German Potato Soup (Kartoffelsuppe)

I had several German recipes to choose from for my second post this week. I’m not gonna lie, German cheesecake sounded amazing! But I wanted to go for something lighter since it feels like rich foods have been on my menu lately. Instead, I went in the complete opposite direction when I found this vegan German Potato Soup (Kartoffelsuppe) recipe. I love potato soup but I hate the fat and calories some of them have (cheese, bacon, sour cream, sausage, etc.). This might just be a satisfying stand-in potato soup that I won’t feel so guilty about. Let’s give it a try!

This homemade German potato soup (Kartoffelsuppe) is a warm, creamy, and simple vegan stew. Combining potatoes with carrots, celery, onion, and a selection of additional herbs, spices, and dairy-free cream leads to a more-ish comforting dish perfect for the colder months.

The Ingredients

The usual pre-shopping kitchen check only found a few ingredients. I had marjoram, nutmeg, bay leaves, salt, pepper, and vegetable oil. It wasn’t much. The good news is the rest of the German Potato Soup ingredients were mostly easy to find. They were mostly produce items along with vegetable broth and dairy-free cream.

I didn’t find Yukon Gold potatoes, so I chose yellow potatoes. They are about the size of red potatoes, and 6 of them weighed 2 pounds.

The only item I couldn’t find was vegan sausage. Or I should say I couldn’t find the right flavor for this recipe. They had several flavors like hot Italian and spicy Mexican chipotle. They sounded good but I don’t think they would work in a German recipe.

And I want to mention the notes of this recipe have some great tips and alternate ingredients. I really appreciated that this was included in the recipe! I usually have to read through the posts and add them myself, and, unfortunately, it’s not unusual for me to miss some.

The Process

I have to say this recipe was nice and easy to follow. The prep work took just 14 minutes and was full of basic cooking techniques. Things like peeling potatoes, dicing onions and carrots, and measuring spices. It was easy to do, and putting on some good music while you work makes it go by fast.

I had pre-heated my 5.5-quart Dutch oven with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil toward the end of the prep work. The cooking part of this recipe was also full of basic techniques, so making this German Potato Soup recipe was so easy.

I simply sauteed the vegetables and spices then added the vegetable broth and bay leaves. Next, I turned up the heat until the mixture was boiling. That seemed to take a while, but once it reached a nice boil I turned the heat to low, put the lid on the pot, and let everything simmer for 20 minutes.

The vegetables were nice and soft when the timer went off, so I moved on to Step 4, blending half the soup. I used a heavy cast-iron Dutch oven, so picking it up and pouring out half the soup was a no-go. Instead, I ladled half into a heat-proof 1.5-quart mixing bowl.

I love my immersion blender for small jobs like this! It does a great job, and cleaning is minimal. It worked really well with this soup, and there was no splashing or spilling over the edge of the bowl (thank goodness). All I had to do to finish was stir in the vegan cream and serve.

Timing

This German Potato Soup recipe lists 15 minutes to pre, 25 minutes to cook, and a total time of 40 minutes. Not bad at all. Here’s how my time was spent:

• 14 minutes to prep
• 30 minutes to cook
• 6 minutes to blend
• 50 minutes total

The prep time was accurate, but there was a slowdown in the cooking process. I think it was in a couple of places.

First, it took a while for my soup to come to a boil in Step 2 (old stove). The other place was blending in Step 4. My soup pot was too heavy to pick up and pour, so I ladled the soup into a heat-proof mixing bowl instead.

In other words, I don’t think the slowdown was the recipe’s fault. It seems more like just my old stove and my being extra careful with hot soup.