This sweet potato soup is a hearty, wholesome soup to enjoy during fall or winter. Roasting the sweet potatoes enhances their flavor and sweetness.
Is it already getting cooler where you are? It's supposed to be a rainy weekend here for us. The evenings are getting cooler, which means it's that time of the year when soups are always welcome. And, the kids are already talking about going to our winter menu of soup, salad, and bread.
Table of Content
About this soup
The secret to making vegetable soups like pumpkins, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, and parsnips is roasting them. It's the sugars in the vegetables, which caramelize so beautifully, that add to the natural sweetness of the soup. As a result, the taste difference between no-roast and roasted is huge.
Also, if you plan ahead, you can roast these vegetables ahead of time and leave them in the fridge. Then, just make the soup half an hour before dinner. I also roast the onions and garlic. In addition to adding more flavor, it also means that I don't need to waste time sautéing them later.
Secondly, the timeline for this soup is very straight forward.
- Clean veggies - 10 mins
- Roast veggies - 40 mins (can be done 2 days ahead)
- Prepare soup - 20 mins
Ingredients and substitutes
- Sweet potatoes - I like using the orange sweet potatoes, which give a pretty color to the soup. And yet, the other sweet potatoes work just as well.
- Onion - I prefer the Spanish red onion because they add sweetness as they cook into the soup.
- Garlic - A little goes a long way. So, add small fresh garlic. If you are like me, then a few roasted garlic are a treat.
- Nutmeg - Freshly grated nutmeg over soups is always a great flavor, but feel free to omit it.
- Thyme - Adds a nice flavor to sweet potato. If you don't want thyme, another great addition would be half a teaspoon of cumin powder.
- Milk - Today, I am adding milk to my soups instead of cream. This one, in particular, is already thick and smooth when blended. So, the milk adds just the right amount of richness and thickness.
- Cornstarch - The purpose of the cornflour in this recipe is to prevent the milk from curdling when cooking. It's best to never overheat the soup once milk is added.
Step by step instructions (pin)
Roast Sweet Potatoes
- Preheat the oven at 360 F or 180 C.
- Wash and clean the sweet potatoes.
- Using a sturdy cutting board and chef's knife, cut them in half and place on a baking tray with the cut side up.
- Season with salt and pepper and drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil.
- Roast for about 30 to 40 minutes or until fork-tender.
- Remove from the oven, transfer the potatoes to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil.
- After 15 minutes, uncover the potatoes. They should be easy to peel.
- Roughly chop the cooked sweet potatoes and set aside. The sweet potatoes can be made a few days ahead and kept in the fridge until ready to make soup.
Make soup
- In a soup pot or stockpot - add the remaining olive oil.
- Sauté the onions for a minute until translucent, but not colored.
- Add the garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and chopped sweet potatoes.
- Sauté a minute more, then add stock and combine well.
- Season with salt and pepper. Then, simmer on medium for 5 minutes.
- Combine cornstarch and milk and add it to the soup (cornstarch prevents the milk from curdling) - combine well.
- Using a hand blender, blend the soup until smooth. Note - If you are using a stand blender, let the soup cool for five minutes and be careful as the hot soup can cause serious burns.
- Taste and adjust seasoning and consistency. Add a little more water if necessary.
- Serve garnished with a dab of butter for flavor.
Frequently asked questions
This delicious sweet potato soup will keep in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. You can also keep it in the freezer for up to 3 months. Always thaw in the fridge overnight for best results.
You can roast the sweet potato up to 4 days in advance and save it in the refrigerator or freeze it for up to 3 months.
For our family, a side salad or sauteed veggies with some homemade fresh bread on the side makes a complete meal. Try
garlic sesame asparagus, parmesan asparagus, or sesame green beans. Some cheesy baked eggplant slices, lemon rosemary potatoes, or roasted dill potatoes
Yes, roasted sweet potato does well in combination with other vegetables such as roasted carrots, roasted pumpkin, turnips, and butternut squash. Try my roasted pumpkin sweet potato soup.
Salad & bread to serve with soup
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Recipe
Description
Ingredients
- 1 lb (450 g) Sweet Potato 2 large
- 3 tbsp Olive oil
- ½ cup Onion chopped finely
- ½ tsp Garlic minced
- 2 Bay leaves
- 1 tsp Fresh thyme leaves
- ¼ tsp Freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 cup (240 ml) Stock chicken or vegetables
- ½ cup (120 ml) Milk
- ½ tsp Salt
- ¼ tsp Pepper
- 1 tsp Cornstarch
Instructions
Roast Sweet Potatoes
- Preheat the oven at 360 F or 180 C.
