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I used to love making potato soup, clam chowder, and other potato-based soups and stews. Now that we don’t eat white potatoes very often, I hadn’t made any of them in years. I found my old potato soup recipe when I was cleaning out my cabinets, and decided to try a sweet potato version instead.
The results were amazing, and I didn’t miss the white potatoes at all! Here’s how to make it:
How to Make Creamy Sweet Potato Soup
Soup is already pretty healthy, so it’s easy to make substitutions that make the recipe really nutrient-dense. I used sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes for higher nutrients and to avoid the inflammatory nature of white potatoes. To avoid the soup becoming overly sweet, I also used a winter squash.
To cook the sweet potatoes and squash, I either peel, dice, and then boil them, or roast them in the oven and then peel and dice them when they’re cooked. The second option is a great choice if you have the time because the flavor is fantastic and it’s much easier to peel and cut them up that way.
After the sweet potatoes and squash are cooked and diced I puree half of them with stock, coconut milk for creaminess, and spices. The spice mixture adds depth and flavor. Black pepper and cayenne give this soup a bit of a bite, while garlic, basil, and thyme meld the flavors beautifully.
I add the remaining sweet potatoes and squash cubes to the pureed soup and add a pound of whatever protein I have around as well. Leftover chicken works great and ground beef, sausage, and bacon can all be cooked and added really quickly.
If you are a potato soup person, try this recipe!
Easy Freezer to Table Tip
I have to be very organized to get healthy meals on the table 3 times a day. One of the ways I’m able to do this is by prepping meals ahead of time and sticking them in the freezer for a later meal. Soups are a great choice for freezing. They are easy to make in bulk, easy to freeze, and easy to reheat!
Here’s how to do it:
- Cool soup to room temperature.
- Divide soup into freezer-safe containers (I prefer glass). Don’t overfill as the soup will expand as it freezes.
- Label and freeze for up to 1 month.
Take it out of the freezer the night before you want to serve the soup. This helps it thaw before reheating. If you’re in a hurry and you have stored the soup in glass, you can place the glass container in a bowl of room temperature water (not hot) to help with thawing.
Loaded Sweet Potato Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 winter squash, peeled and cubed (or pumpkin)
- 3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 1 quart chicken stock
- 2 cups coconut milk
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp thyme
- ½ tsp turmeric
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- ¼ cup coconut oil or butter
- 2 medium onions
- 1 lb meat of choice, cooked (optional) (chicken, sausage, ground beef, or bacon)
Optional Soup Toppings
- 8 strips bacon (cooked and crumbled)
- ½ cup shredded cheese
- ¼ cup green onion (chopped)
- ½ cup pepitas or squash seeds (roasted)
Instructions
- Peel and chop the squash and sweet potatoes.
- In a large pot, boil at least 2 quarts of water and add the chopped squash and sweet potatoes.
- Cook until fork tender, then drain and let cool slightly.
- Using a blender, hand blender, or food processor, blend half of the cooked squash and sweet potatoes with the stock, coconut milk, and spices until smooth.
- Return it to the pot.
- Stir in the other half of the cooked squash and sweet potatoes to the pot with the pureed half.
- In a large skillet, brown the meat you are using if not already cooked and add to pot when cooked.
- Thinly slice the onions and cook in the skillet with coconut oil or butter until soft and add to pot.
- Heat pot on low heat until the soup is warmed.
- Serve with optional toppings such as crumbled bacon, cheese, green onions, and roasted squash seeds, and a side salad.
Notes
- Don't throw out those squash seeds! Toss them with a little olive oil and spices and roast at 325°F until crunchy for a delicious and nutrient-dense snack or soup topping.
- You may want to try roasting the squash and sweet potato in the oven to make peeling easier and to give your soup a deeper flavor. Just skip the boiling step in the directions and proceed directly to pureeing.
Nutrition
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Want More Soup Recipes?
Whenever someone in the family is sick or we all need a hearty and warm meal, I turn to soup! Here are my favorite recipes:
- Chicken Vegetable Soup – A perfect soup to support you through a cold or flu, this recipe is full of healthy ingredients.
- Miso Soup – This recipe is perfect for a cold day and is simple to prepare. It also offers some probiotics (in the miso) which is great for supporting digestion and the immune system.
- Garlic Soup – Garlic is one of the most potent herbs that has been used for centuries for colds, flu, and more. This soup is a perfect combination of garlic and bone broth to support optimal health.
- French Onion Soup – This healthy soup is way better than the packet kind and is much healthier too!
- Creamy Chicken Kale Soup – This recipe includes healthy chicken and kale (plus other veggies) with a dairy-free creamy broth.
What’s your favorite soup? Share below!
My Parenting Rule to Foster Independence (& Save My Sanity)
I really like the idea of this recipe, but it’s fairly confusing. After you boil the potatoes/squash you blend and then return to pot with stock, etc., but do you keep the original water in it that you boiled the potatoes in? Or do you discard that? It’s not clear. Also, please list spices in the recipe – I finally found them in the comments, but for future recipes … it’s hard to scroll through all the comments just to see if it might be there.
Discard the water that you boil in. I’ll try to edit to add spices soon.
Hi! Thanks for the great recipe. 🙂 My husband and I loved it. 🙂
I’m so excited to try this recipe out. We miss having potato soup. Just two questions though. When you use coconut milk is it canned or from the carton? Also I see you suggested topping it with cheese, do you occasionally use cheese? Thanks
Does this freeze well? I’m thinking of making a big batch & keeping some in the freezer.
Yes
can i get the original recipe with the regular potatoe
Yum, the bacon looks really good in this – I also love the sweet/salty combo.
It says add spices, but I don’t see any listed in the ingredient list. ???
I need to get better about this… I cook by taste and this was one that I cooked before I started making sure to measure. I used garlic, basil, sea salt, pepper, thyme and turneric (1/2 to 1 tsp of each) and about 1/4 tsp cayenne, which didn’t make it spicy, but just brought out the flavors…
Question– I’m making this tonight for my mom’s birthday and am confused about one of the steps. So I baked my sweet potatoes and roasted the squash before removing the peel (just for ease, so that I could do some of it last night). So I didn’t do the boiling water step. When you add the squash/potato/coconut milk/broth mixture back to the pot, are you adding it back to the water, or have you poured the water out? Just wondering if I need to add 2 quarts of water to my mixture or not. Thank you!!! It looks delicious!
Pour the water off and use chicken or beef broth to thin if needed. Enjoy 🙂
Thank you!!! I’ll let you know how it turns out. I’m trying to prove to my mom that eating Paleo can be delicious, too!
It was AMAZING. My mom absolutely loved it and said she had eaten nothing quite like it before (in a good way). My 7-month-old baby liked it too. It was a great celebration!
Yay! Glad it went well 🙂
Oh my goodness! I’ve been wanting to look for a Sweet Potato soup recipe and only think about it when I’m away from my computer. I’m so glad I stumbled across this…it sounds delicious!
I am new to your site, but just soaking up everything – so many great ideas! I made this soup today and LOVE it! 🙂 Can’t wait to try more great recipes!