Easy Roasted Sweet Potato Soup

Whether you’re hosting a fancy dinner party or having a cozy night at home, this roasted sweet potato soup recipe fits the bill. Roasting the sweet potatoes and onions amps up their already delicious flavors. I also add a splash of orange juice for brightness and and balance for the perfect Fall soup. I know it’s still early Fall, but this soup is basically Thanksgiving in a bowl! Move over pumpkin, sweet potatoes are coming for ya!

In a world filled with heavy cream based soups, this recipe gives you the opportunity to lighten things up while achieving the creamy comforting warm hug effect we all want in a great bowl of soup. That’s not to say that a splash of heavy cream wouldn’t be a great addition to this recipe. The notes section of the recipe has a variety of options to stir in some additional creaminess if that suits your fancy.

When this recipe fell behind in the Instagram poll to my Super Simple White Chicken Chili for last weeks post, those that voted for sweet potato soup, specifically my husband, let me know they didn’t want to wait long for this one! So, without further ado, let’s get into the recipe.

Recipe Evolution

I’ve been making a version of this sweet potato soup for as long as I can remember. I have to give credit to my sister, Emily, for suggesting I roast the potatoes before adding them to the soup. My first reaction was, nope, I don’t want to clean a baking sheet. The original recipe only dirtied one pot. As someone who isn’t fond of doing dishes, I was a little attached to that idea. The more I thought about it (and remembered a baking sheet can be covered with aluminum foil for easy clean-up) I ran out of excuses not to give it a try.

Was adding a dirty baking sheet to the sink worth it? YOU BET! In fact, I can’t imagine this recipe without this step. The added depth of flavor far out weighs spending a little more time at the kitchen sink. Flavor for the win! For even easier clean up, you can line the baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking liner.

Garnishes

The best thing about soups and chilis, in my opinion, is the seemingly endless assortment of garnishes that gives one big pot of soup the ability to become unique bowls tailored to each individual lucky enough to have a taste. Here’s a list of my favorite and recommended garnishes for this soup:

1. Bacon or prosciutto – an obvious choice. Bacon or prosciutto will add a salty meaty component while also adding some texture. You can find my hints, tips, and tricks for the perfect bacon bits here.
2. Toasted chopped walnuts or pecans – a great way to add texture while keeping the recipe vegetarian or vegan. Add walnuts or pecans to a skillet over medium heat, stirring often, for 2-5 minutes until the color darkens a bit and your kitchen starts to smell of walnuts. Watch carefully, walnuts can go from toasted to burnt quickly! Add a few pinches of salt and pepper to season.
3. Toasted pumpkin seeds aka pepitas – add cleaned and dried pumpkin seeds to a skillet and follow the same process above. The pumpkin seeds will start to pop open to tell you they’re ready.
4. Bleu cheese crumbles – the funk that bleu cheese is known for plays well with the sweet and savory flavors in this soup.
5. Shredded rotisserie chicken meat – a super simple way to add lots of protein
6. Crusty bread – saving the best for last. Every bowl of soup needs a piece of warm crusty bread to soak up the last drops of deliciousness from the bottom of the bowl. Sourdough is my favorite bread to enjoy wit this soup.

The featured photo of this soup includes bleu cheese crumbles, crusty bread, and crispy prosciutto. A trifecta, if you ask me!

Keys to success

1. You can always add more liquid, but it’s really tough to recover if you add too much. When adding your broth/stock, start with the minimum and then blend up the soup. If you desire a thinner soup, continue to add broth/stock 1 cup at a time and blend until you reach the perfect consistency.
2. Just like with liquids, it’s easy to add more salt, but very difficult to take it out. I highly recommend starting with a low sodium or no salt added broth/stock so you can control the seasoning of your soup. This is especially important if you’ll be garnishing with salty nuts or salty bacon. Season, taste, season more if necessary.
3. Don’t skip turning the sweet potatoes and red onions half way through the roasting process. The sugar content in the potatoes combined with the maple syrup is likely to burn around the bottom.
4. For a more refined fancy soup, peel your sweet potatoes and give extra care to the amount of liquid you’re adding to keep the soup from getting too thin. For a more rustic, nutrient dense soup, save time and skip peeling. Leaving the skins will increase the content of fiber, antioxidants, and nutrients like potassium, manganese, and vitamins A, C, and E. Keeping the skins on will require quite a bit more liquid than a soup prepared with peeled sweet potatoes.

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