There’s nothing I love more than a cozy soup. …Except maybe a cozy soup that is also inexpensive. ;) For this Creamy Sweet Potato Soup I amped up the natural flavor and sweetness of sweet potatoes through roasting, added a few warm spices, then finished it off with a dose of luxurious heavy cream. The combo is just perfection. And don’t worry, if you can’t do heavy cream there are definitely options!
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Roasted Sweet Potatoes for Extra Flavor
There are a lot of ways you can cook sweet potatoes before turning them into soup (steaming, boiling, sautéing, etc.) but I chose to roast the sweet potatoes for this soup because roasting significantly enhances their flavor. The natural sugars in the sweet potatoes begin to caramelize and the flavors in the potatoes intensify as they roast in the dry oven. It might take a little longer than simply boiling them, but the flavor payoff is worth it!
Heavy Cream Alternatives
I finished off my soup with a dose of heavy cream because I had it on hand, but I have some no-cream options. You can either substitute with full-fat coconut milk (the kind in the can, not the kind meant as a dairy milk substitute) or drizzle over some sour cream to finish, like in my pumpkin soup recipe. Or you can leave out the cream altogether. Truth be told, this soup was extremely delicious even before I added the cream!
Garnish Options
I garnished my soup with a little extra heavy cream and freshly cracked pepper, but those are totally optional. You could also add something green like chopped cilantro or chives. Or you could even drizzle a little flavored olive oil on there! I wouldn’t say no to adding a few croutons on top, either.
What to Serve with Sweet Potato Soup
This sweet potato soup makes the perfect “soup and salad” or “soup and sandwich” lunch. You could serve it with a salad like Autumn Kale and Apple Salad, or my Roasted Vegetable Salad. As for sandwiches, this would go great with a classic Veggie Sandwich or a Curry Chicken Salad sandwich.
Creamy Sweet Potato Soup
Servings 4 1.5 cups eachIngredients
- 2 lbs. sweet potatoes ($1.98)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil, divided ($0.32)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.32)
- 4 cloves garlic ($0.32)
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp cayenne ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp cinnamon ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp freshly cracked black pepper ($0.02)
- 4 cups chicken broth ($0.52)
- 1/2 cup heavy cream ($0.50)
- 1/4 tsp salt (or to taste) ($0.02)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Slice the sweet potatoes in half lengthwise, then prick the skins a few times with a fork. Rub 1 tablespoon olive oil over all surfaces of the sweet potatoes, then place them face down on the baking sheet.
- Transfer the baking sheet to the preheated oven and roast for 30 minutes. After roasting for 30 minutes, check to see if they are tender all the way through (pierce with a fork). If not tender, return them to the oven for about 10 minutes and check again. Total roasting time will depend on the size of your potatoes. Allow the sweet potatoes to cool slightly after roasting.
- While the sweet potatoes are cooling, dice the onion and mince the garlic. Add the onion and garlic to a skillet along with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Sauté the onion and garlic over medium heat until the onions are soft.
- Add the cumin, smoked paprika, cayenne, cinnamon, and pepper to the skillet with the onions and garlic, and continue to sauté for about a minute more.
- Scoop the slightly cooled sweet potato flesh out of their skins and into a blender (6 cup capacity or larger). Also add the onion mixture and 2 cups chicken broth (swirl a little bit of the broth in the skillet first to pick up all the spices). Purée the mixture until smooth.
- Transfer the puréed sweet potato mixture to a soup pot and add an additional 1 to 2 cups chicken broth (less for a really thick soup, more for a more liquid soup). Heat the soup through over medium heat.
- Stir the heavy cream into the soup, then taste and adjust the salt or pepper if needed. Serve hot.
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Equipment
- Enamelware Sheet Pan
- Parchment Paper
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Sweet Potato Soup – Step by Step Photos
Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Slice the sweet potatoes in half lengthwise, then prick the skins a few times with a fork. Drizzle one tablespoon olive oil over the sweet potatoes and then rub them to coat all surfaces. Place the sweet potatoes cut sides down on the baking sheet.
Roast the sweet potatoes in the oven for 30 minutes. Check to make sure the potatoes are tender all the way through (pierce with a fork). If not cooked through, return the potatoes to the oven for another 10 minutes and check again. Total roasting time will depend on the size of the potatoes. (I flipped the potatoes in the photo above so you can see how caramelized they get on the bottom.) Let the sweet potatoes cool slightly.
While the sweet potatoes are cooling, dice one yellow onion and mince four cloves of garlic. Add the onion and garlic to a skillet along with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Sauté over medium heat until the onions have softened.
Add ½ tsp cumin, ¼ tsp smoked paprika, ¼ tsp freshly cracked pepper, ⅛ tsp cayenne, ⅛ tsp cinnamon to the onions and garlic. Continue to sauté for one minute more, then remove the skillet from the heat.
Scoop the roasted sweet potatoes out of their skins and into a blender (6-cup capacity).
Add the sautéed onion, garlic, and spices to the blender, along with 2 cups chicken broth. Swirl a little of the broth in the skillet first to pick up all those spices.
