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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 qt 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 (such as chicken, sausage, ground beef, or bacon, cooked, optional)
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.
- Sweet Potato Zuppa Toscana Soup – Inspired by the Olive Garden soup, with a lot of veggies added in!
What’s your favorite soup? Share below!
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!
So delicious! Made this last night and even my oldest daughter loved it, and she has a strong aversion to creamy soups. I think the texture of the chunks of squash and sweet potatoes and the crumbled sausage really helped.
I cooked the onions in some bacon grease, then cooked the sausage in the skillet after caramelizing the onions.
Can we assume you use nitrate-free bacon? Maybe a quick word about it in the ingredients would be helpful to people who just stumble upon this recipe? We actually found that my youngest son has an allergy to nitrates – every time he has had them (which hasn’t been for quite awhile now) he gets very sick – vomiting, headaches, etc. Nitrate-free bacon is more readily available these days (we buy ours at BJ’s wholesale club in huge packages on the cheap) and is delicious! Oh, and a big Thanks for the great site and recipes!
This soup is delicious! My husband just made it and it’s insanely good! We topped it with a small amount if sour cream, green onions and crispy bacon. I couldn’t recommend this soup more! Also, we have a plane Martha Stewart peeler and it does the trick. We did not cook it before. However if you rotated it I bet it would be amazing too. Costco has already peeled and sliced squash (just saw it but already had one.) Thanks for the awesome recipe! And thanks to my awesome husband for cooking it as requested!
I JUST looked for a sweet potato and butternut squash recipe on Sunday after some friends had posted about making some. I was hoping to find a Paleo version, but wasn’t blown away with anything I found online. SO happy to see this post!
This soup sounds AMAZING! Can’t wait to make it. I’m not sure though that I know what winter squash is – I’ll figure that out. I made soup the other night with Delicato Squash and carrots and ginger. Also sauted leeks, shallots, onions and garlic in coconut oil and added that too. Basically following your summer squash soup recipe. VERY yummy! If people don’t have an immersion blender I would highly recommend them. You can get them fairly cheaply these days and if you like to make soup they are so much better than using a blender.
I LOVE potato soup as much as the next person. My Mom made it for a family gathering recently and I was really sad that I “couldn’t” eat it. Can’t wait to make this!
Oh my, I’m totally excited about this recipe…I don’t know why I haven’t done this!!! I have a recipe that’s a family favorite for Potato Corn Chowder that I haven’t made in years…this is certainly going to be a proper replacement!!! Thanks.
i’m guessing you could always cook the winter squash in the oven before you peel it. i never can peel those suckers raw. this will be on my menu next week!
I always have trouble peeling them too. THe only success I’ve had is with using a filet knife…
I always loved loaded potato soup! I’ll have to try this soon as it really does sound delicious!