A delicious and comforting low carb potato soup packing awesome nutrition and ready in under 30 mins! Great for cold or rainy days.
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Why Low Carb Potato Soup?
A low carb potato soup is kind of an oxymoron, but stick with me here. This recipe has equal parts potatoes, leeks, and cauliflower. All three veggies have carbs, but the potato is high glycemic and high carb, so that's the one of concern. That's why this soup is adapted from an original potato soup recipe.
For other delicious soups try Zucchini Soup with Ground Sausage or Carrot Soup.
Gestational Diabetes Diet
Technically, there are no foods you HAVE to avoid, but there are foods that are advised for you to avoid. These are foods that are high carb and high glycemic, meaning they'll definitely raise your blood sugar quickly and significantly - also known as a "spike."
Potato is one of these foods. BUT you can significantly reduce your risk of spiking by portioning them and adding protein and fat to your meal because protein and fat are blood sugar stabilizers.
Visit the Gestational Diabetes Diet page to learn more.
Of course, if you've done some testing and figured out that your body just doesn't respond well to potatoes, you can swap the them for cauliflower and make this a cauliflower soup.
So the reason this recipe works is because the potatoes are portioned and there's a decent ratio of protein to fat to carbs. See the nutrition label for more.
Recipe Modifications
1 - This is really a vegetable soup or a healthy potato soup made with cauliflower and leeks. Each veggie has equal portions and can be tasted with every bite. So, if you alter any portion, just know that those flavors will be either more or less prominent. As of now, the potato has a slight edge as the prominent flavor. You can take away half of the potatoes and still have a noticeable potato flavor.
However much you take away from one vegetable, add the same amount of another. For example, if you remove one cup of potatoes, add one cup of leeks or one cup of cauliflower and you won't have to alter any other part of the recipe.
You can replace all of the potatoes with cauliflower and that'll really lower the carb count here, but then you'd have to call it cauliflower soup. 🙂
2 - This recipe is rather thick; almost like a really loose mashed potato. For a thinner consistency add more broth until it's how you like it. You'll likely have to add more salt to balance the flavor to your liking.
3 - For a vegetarian version, leave out the bacon and swap the bacon grease for 2 Tbsps butter and 2 Tbsps oil. The butter gives it flavor and the oil prevents the butter from burning.
4 - This whole soup can easily be cooked in an Instantpot or slow cooker, then blended at the end with a high power blender or Vitamix.
Nutrition Highlights
This soup gives you natural doses of Vitamin B-6 and magnesium, both of which help ease nausea, and the B-6 helps to prevent miscarriage and preterm labor. There's also an exceptional amount of Vitamin C thanks to the cauliflower.
The information above is found in Lily Nichols' book Real Food for Pregnancy.
The cheese is super important to this recipe because it balances the protein to carb ratio and is the bulk of the calcium.
Recipe
Easy Potato Soup (Stovetop)
- 4 cups Potatoes (Russet; ~3 medium size)
- 4 cups Leeks (~2-3 leeks)
- 4 cups Cauliflower (~1 medium head)
- 3 Tablespoons Butter (no salt)
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Black pepper
- ½ teaspoon Thyme (ground)
- ½ teaspoon Parsley (dried flakes)
- 2½ cups Broth (low sodium or no sodium)
- ½ cup Heavy Cream ( or Half & Half)
- Peel and chop the potatoes into 1-inch pieces. Rinse and set aside.
- Cut the leeks where the white portion turns green. Discard the greens. Cut the roots off the whites. Slice them in half, lengthwise, then chop into half-moons. Rinse thoroughly in a colander, then set aside.
- Chop the cauliflower (stems and florets are okay). Measure 4 cups, rinse, and set aside.
- Heat a large pot on medium-low heat. When hot, add the butter and allow it to coat the surface; then add the garlic and leeks. Cover and cook for 3 minutes.Add potatoes, cauliflower, salt, pepper, thyme, parsley flakes, and ½ cup of broth. Cover and cook for 15 minutes, or until a fork can easily pierce the potatoes.
- Transfer half the contents of the pot to a high-power blender. Add half of the remaining broth, and half of the heavy cream. Blend, starting on low and slowly increasing speed until well blended. Transfer to a bowl.Blend the remaining soup contents from the pot, along with the remaining broth, and cream. Combine with the first batch and stir. Ready to serve.
- Makes 8 cups. 8 servings per recipe. Each serving = 1 cup.
- This recipe can easily be halved.
- To make it even lower carb, swap out any amount of the potato for cauliflower.
Sue
1 bowl ? Internet says soup bowl is between 8-16oz. Is your serving size nutritional info based on a 8 oz, 12 oz, 16 oz soup bowl? Thank you.
The Gestational Diabetic Chef
Hi Sue - I apologize for the lack of information. Not measuring the soup was an beginner blogger oversight. Looking at the ingredient amounts, I would guess each serving is closer to 12oz. I hate to leave you without an actual answer, but I likely won't be able to remake and edit the recipe in time for you. - Traci
Elena Rivas
Having diabetes is a pain especially if you don't know how to cook healthy meals . THANK YOU FOR HELPING THE MANY PEOPLE LIKE ME LIVE A HEALTHIER AND HAPPY LIFE.
The Gestational Diabetic Chef
You're so kind, Elena. Thank you!
Lamzalo.com
This might be a really dumb question but can you freeze it? Either that or I could just cut the recipe in half
The Gestational Diabetic Chef
Hey! Sorry about the late reply on this. Yes, you can freeze it, and when you defrost and reheat it, you'll likely have to blend it again (if you see separation). Or just half it and you're set. 🙂