Simple Scottish Tattie Soup Recipe

Scottish Potato Soup, otherwise known as Tattie Soup, is a heart-warmingly delicious but simple recipe that is perfect for a winter’s day lunch.

In fact, one of our Scottish suppliers we interviewed even used to have it before school to warm up!

There are so many different potato soup recipes around the world. Potato and leek is popular, as is creamy potato soup, but of course, we think Scottish Potato Soup is the best, and we’re excited to share our own Tattie Soup recipe!

Surprisingly, the humble potato was only introduced to Scotland in the early 1700s, with potato gardens springing up around Edinburgh in the 1720s and near Stirling in 1739.

It wasn’t until 1743 that it was first introduced to the Highlands and Islands, but by the 1800s, they were 80% of the diet of Highlanders.

And that’s why we have so many Scottish recipes with potatoes, like Stovies, Tattie Scones, Cullen Skink, and Haggis, Neeps, and Tatties of course!

Then there are the delicious sweet, chocolate-covered Scottish Macaroons – yes, they include potato, too!

It’s not surprising that there are so many Tattie Soup recipes out there, passed down through generations and using whatever ingredients were to hand.

That also means there’s no “definitive” Scottish Potato Soup Recipe, but lots of variations.

We’ve compiled a simple recipe mostly made of potato but with a few extra pantry staples like carrots, onion, and leek too.

This is a really budget-friendly soup recipe, too!

Some recipes will also add a little swede/turnip/neep. (Confused? Read more about what a neep is here).

Our Tattie Soup recipe calls for store-bought stock, but you can easily substitute your own homemade stock, which we do if we have made one from bones from a chicken roast dinner or we’ve made a vegetable one.

It’s super simple to make and perfect or a large group, including for a Burns Supper.

Things you’ll need to make Tattie Soup

• Large Pot – We use this one
• Wooden Spoon
• Potato Masher

Ingredients for Tattie Soup Recipe

Serves 4-6

• 1kg (2lb) potatoes
• 1 medium onion
• 1 large leek
• 2 medium carrots
• 25g (2tbsp) butter/oil
• 1.5 litres of vegetable or chicken stock
• Salt and white pepper
• 1 celery stick (optional)

How to make Scottish Potato Soup – Step by step method

Peel and chop potatoes into large cubes.

Finely chop onion and celery if using.

Chop off the green top of the leek (this can be kept for making stock; pop it in a bag in the freezer!), then halve the leek and thinly slice.

Dice the carrots into about 1cm cubes.

Add the butter/oil to a large pot and allow to melt.

Add in the onion, leek, and celery if using and cook for 5 minutes, allowing them to “sweat” but not brown.

Put the carrots and potato in the pot and cover with the stock.

At this point you can add some salt and white pepper if you like, and season a bit more to taste later.

Bring to the boil, skimming off any sort of foam/scum with a wooden spoon to get rid of as it does so. This is just the protein releasing from the vegetables, but it’s nicer if you remove it rather than stir it in later.

Turn down to a simmer for 1 hour.

Use a masher or wooden spoon to break up some of the potatoes, but leave some large chunks. We like our soup a bit chunkier, so just break up a small amount of it.

Season more to taste and serve!

Variations for your Tattie Soup

Making your own stock

Making your own stock is actually really easy, and it gives you a delicious base for this soup as well as many others.

We most commonly use the remains of a roast chicken, putting the whole carcass in a pot, but you can use bones from a roast lamb, too.

Put in a large pot with a carrot, a couple of celery sticks, the green parts of at least one leek (see the recipe about storing in the freezer for just this purpose!) and onion, plus plenty of salt and pepper.

Cover all with cold water, bring to a boil and then cover and turn down to simmer for at least 2 hours. You can taste and then leave the lid off to reduce for a stronger flavour, and add more salt and pepper if needed.

For vegetable stock, you can use onions, celery, carrots, and whatever other offcuts you might keep from vegetables.

A good way to do this is to keep a container in the freezer and add all your offcuts to it, and when it’s full, use it to make stock as above.

The stock will last for 3-4 days in the fridge (allow to cool fully first) and up to 3 months in a fully sealed container in the freezer.

Add bacon or ham

This is far from traditional, of course, but you could add a bit of chopped-up bacon or some ham hock to your pot when you’re frying the onion, leek, and celery.

How long does Tattie Soup last?

3-4 days. You may need to add a little water when reheating because the soup will thicken.

Can it be frozen?

Generally, potato doesn’t freeze too well, but since this soup doesn’t have any dairy in it, it will freeze much better than many other potato soups.

You may find the potato breaks down further, and it’s a bit mushier but still tasty!

Can Tattie Soup be made in a slow cooker?

To be honest, we wouldn’t recommend this since it’s so easy to do in a normal pot on the stove and only takes one hour.

However, if you want to be a bit more hands-off, you can definitely add all the same ingredients to a slow cooker, minus a third of the stock since it won’t evaporate like in a pot, and cook on low for about 3-4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low, until the vegetables are tender.

More Scottish Soup Recipes

• Scottish Lentil Soup – a delicious red lentil and ham hough soup (can be made vegetarian!)
• Cock-a-leekie Soup – Chicken, leek, and rice soup, the Scottish version of a chicken noodle soup!
• Cullen Skink – creamy smoked haddock and potato soup, a bit like a chowder
• Traditional Scotch Broth – How to make Scotch Broth with homemade meat stock
• Vegetarian Scotch Broth – A delicious vegetarian take on this classic soup

Phil and Sonja x

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