- Wash and clean the sweet potatoes.
- Using a sturdy cutting board and chef's knife, cut them in half and place on a baking tray with the cut side up.
- Season with salt and pepper and drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil.
- Roast for about 30 to 40 minutes or until fork-tender.
- Remove from the oven, and transfer the potatoes to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil.
- After 15 minutes, uncover the potatoes. They should be easy to peel.
- Roughly chop the cooked sweet potatoes and set aside. The sweet potatoes can be made a few days ahead and kept in the fridge until ready to make soup.
Make soup
- Sauté the onions for a minute until translucent but not colored.
- Add the garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and chopped sweet potatoes.
- Saute a minute more. Then, add stock and combine well.
- Season with salt and pepper. Then, simmer on medium for 5 minutes.
- Combine cornstarch and milk and add it to the soup (cornstarch prevents the milk from curdling) - combine well.
- Using a hand blender, blend the soup until smooth.Note - If you are using a stand blender, let the soup cool for five minutes and be careful as the hot soup can cause serious burns.
- Taste and adjust seasoning and consistency. Add a little more water if necessary.
- Serve garnished with a dab of butter for flavor.
Recipe Notes
10 tips to make homemade soup
- Choose the right vegetables and pair them appropriately. This is important when making combining two or more veggies together.
- Know the cooking time of these vegetables. Add the longer cooking vegetables to the pot first or some will be mush while the others will be grainy.
- When possible, opt for roasting the vegetables. Roasting veggies caramelize the sugars and bring out the natural sweetness in the vegetables.
- If possible, make your own homemade stock. This makes a huge difference to homemade soups.
- If you use ready to use store-bought stock makes sure to under season your vegetables as commercial stocks have tons of salt added to them
- You don't always need butter or cream for every soup. Vegetables with high fiber like potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, butternut squash, become very creamy when cooked and pulsed. Which means you can eat them more often if you make them healthier. Right?
- Often, a dab of butter or cream on the top adds that touch of flavor you need in a soup. So, add just that ½ tsp of butter or 1 tbsp of cream on the top as garnish.
- Yogurt and milk are a great alternative to full-fat cream. Having said that, both milk and yogurt can split when added to soups. So, add them warm and at the last minute. Then, turn the heat off. OR
- A teaspoon of cornstarch in every cup of milk will prevent the milk from splitting.
- While yogurt is a great low-fat addition to soups, it can add a bit of tang which may or may not work with all vegetables.
Nutrition Information
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you
Angela
What a warming and delicious soup! This was so flavorful and easy to do. Definitely going to be on repeat all season. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Veena Azmanov
Thank you so much, Angela. So happy you are enjoying this recipe. Thanks for coming back to write this feedback.
Alison
Roasting the sweet potatoes really add dimension to this soup. SO yummy and healthy!
Veena Azmanov
That is true, Alison. Roasting the veggies does add a new dimension to the soup.
Monica
Sweet potatoes are universally adaptable, I swear! They make such a lovely flavor for a fall soup - cozy and comforting and still packed with nutrition.
Veena Azmanov
They sure do, Monica. Thanks
Michelle Miller
Finally a change from Pumpkin Soup! Love this! Can't wait to make it.
Veena Azmanov
Yes, and yet you can even combine pumpkin and sweet potato. Thanks Michelle.
All That I'm Eating
I bet roasting the sweet potatoes gives them so much flavour, really like the sound of this soup!
Veena Azmanov
Definitely roasting the sweet potato adds so much more flavor
Noel Lizotte
Definitely soup weather in Ohio. 40 F degrees and rainy. ugh.
I've got some soups planned for the weekend. This one looks lovely.
Veena Azmanov
Thanks, Noel. Let me know how you enjoyed it.
Tisha
This is such a great simple recipe! The flavor is amazing 🙂
Veena Azmanov
Thank you, Tisha.
Andrea @ Cooking with Mamma C
I love that you used roasted vegetables for your soup! What a great idea to prep those ahead of time. And, I'm totally on board with your winter menu of soup, salad and bread for dinner!
Veena Azmanov
Thank you, Andrea. I love soup in the winter. Definitely going to share some more.
Elizabeth
This looks so delicious and so healthy! I love a big pot of soup for dinner this time of year!
Veena Azmanov
Thank you, Elizabeth. Me too. Big pot of soup and I'm in heaven.