This sweet potato soup recipe is one of my favorite healthy comfort foods. Made with veggies, coconut milk, and spices, it's rich, creamy, and delicious.
Jack and I spent the first official week of fall eating bowl after bowl of this sweet potato soup. I don’t know what it is about creamy orange soup, but for some reason, it just seems like the perfect meal on a chilly day. Its vibrant color brightens up gray, dreary weather, and its velvety broth warms you from the inside out.
Most years, I make my butternut squash soup or pumpkin soup on repeat at the start of fall, but right now, I’m still stuck on this sweet potato soup. It has a rich, sweet, and smoky flavor, with a tangy finish from apple cider vinegar. The texture is wonderfully smooth and creamy, which makes a single bowl feel really substantial.
If you find yourself craving cozy comfort food in the next couple of weeks, this sweet potato soup recipe is exactly what you should make. It’s simple, nourishing, and deliciously unexpected. Crusty bread for serving is optional, but highly recommended.
Sweet Potato Soup Recipe Ingredients
Another thing I love about this sweet potato soup recipe? To make it, you only need a handful of ingredients:
- Sweet potatoes, of course! They give the soup its sweet flavor, vibrant color, and luscious texture.
- An apple – It brings out the sweetness of the sweet potatoes.
- Onion and garlic – For savory depth of flavor.
- Coriander and ginger – They add warm, aromatic flavor to the soup.
- Smoked paprika – It gives the soup its delicious smokiness.
- Extra-virgin olive oil and coconut milk – For richness.
- Vegetable broth – Use store-bought, or make your own.
- Apple cider vinegar – For tang.
- And sea salt – To make all the flavors pop!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
How to Make This Sweet Potato Soup
This sweet potato soup recipe is soup-er (I had to!) simple to make. Here’s how it goes:
First, sauté the veggies. In a large pot or Dutch oven, cook the onion until it softens, for about 5 minutes. Then, add the sweet potatoes and apple and cook until they start to soften, for another 8 to 10 minutes.
Next, stir in the seasonings. Add the garlic, ginger, coriander, and smoked paprika and stir until they’re fragrant. Then, mix in the apple cider vinegar, followed by the broth and the coconut milk. (Tip: I like to reserve 1/4 cup of my coconut milk for garnish. It creates such a pretty white swirl on the orange soup!)
Then, simmer. Bring the soup to a boil, cover the pot, and simmer until the sweet potatoes are tender.
Finally, puree the soup! Allow the soup to cool slightly before transferring it to a large blender and pureeing until smooth. (Alternatively, you could use an immersion blender for this step.) If the soup is too thick, blend in a little more broth. When it reaches your desired consistency, season to taste and serve.
That’s it!
Sweet Potato Soup Serving Suggestions
When you’re ready to eat, portion the creamy sweet potato soup into bowls. Garnish it with a swirl of coconut milk, fresh cilantro, Aleppo pepper or red pepper flakes, and pepitas for crunch.
I often eat the soup as a meal on its own (with a thick slice of crusty bread, of course!), but it’s also fantastic with a salad or roasted vegetables on the side. Try pairing it with any of these recipes:
- Kale Salad with Carrot-Ginger Dressing
- Pear Salad with Balsamic and Walnuts
- Roasted Vegetables
- Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad
- Roasted Beets with Citrus
Enjoy!
More Favorite Soup Recipes
If you love this sweet potato soup recipe, try one of these delicious soups next:
- Potato Leek Soup
- Cauliflower Soup
- Carrot Ginger Soup
- Black Bean Soup
- Best Lentil Soup
- Wild Rice Soup
- Creamy Tomato Soup
- Or any of these 33 Best Soup Recipes!
Sweet Potato Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 1 heaping teaspoon sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 3 medium sweet potatoes, 1½ pounds, peeled and cubed
- 1 apple, peeled and chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, grated
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 3 to 4 cups vegetable broth
- 1 (14-ounce) can full-fat coconut milk, reserve ¼ cup for garnish
Serving Options
- Pepitas, for garnish
- Fresh cilantro, for garnish
- Aleppo pepper or red pepper flakes, for garnish
- Crusty bread, for serving
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, salt, and several grinds of pepper and sauté until soft, 5 to 8 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes and the apple and cook until they begin to soften, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Add the garlic, ginger, coriander, and smoked paprika and stir. Stir in the apple cider vinegar and then 3 cups of the broth and the coconut milk. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook until the potatoes are tender, 20 to 30 minutes.
