.
By Adam Dolge

Spring Green Soup with Chicken

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Sautéing chicken in a little oil first (rather than poaching in the broth) creates some browned bits in the pan (aka fond) that give this green soup a richer flavor.
By Adam Dolge

Creamy Turkey & Vegetable Soup

This comforting creamy turkey soup is a great way to repurpose your Thanksgiving leftovers. The vegetables are perfectly tender and the broth is creamy and flavorful—a perfect soup for when there's a chill in the air!
By Julia Levy

Sautéed Leek Mashed Potatoes

In this healthy mashed potato recipe, we flavor the mashed potatoes with leeks lightly sautéed in butter and tangy buttermilk. These mashed potatoes are an amazing side to grilled steak or chicken.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Chicken Ballotine with Creamy Leek & Chestnut Stuffing

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.
By Nora Singley

Braised Chicken with Mushrooms & Leeks

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The leeks get silky when they cook down in this luscious, tangy mustard sauce. Serve over mashed potatoes.
By Adam Dolge
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Inspiration and Ideas

Turkey & Leek Shepherd's Pie
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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.
Leek & Lemon Linguine
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This simple pasta recipe has bold lemony flavor. It's nice with a salad for a light supper or serve it along with seared fish, shrimp or chicken. Vary it as you please--add a bit of crumbled goat cheese, chopped rinsed capers, shelled edamame or thin strips of yellow bell pepper.
Leek, Potato & Spinach Stew
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Leek & Potato Soup
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Our lightened version of classic potato-leek soup uses just a touch of reduced-fat sour cream to make it rich and creamy.

All Healthy Leek Recipes

Bavarian Leek & Cabbage Soup

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This hearty German cabbage soup recipe is made healthy with tons of leeks, cabbage, greens, carrot and celery. If you can't find smoked bratwurst or kielbasa, chicken sausage or ham makes a good substitute.
By Bruce Aidells

Oven-Braised Leeks

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.
By Carolyn Casner

Caramelized Leek Dip

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

Vegan Potato-Leek Soup

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.
By Robin Bashinsky

Potato, Leek & Goat Cheese Galette

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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.
By Robin Bashinsky

Kohlrabi, Potato & Leek Soup

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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.
By Lauren Grant

Creamy Chicken & Asparagus Pasta

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.
By Julia Levy

Slow-Cooker Carrot-Leek Bisque

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Creamy and delicate slow-cooker carrot soup is a welcome appetizer. The addition of millet--a whole grain similar to quinoa--adds body to the soup as well as protein and fiber. Garnish with additional black pepper, if desired.
By Cooking Light

Cauliflower Leek Soup

Turmeric adds color and a depth of flavor in this cauliflower leek soup, while fried leeks provide a textural contrast. Serve with crusty bread.
By Liv Dansky

Chickpea Soup

This chickpea soup gets a punch of heat from crushed red pepper as well as cayenne pepper in the Italian seasoning blend. If you want to scale back on the spice, consider omitting the crushed red pepper entirely. Serve with crusty bread.
By Julia Levy

Crab Bisque

This lighter version of crab bisque is still plenty rich and velvety thanks to lightly thickened half-and-half in place of the more traditional heavy cream. The crab topping with lemon and parsley makes this easy bisque company-worthy while helping to balance the flavors.
By Karen Rankin

Potato-Leek Tart with Gochujang & Honey

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Puff pastry is the perfect balance of crunchy and buttery for tarts like this one. Serve this potato-leek tart as a first course or alongside roast turkey instead of mashed potatoes.
By Nik Sharma

Cheesy Mushroom, Leek & Prosciutto Toasts

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Salty Kalamata olives and prosciutto add a hit of flavor to the sautéed mushrooms and leeks that top these toasts. Gooey mozzarella holds it all together.
By Hilary Meyer

Cheesy Broccoli-Potato Soup

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.
By Liv Dansky

Spring Vegetable Minestra with Mint & Basil Pistou

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If you don't already stash Parmesan rinds in your freezer, look for them at a supermarket with a specialty cheese section—ask for them if they're not prepackaged. You'll need six to eight rinds.
By Bill Millholland

Vegan Quiche

This vegan quiche looks remarkably like the real thing with melty vegan mozzarella cheese and tofu giving the quiche an egglike texture. Tofu is a blank slate, absorbing the savory flavor of nutritional yeast, and turmeric adds color.
By Paige Grandjean

Lemon-Turkey Soup

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.
By Liz Mervosh

Sesame-Braised Leeks

Braising leeks amplifies their silky texture—making for a melt-in-your-mouth side dish with savory depth of flavor thanks to brown sugar, fish sauce and toasted sesame oil. Plus, they're high in vitamin K and manganese, which are good for healthy bones.
By Breana Lai Killeen, M.P.H., RD

Bouillabaisse

In this simplified version of bouillabaisse, prepared fish stock saves time without sacrificing flavor.
By Bill Millholland

Delicata, Rosemary & Blue Cheese Pizza

Topping your pie with squash brings a big vitamin A boost to this pizza—it provides 120% of your Daily Value per serving. The delicata contributes extra fiber, too, thanks in part to its edible skin. We make the oven a multitasker to get this winter pizza on the table fast. The crust bakes on the bottom rack while the vegetables roast. Once the pizza is assembled, a blast from the broiler crisps the edges and melts the cheese.
By Breana Lai Killeen, M.P.H., RD

Leek & Goat Cheese Spanish Tortilla

A Spanish tortilla is traditionally made by braising potatoes in lots of oil. We cut the calories and speed things up by cooking them in just a few tablespoons instead. A sprinkle of crumbled goat cheese on top adds nice tanginess.
By Adam Dolge

Bacon, Leek & Pear Skillet Pizza

If you are questioning whether pears belong on this skillet pizza, trust us. The sugars in the fruit caramelize in the heat, and the sweetness complements the rich, salty bacon and savory leeks.
By Adam Dolge

Pancetta Pangrattato & Leek Pasta

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Pangrattato is simply fresh breadcrumbs with herbs, garlic and salt sautéed in hot olive oil until crunchy to top this quick-cooking pasta. We add pancetta and chopped walnuts for even more richness.
By Adam Dolge

Sopa de Tartaritas (Tiny Crêpe Soup)

In Guatemala, leftover stock from pots of boiled beef (cocido) is often transformed into this soup. Here, a simple stock from roasted beef bones approximates that flavor. If you're short on time, use the best premade beef broth you can find. Read more about the author's connection to this recipe in Soup—and Life—Lessons From My Grandma.
By Sandra Gutierrez
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