Wild & Wonderful Ramp Chowder
My Wild and Wonderful Ramp Chowder is the perfect way to celebrate Ramp Season! Paired with cheddar cheese and heavy cream the delicious wild leek flavor is exceptional in this soup.

Gluten-Free with dairy-free options included. To make it a meal, serve this easy ramp chowder with a tossed salad dressed with my Sweet Ramp Dressing!
This recipe was originally posted April 2015 and has been updated.
My husband first introduced me to Ramps right after we started dating. Ray had grown up foraging for ramps with his dad, which to me was totally awesome. I was so excited when he took me to pick food growing in the wood as one of our first dates, not to mention I always loved trying new foods and I never even heard of a ramp!
For more Ramp Recipes –> The Best Wild Recipes

Generally Ramps can be found from South Carolina all the way to Canada. In Appalachia Ramp hunting in the spring takes on a celebratory air. A few places have Ramp Festivals where you can try Ramps cooked in all sorts of dishes. Ramp Patches (like morel mushroom spots) are often kept top secret by the ones who know where they’re at.
To learn more about foraging for wild Ramps, click HERE.

Admittedly, I wasn’t a fan of ramps, initially at least. Ray ate copious amounts of raw ramps every spring, it seemed like he had handfuls of ramps with every meal and even in between for weeks.
I appreciated them and went digging ramps with joyful glee, but since I’ve never liked the taste of raw onions, the stronger onion/garlic flavor of raw ramps just wasn’t my thing. Occasionally, Ray would walk on the wild side and add some ramps to fried potatoes, that was more my style.

Over the years I started playing around with ramps in different recipes and dishes, buying up every ramp cookbook I could find looking for inspiration …. 20 years since I tried a ramp for the first time and I’m now completely RAMP OBSESSED!
I will occasionally nibble on few young spring raw ramps while we are digging them, but I most often enjoy mine creatively included in cooked dishes. I have even found magical ways to incorporate the beautiful greens in to a variety of dishes, including making them into pesto! Ramps have such an amazing flavor when cooked, again similar to a combination of onions/garlic/leek all wild and uncontrolled, but only better.
Ramps can be used in practically any dish that calls for onions/garlic. I even use them in my Creamy Ramp Greens, Ramp Rice and my Spring Ramp Spread, which is delicious on crackers or veggies.
And we also pickle ramps, make ramp pesto, ramp chimmichurri, ramp salt and ramp compound butter to enjoy ramps all year long!
Ramps have been steadily gaining popularity and making appearances at farmers markets and even some speciality grocery stores. This very easy and delicious recipe for Wild Leek Soup is the perfect way to enjoy ramps, wether your new to ramps or even if you’ve been eating them your whole life.
Perhaps the one of the best aspects of this Creamy Ramp Soup with cheddar cheese is that it’s made with healthy, real foods that can be sourced from local farmers, naturally gluten-free, and easily adapted to be dairy free/vegan if desired.

Oh, and did I mention it’s DELICIOUS?! You’ll just love it.. I promise!! Especially when you serve it with some crusty artisan bread!
If you like this Ramp Soup Recipe, try these next:
- Creamed Ramp Greens Recipe
- Morel Ramp Potato Chowder Recipe
- Sausage Tortellini Soup with Ramp Greens
- Morel Mushroom and Ramp Chowder
- Creme Fraiche Ramp Crackers {Low-Carb, Primal and Gluten-Free}
- Gluten Free Wild Ramp Fritters
- Ham Cheddar and Ramp Scones {Gluten-Free}
- Sweet Wild Ramp Dressing
- Ramp’d-Up Ranch Dressing & Dip
Ramp Soup Recipe FAQs
Can I use another fat instead of Butter?
Salted butter or room temperature ghee is my default cooking fat, unsalted butter is always suitable substitution. You can also use any fat that you like or tablespoons vegetable oil.
What type of potato is best for Ramp Soup with Potatoes?
I personally use russet but red potatoes or medium Yukon gold potatoes are good too.
What part of the Ramp should I use in Ramp Soup?
After cleaning the whole ramp, remove the outer skin and trim roots. The entire ramp can be used including the tender ramp green stems, bright green stems, pink stems and white ramp bulbs. You can chop or slice ramp bulbs and cook ramp bulbs with the stems. If you do not have whole ramps available, only ramp green leaves you can use them only and they will give you enough ramp flavor.
What if I don’t have enough greens from the ramps?
If you don’t have enough ramp greens, you can sub some spinach, baby kale or even some asparagus along with some onion; like a vidalia.
Can I make this a smooth Ramp Soup?
To make a soup with a silky smooth texture (like a vichyssoise) you can transfer the solids along with the hot liquids from the soup into a blender and purée soup until smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a large heatproof bowl or back into the large heavy saucepan.
How many ramps do I need to purchase or pick?
This ramp soup recipe needs roughly a small bunch of 8 ramps, that’s not even one pound ramps.