Blend the sweet potatoes, onion, garlic, and broth until smooth.
Transfer the puréed sweet potato mixture to a soup pot and add an additional 2 cups chicken broth (if you want your soup extra thick, just add one cup of broth).
Heat the soup through over medium heat, then stir in ½ cup heavy cream. Give the soup a taste and add salt or extra pepper as needed (I added ¼ tsp salt). Enjoy hot!
This is an amazing soup had some sweet potatoes about to go bad worked perfectly and is very flavorful.
Made this tonight and paired with grilled cheese sandwiches with fresh beef steak tomato slices. Perfect!
My husband said it is the best soup he’s ever had!
So simple yet SO DELICIOUS! Make sure the sweet potatoes are properly browned on the bottom. They almost get Carmelized. It’s amazing!
So easy and so amazing! It really didn’t take much work and the recipe is very forgiving. The spices gave it a great complex flavour but for super cheap. Reheated fantastic as well. Will definitely make this again for sure.
I made this again, but since I didn’t quite have the amount of sweet potatoes required I added some carrots, peeled and cut in half legthwise like the sweet potatoes, in the oven together with the sweet potatoes. I used curry powder and coconut milk. It was a good variation.
This soup was wonderful. Flavorful and it came together quickly and easily. Definitely adding it to my soup rotation. I served it with your curry chicken salad which also came out great!
I love this soup. It freezes well too so I triple the recipe and keep some in my freezer in yogurt containers (1 container does two of us ‘- we are in our 70s. My wife and I used to be big outdoor enthusiasts but she is now bedridden.) I serve with garden crackers and cheddar cheese for supper.
My husband and made this the other day and we just loved it. Just a few tweaks.
We used vegetable broth (we’re vegetarians) and our immersion blender at the end before adding the heavy cream. Fabulous! Shared the recipe with my niece who’s kids love soup.
Thanks for another great recipe!
Any time a recipe calls for cream, I substitute canned low fat evaporated milk. It tastes good to me, creamy and has less not so healthy fat and more protein.
I made it without cream and it was pretty good. My mom loved it. I slightly modified the spices, less black pepper and a bit of oregano and fennel and a sprinkle of nutmeg, because she doesn’t like it very hot, and added a touch of maple syrup. The maple syrup made it really good! Will definitely make again.
I love the idea of maple syrup. Friends of ours in Nova Scotia make and sell commercially their maple syrup. I often use this instead of brown sugar when I do mashed sweet potato. I also use a bit of nutmeg and cardamon. I know, cardomon is supposed to be for vegetables such as squash. I enjoy using fish broth as well.
Cardamom is good with sweet potato. For Italian flavors, try a combination of fresh garlic and fresh sage, fresh rosemary, dried bay leaf, black pepper and if you like it, red pepper or paprika. Fish broth sounds good, so does a bit of fish sauce at the end.
Easy and so yummy!! Will definitely make again.
This looks great – and I definitely have some sweet potatoes that need to be used within the next couple of weeks. I was wondering however about potential substitutes for heavy cream. For other vegetable soups in the past I have substituted a little goat cheese or some reduced-fat coconut milk in soups calling for heavy cream. Do you think this might work here? Thank you
Yep, as suggested in the blog post, you can either use coconut milk or even just leave the cream part out all together. It was actually really delicious even before I added the cream! :)
Would this freeze ok? I really like making your soups and freezing them for lunches for the upcoming weeks!
I haven’t tried it, but I would think this one should freeze pretty good. You may need to just give it a good stir upon thawing to recombine everything. :)
I have frozen it and it freezes nicely.
Delish – the spices really make this soup pop! Super easy weeknight recipe, used the immersion blender and it worked out great! I also peeled the potatoes before roasting and chopped to avoid the hot potatoes.
Would an immersion blender work?
Yes :)
Thanks, Beth! Absolutely delicious–and roasting the potatoes is the only way to go. This very easy recipe took almost no prep time. About 3-5 minutes to dice and saute the onion and garlic, maybe another 2 minutes to both put the potatoes on the roasting pan and much later, scoop out the flesh. Lastly about 2 minutes to blend the soup, so no more than 10 minutes of active work, not counting roasting time. I recently gave away my 50+ year old blender, so used an immersion stick blender for this recipe. The soup wasn’t as silky as would have been using a high powered counter blender, but so easy to manage–no pouring hot soup into a blender container and then returning to a pan. We liked the bit of texture in the soup. I very much enjoyed cumin as part of the flavor profile. 4 generous servings, a bit over the 1.5 c the recipe says–two meals for us, paired with a big leafy salad. I think this recipe would work with roasted butternut or other firm winter squash, ie kabocha or hubbard, without any other alterations–but I live in sweet potato country, so it’s potatoes for me!
This looks delicious. I just made your creamy mushroom soup and seeded no knead bread, both delicious, and happen to have all the ingredients for this…..except, half of my sweet potatoes are the purple kind, is this okay? I’ve never had purple sweet potatoes….
I’m not sure, to be honest! I’ve never cooked purple sweet potatoes, so I don’t know if they have any major differences in texture or flavor. The main thing is that it will discolor your soup. :)