- Let cool slightly and pour the soup into a blender, working in batches if necessary, and blend until smooth. If your soup is too thick, add up to 1 cup more broth and blend. Season to taste and top with a swirl of coconut milk, pepitas, cilantro, and Aleppo pepper, if desired. Serve with crusty bread.
Delicious, balanced between savory and sweet. Thanks for sharing!
The sweet potato soup is delicious and easy to make! Thank you for the great recipe 😊 Esther
We just made this tonight and it turned out great.
We doubled the recipe, subbed what we had on-hand including red onion instead of yellow and only used 1/2 of the coconut milk called for our batch size.
This is the 2nd soup we’ve tried from your list of 35 best. It’s been a lot of delicious fun, thank you!
I made this and it is wonderful. During tasting it seemed a little bland on the savory side at first, but I added about a cup of apple sauce (easier than additional apples) and a bit of cayenne, and it pulled everything into line. Now it is just amazing.
You really may need to adjust the flavors, since you are using all natural ingredients. Taste and adjust. Warmth… sweetness… heat.
Hi Susan, I’m glad you enjoyed it.
I am a cook at a retirement home. I am tasked with making a different soup of the day; everyday. I had some leftover sweet potatoes so I thought I would try something different. I’m glad I did!! I have one resident who is never pleased with anything!! She has lived there 5 years and has been through her fair share of new cooks. Well, she said that my sweet potato soup was one of the best soups she has had since she’s lived there!! Thanks for the Win!! Definitely keeping this recipe and will be making it often!
I wanted to love this soup but I found it to be just awful!
The flavors did not compliment each other at all and it was really terrible tasting in my opinion. I will not make again ever. There are better recipes out there for sure.
Made this tonight absolutely lovely thanks so much!
Love this soup! Going to make it today but I don’t have any coconut milk this time, so I will try mixing milk and heavy cream to add to it at the end,
Absolutely delicious. I did ‘modify’ the recipe order by adding the vegetable broth & coconut milk before the garlic, ginger, smoke paprika and apple cider vinegar. I felt the spices would ‘infuse’ better that way
I also added an extra 1/2 apple and 1/4 tsp of fresh ground nutmeg instead of the coriander
Absolutely LOVE this recipe. Had about 3 bowls! I used about 2/3 of the coconut cream to reduce the fat and it was still incredible.
Great recipe, easy to make and great to eat.
What can be substituted for coconut milk
Hi Sharon, you could use another non-dairy milk, regular milk, or half-and-half.
I doubled the recipe but used two pots instead of one. I also added roasted cashews and shredded parmesean cheese as a topping and it was delicious.
Hi Shannon, I’m so glad you enjoyed the soup!
Can this soup recipe be doubled?
yep!
The absolute perfect soup for a cold November day 😍
I’m so glad it hit the spot!
I have made this twice. The first time it was bad…so salty. Just gave it a second chance. Used all fresh ingredients. It’s bad. Tastes almost sour and even has a bad smell. No idea what I’m doing wrong since everyone else seems to like it so much.
Must have been something in your recipe, maybe the potatoes were bad. I just made it and it was perfection 😻
Best sweet potato soup I have ever made!
Can I bake the sweet potatoes before hand
and then add to soup liquids? or does it need to be
boiled within the liquids ?
Hi, you could use baked, peeled sweet potatoes here!
Easy to make and very flavorful! Freezes well, too.
So glad you enjoyed it, Donna!
Why not write in the portions within the instructions? Thankful for sharing this, just a PITA to scroll between instructions and measurements… and that the measurements are not in any particular order.
I take that back the ingredients are in order
Hi Isaac, thanks for your feedback!
I was hopeful based on the reviews but like someone else mentioned, this smelt extremely sour and tasted the same – almost like it was off. Unfortunately inedible.