Sweet potato coconut garlic soup

Thick and creamy sweet potato coconut garlic soup made with baked sweet potatoes. Not only does baking (instead of boiling) add a sweeter more concentrated flavor to the sweet potato flesh, it also means that the soup won’t take long to make, if sweet potatoes are prepped ahead of time. Great for busy weeknight dinners!

Some ideas for protein toppings to go with the soup

• Flank steak strips
• Chicken meatballs
• Chicken tenders
• White fish
• Shrimps and scallops
• Crispy roasted chickpeas

How to bake sweet potatoes

Depending on size, sweet potatoes typically need 60-90 minutes at 400 degrees F / 200 degrees C. Bake with skin on, just wash and scrub potatoes before placing them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. You can easily bake a few sweet potatoes in the oven while cooking other things too (easy food prep!). Baked sweet potatoes store well in the fridge for about a week. Eat as is, make a soup or mash, use when baking (great in bread, cakes and pancakes), use in patties (animal or plant based), etc.

Sweet potato coconut garlic soup

Thick and creamy sweet potato coconut garlic soup – a guaranteed crowd pleaser when temperatures drop and all you want is a comforting bowl of soup.

Servings 4-6 people

Ingredients

• Extra virgin coconut oil
• 3 C / 450 g yellow onions, finely diced
• 2 whole heads of roasted garlic
• 1 thumb-sized piece fresh ginger, chopped
• 2 1 /2 lbs / 1135 g baked sweet potato
• 1 can 14 fl. oz. / 400 ml full fat coconut milk
• 4 C / 1 L chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 tsp red chili flakes
• 4 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil (optional, but adds a nice ‘fullness’ to the soup)
• Juice of 2 limes
• Season to taste with fine grain pink Himalayan salt or sea salt and fine ground black pepper (I find that this soup needs quite a bit of salt to truly taste its best – I usually end up using 3-5 tsp and about 1 tsp of black pepper)
• Optional garnish – coconut chips, chopped cilantro and red chili flakes

Instructions

1. In a pot, heat some coconut oil over medium/high heat.
2. Add onions and cook until they start to brown.
3. Add baked garlic cloves (please remember to save the garlic peels for your broth scrap bag!) and ginger and cook for a few minutes.
4. Add baked sweet potato, coconut milk and broth.
5. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and let soup cook until ginger is soft and cooked through (typically around 10-15 minutes).
6. Add red chili flakes.
7. Using an immersion blender, blend the soup until creamy and velvety smooth.
8. Add coconut oil if using and season to taste with salt and pepper (…and remember – don’t be shy on the salt! Salt is an amazing flavor enhancer and if you wan’t your food to taste the best possible, don’t under-salt it).

Storage and shelf life

1. The soup stores well in the fridge for about a week and freezes well too.

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