Chestnut soup with leek and celery

Name: Chestnut soup with leek and celery
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 4 portions
Ingredients: 500 g sweet chestnuts in their shells; 2 leeks (the white part), sliced into rings; 2 sticks of celery, finely chopped; 1 potato, diced; 1 tablespoon butter; 1 litre vegetable stock; 1 bay leaf; 100 ml cream (optional); salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg

Updated on 9 October 2026

Makes: 4 portions
Time: 1 hr 15
From: Sweet chestnut

Ingredients

500 g sweet chestnuts in their shells
2 leeks (the white part), sliced into rings
2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
1 potato, diced
1 tablespoon butter
1 litre vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
100 ml cream (optional)
salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg

Method

Only use sweet chestnuts (spiny husk) and never horse chestnuts (conkers), which are poisonous. Put the chestnuts in water and throw away any that float, have worm holes or are mouldy. Cut a cross in the shell of each chestnut.
Boil the chestnuts in water for 15 minutes. Peel them while still warm, removing both the shell and the brown skin.
Melt the butter in a soup pan and soften the leeks and celery for 8 minutes without letting them colour.
Set 4 chestnuts aside for the garnish. Add the rest to the pan with the potato, stock and bay leaf. Simmer gently for 25 minutes.
Take out the bay leaf and blend the soup until smooth. Stir in the cream and heat through. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Chop the reserved chestnuts roughly, fry them for 2 minutes in a little butter and scatter them over the soup.

Storing: 3 days in the fridge, or 3 months in the freezer without the cream. Contains dairy if you add the cream.