Description
This Sweet Potato Soup is a comforting, silky smooth soup infused with warm cumin and enriched with cream and butter. Featuring a blend of sweet potatoes, leeks, onions, and garlic, it’s simmered in low sodium chicken or vegetable stock for deep flavor. Garnished with a drizzle of cream or yogurt and a crunchy topping like crispy flatbread strips or pistachios, this soup is a flavorful and nourishing dish perfect for cozy meals.
Ingredients
Scale
Sauté Base
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 30g / 2 tbsp unsalted butter (or more oil)
- 2 onions, diced
- 2 leeks, white and pale green parts only, quartered and cut into 1cm slices
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
Main Soup Ingredients
- 1 kg / 2 lb sweet potato, peeled, quartered lengthwise, cut into 2cm chunks
- 1 tbsp cumin powder
- 1.25 litre / 1.25 quarts chicken or vegetable stock, low sodium
- 1.5 tsp cooking or kosher salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
Finishing
- 1/3 cup cream (any type) or an extra knob of butter
Garnishes
- Extra virgin olive oil, cream, yogurt, or sour cream for drizzling/dolloping
- Crunchy toppings such as flatbread strips, croutons, pistachios, pepitas, or crispy fried shallots
Instructions
- Sauté Aromatics: Heat the olive oil and melt the butter in a large heavy-based pot over medium heat. Add the diced onions, sliced leeks, and chopped garlic and cook for about 5 minutes until softened and fragrant.
- Add Sweet Potato and Cumin: Stir in the sweet potato chunks and cumin powder. Cook for another 3 minutes, stirring regularly to coat the vegetables in spices.
- Simmer: Pour in the chicken or vegetable stock, add salt and black pepper, then bring to a gentle simmer without covering the pot. Let it simmer for 20 minutes until the sweet potatoes are very tender.
- Blend the Soup: Remove the pot from heat. Using a hand-held stick blender, blend the soup directly in the pot until smooth. Alternatively, allow the soup to cool slightly and blend in batches using a high-powered blender, covering the lid hole with a folded tea towel for safety.
- Add Cream: Stir the cream or an extra knob of butter into the smooth soup to enrich and finish the texture.
- Garnish and Serve: Ladle the soup into bowls, drizzle with yogurt, cream, or olive oil, and sprinkle your choice of crunchy toppings such as crispy flatbread strips or nuts. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Leeks should be washed thoroughly by cutting the root end, fanning out the layers, and rinsing under cold water to remove grit.
- Chicken stock imparts deeper flavor, but vegetable stock is a great vegetarian alternative.
- For crispy flatbread strips: cut into 1cm strips, scrunch and fry in hot oil for 20 seconds until golden, then salt immediately. Alternatively, bake them with olive oil at 180°C/350°F for 10–13 minutes.
- Baking croutons at 180°C/350°F for 10 minutes makes a crunchy garnish option.
- Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 4 days or frozen for longer storage.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bowl (approx. 1/6 of recipe)
- Calories: 337
- Sugar: 10g
- Sodium: 749mg
- Fat: 15g
- Saturated Fat: 7g
- Unsaturated Fat: 7g
- Trans Fat: 0.2g
- Carbohydrates: 45g
- Fiber: 6g
- Protein: 8g
- Cholesterol: 26mg
