This sweet potato soup is healthy and nutritious and ready on your table in less than 30 minutes. It is a simple stovetop sweet potato soup using ingredients that are easily available in stores.
You can make it thicker or double the recipe if you like. This sweet potato soup recipe is also dairy free and naturally gluten-free. This is also naturally vegan sweet potato soup, meaning that it has not been specially developed for vegans.
In fact, I tried to develop this recipe for all kinds of diets/people with dietary restrictions, so not only meat eaters can try this recipe for sweet potato soup, but also gluten-intolerant folks, vegetarians, vegans or those who can’t eat dairy products.
So, if you are wondering how to make sweet potato soup from scratch, read on!
How to make sweet potato soup with coconut milk
In a medium pot, heat the oil and add minced onion. Sauté this for about 2-3 minutes. Then, add pressed garlic clove and grated ginger root. Mix these so that they don’t stick to the pot, about 1 minute.
Then, add stock, diced sweet potatoes and chopped parsley. Give everything a stir and cover with lid. Bring to boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer until the sweet potatoes are soft. Puree everything and stir in coconut milk. Cook for a further minute or so before turning off the heat.
When using ordinary stock, you might find that this sweet potato soup does only need a little seasoning, so add these at the very end of cooking after you have tasted it.
Tips for making best sweet potato soup from scratch
- If you are not vegan or not dairy-intolerant, you can use real butter instead of olive oil.
- I highly recommend using fresh ginger root, but if you don’t have it on hand or can find it in your local store, use ground ginger to your taste (I suggest somewhere between ½ to 1 teaspoon).
- Stock – non-vegans can use chicken stock/broth as well. If using low-sodium one, you will need to add more seasoning.
- Portion size can vary person to person, but when having this soup as a starter/entrée, 1 cup is plenty per person. That way you will keep a space for the main as well as dessert. Now, with 1 cup per person, you will feed 4 people. Increasing up to 1.5 cups will give you 3 generous portions.
- This homemade sweet potato soup is quite thin when eaten right after it has been made. However, it will thicken in the fridge so if you prefer a thicker soup, you can make it ahead of time and serve it the following day.
- I only used ½ can of coconut milk which makes this soup lighter. (if yours has the thick part on the top and the liquid on the bottom, make sure to mix it well with a spoon before you measure/pour it into the soup).
Other tasty recipes using coconut milk are: Beet Soup, Sweet Potato Curry or Coconut Rice. All equally delicious and definitely worth giving a try. If you do try one of our homemade recipes, please let us know! We would love to hear from you.
Sweet Potato Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil , see note 2
- 1 Medium Onion , minced
- 1 Garlic Clove , pressed
- 1 Thumb of Fresh Ginger Root , grated
- 1 pound Sweet Potatoes , peeled & diced, see note 3
- 2 cups Vegetable Stock , see note 4
- ⅓ cup Fresh Parsley , finely chopped, see note 5
- ½ can Coconut Milk , full fat (7 fl oz/200 ml)
- black pepper , a generous pinch
- Salt to taste
- A squeeze of Lemon Juice , optional, but recommended
Instructions
- In a medium pot, heat the oil and add minced onion. Sauté for 2-3 minutes before adding pressed garlic and grated ginger. Stir this constantly for about a minute or until you can smell the garlic and ginger.
- Add diced sweet potatoes, vegetable stock and finely chopped fresh parsley. Mix and close with a lid. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes (or until the sweet potatoes are soft).
- Puree the soup until smooth and stir in coconut milk. Cook for a minute or two before turning off the heat completely. Finally, taste it and add salt and pepper to your liking. Squeeze some lemon juice in and serve!
Notes
- This soup will turn out quite thin when enjoyed right away. However, if you don’t serve it right away and keep it in the fridge, it will thicken thanks to coconut milk added. If you prefer a thicker soup right away, you will need to increase the quantity of sweet potatoes by about ½ a pound.
- Non-vegans can use butter (real butter, not butter substitutes) instead of olive oil.
- One pound of sweet potatoes = around 3 cups diced and peeled sweet potatoes.
- Vegetable stock can be substituted with chicken stock/broth (if you are not a vegan). Because I used regular stock (not the low-sodium kind), I only added a little pinch of salt at the very end. If you use low-sodium stock, you will need to add more seasoning.
- I don’t recommend substituted fresh parsley with dry parsley.
- A squeeze of fresh lemon juice gives the soup a subtle lemon-y flavor, but this is optional and can be omitted.
- This recipe yields 4 portions when counting with 1 cup of soup per person. If you count with 1.5 cups – you will get 3 generous portions. For a family of 5 I suggest doubling this recipe and you can have some leftovers for lunch the following day.
- This soup can be stored in the fridge up to 3 days.
Lisa Lotts says
There’s so many butternut squash soups out there — it’s nice to switch it up with sweet potatoes and I love the flavor combo and spices you’ve included here.
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
You can’t go wrong with a bowl of sweet potato soup :)
Demeter says
Guess I know what I’m making for dinner tonight! Looks fantastic!
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Yay!
Bintu says
Soup is the perfect option for a cold day and sweet potato soup is one of my faves. It is great it can be made so quickly too!
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Yes, it’s a quick soup – perfect for weeknight dinners!
Danielle Wolter says
This came out perfect! The flavors were just incredible and it was so easy.
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
That’s great to hear!
Natalie says
Ginger and sweet potato… such a lovely flavor combo. I must give this recipe a try soon. Actually I’m saving the recipe right now and will make it this weekend. Can’t wait.
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Enjoy!
Daisy Holland says
Great recipe. Wonderful on these cold February nights. Organic canned sweet potatoes worked just fine too. Ordinarily I’d use fresh sweet potatoes, but we were out, so I cut back a little on the chicken stock since the canned are a bit wetter than fresh. Topped it with a dollop of creme fraiche and the dried parsley…absolutely delicious!! Will definitely be making this more often.
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Thank you so much for your feedback and rating, Daisy. I am so happy to hear you enjoyed this soup! Hope you find some more recipes you like on our blog. Happy cooking! :)