Wild & Wonderful Ramp Chowder
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons Butter (or ghee) or bacon grease
- 1 cup Ramps roughly chopped*
- 3 large russet potatoes peeled & diced into 1 inch cubes, roughly 4 cups
- 4 cups Chicken Bone Broth or vegetable broth
- 1/8 teaspoon White Pepper
- 1 teaspoon Sea Salt or to taste
With Dairy:
- 2 cups Heavy Cream
- 2 cup sharp cheddar cheese
Dairy-Free:
- 2 cups coconut milk (canned)
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
Optional Toppings:
- crumbled bacon
- shredded cheese
- ramp greens
Instructions
- In a dutch oven or other heavy bottom pot, over medium-low heat sauté chopped ramps in butter until soft.
- Add potatoes and chicken broth, simmer (covered) for 20 minutes or until potatoes are cooked through. (NOTE: taste your broth while heating and season with sea salt, ideally the liquid that the potatoes are cooking in should be well salted, perhaps a little tiny bit over salted)
- Reduce heat to low. Add heavy cream and shredded cheddar cheese, stir well to combine. Cook over low heat until every thing is well incorporated, do not boil.
- I prefer to let this soup sit for a little while, maybe 30 minutes to an hour then gently reheat before serving. The flavors deepen and it will thicken up a little more. If you prefer an even thicker soup, you can blend 1-2 cups of the soup in your blender until smooth then add it back into the pot.
- Feel to garnish individual bowls with toppings of your choice: bacon, shredded cheese & ramp greens are my favorite. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition

Vegan version was delicious! Looking forward to making it again soon, thank you!
Wow, that was so delicious! We go to a restaurant where everyone raves about the ramp soup. Yours was at least as good!
I made this with finnan haddie instead of cheese, and I got a wonderful version of cullen skink. Cullen skink is often made with leeks, but the ramps make it even better.
I made this recipe exactly as written and it. Was. Phenomenal. I didn’t let it sit for an extra half hour, and it was still delicious. Looking forward to leftovers.
I made this recipe and added in a ham bone and a leftover smoked pork chop. Delicious!!!
I made the vegan version of this, and it was really delicious. Thank you!
Can this Chowder be frozen if I take care to slowly reheat due to the heavy cream?
Yes that should work great!
What a great idea! My neighbor gifted me with some ramps and I really wanted to do something besides ramp butter,
so glad I found your recipe!
I added fresh rosemary and tarragon. This is such a great take for wild leeks
Just found this in time!! Ramps should be big enough to start harvesting next week. I was looking for new recipes and canning recipes for these wild onions. Can’t wait to make this, during the covid quarantine being able to forage for food out my back door. Thanks!!
I’m with ya, fellow Kelly! Made this soup last night. So nice to be able to forage rather than going to a grocery store during the covid lockdown!! 🙂
Just finished making this after harvesting the ramps locally this afternoon, added asparagus and mushrooms to it as well! A silver lining to being laid off during covid will be spending more time in the woods gathering ramps, mushrooms… Thanks!
His is the most flavourful ramp soup ever. Have given bowls of it to friends and now I have 9 people who want to go foraging with me (but one at a time in separate cars during Coronavirus distancing). You have stsrted a trend here in Orillia, Ontaro, Canada
Ramps. My mother is from southern WV and they ate ramps because it was abundant, tasted good and they were free. In fact, the area she was from was so ramp infested (in a good way) it is actually called “Ramp”!
Now I am going to a Rampfest in upstate NY this weekend with a $35 admission fee. (My friend won tickets, I would never pay that much!)
Life is strange! Can’t wait to try this chowder.
35$.
I am a turkey hunter in upstate NY and the ramps are everywhere, acres of them and no one is picking them.