Thai Sweet Potato Soup
This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share a commission.
Thai Sweet Potato Soup combines sweet potatoes with a delicious base red curry recipe that is both comforting and simple to make. Serve this soup with a side of rice and some sautéed mushrooms for a filling meatless meal!
Soup Season at our home looks like a constant rotations of flavors and textures. We love a spicy Turkey Taco Soup, some delicious Creamy Wild Rice Soup, and this healthy Detox Lentil Soup any given night of the week!
Best Curry Recipes
We may have been late to the curry bandwagon, but we’re on it now, and we’re staying! I’ve shared ALL the recipes lately, and I’m still thinking of more. They are all somewhat similar, starting with a simple base curry sauce.
My “curry bandwagon” recipes:
- Best Thai Red Curry Recipe – The base recipe that I’ve used in the other curry recipes.
- Chicken Curry with Vegetables – Adding chicken and a ton of veggies makes a healthy combo.
- Curried Meatballs and Rice – We are huge meatball fans, especially when they are homemade. The curry sauce on top is just perfection.
- Coconut Curry Vegetable Soup – Another curry soup, but with many additional veggies and textures than this simple sweet potato one.
Ingredient Notes
- Ginger and Garlic – Fresh ginger and garlic are best for this recipe.
- Sweet Potatoes – Peel and dice them pretty small for faster cooking. You’ll need about six cups, or three potatoes depending on size.
- Red Curry – I use Thai red curry paste. Easily found at most grocery stores.
- Coconut Milk – Full-fat coconut milk is best and yields a creamy texture.
- Diced Tomatoes – I almost always use fire roasted tomatoes. Not too spicy, but they add the perfect flavor.
- Lime Zest – You’ll need at least one teaspoon of zest. Plus I add a squeeze of fresh lime juice when serving.
- Sugar – A pinch to balance flavors.
How to make Thai Sweet Potato Soup:
Step 1
Chop veggies. Dice the onion, mince the garlic and ginger, and dice the sweet potatoes. Make sure you chop (or dice) the sweet potatoes in SMALL cubes so it cooks quicker.
Step 2
Sauté onions, garlic, and ginger. In a medium stock pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté until slightly softened, about 3-4 minutes. Then add the ginger and garlic, and stir constantly for about a minute. You will smell the strong flavors of these fresh veggies – they make this soup delicious!
Step 3
Add sweet potatoes and seasonings. Then add the diced sweet potatoes, red pepper flakes, kosher salt, and ground black pepper – to taste. Continue cooking for a couple of minutes, stirring often. You’ll need a fair amount of seasonings.
Step 4
Add remaining ingredients. Then add the red curry paste, coconut milk, diced tomatoes, chicken broth, lime zest, and sugar. Stir and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat to a simmer and continue cooking until the sweet potatoes are fork tender. This will take about 30-35 minutes, depending on how small you diced the potatoes.
Step 5
Puree the soup. Remove the pot from the stove, and use an immersion blender to puree most of the soup. I like to keep some of it chunky but it’s up to you. (I also reserved a few chunks of sweet potatoes for these pictures, but totally not necessary.) You can also use a regular blender, but be careful to let the soup cool slightly before doing so.
Step 6
Serve. Serve the sweet potato curry soup with a pinch of red pepper flakes. Add some white rice and some sautéed mushrooms (optional).
What to serve with this sweet potato soup:
- I recommend serving this with some naan bread on the side. Try my Homemade Naan Recipe. Really tasty and it freezes well too!
- A simple salad, or one of my favorites – Crunchy Asian Cabbage Salad.
- Dessert is required, right? Try my Oreo Brownie Cookies or the best Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars!
Is curry sauce spicy?
THIS recipe is slightly spicy, but the sweet potatoes make it more mild than other red curry recipes on my site. There are three basic types of curry that you normally see in restaurants, and they vary according to the paste they use, and the chef that is preparing them.
- Red Curry uses red curry paste, which include red chilies and other spicy ingredients like chili powder to make this the spiciest sauce of all three.
- Yellow Curry includes yellow curry paste which is milder than red, and includes turmeric that provides that yellow color.
- Green Curry features green curry paste, containing fresh coriander to provide the green color, and an even milder flavor.
Other fall and winter soups for you to enjoy:
Kitchen Tools used for this recipe: (Affiliate Links)
xoxo ~Sue
Thai Sweet Potato Soup
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons ginger
- 3-4 cloves garlic
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 6 cups sweet potatoes – peeled and diced
- 1/2 teaspoon pinch of red pepper flakes – to taste
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper – to taste
- 4 oz. Thai red curry paste
- 13.5 oz. full-fat coconut milk – 1 can
- 15 oz. fire-roasted diced tomatoes
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1-2 teaspoon lime zest
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- white rice – to serve (optional)
- sautéed mushrooms – to serve
Instructions
- In a medium stock pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and saute until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add the ginger and garlic and cook another minute, stirring constantly. Then add the sweet potatoes and the seasonings (red pepper flakes, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper), and cook for another 5-6 minutes.
- Next add the red curry paste, the coconut milk, diced tomatoes, chicken broth, lime zest, and sugar – and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat to a bubbling simmer until the potatoes are fork tender. This will take about 30 minutes or so, depending on the size of the sweet potatoes.
- Use an immersion blender or a regular blender to puree a portion of the soup. I prefer to leave a few chunks of the sweet potatoes.
- Serve with an extra pinch of red pepper flakes (optional), some white rice, and some sautéed mushrooms.
I love it when this soup is my meal prep for the week. Outstanding!
So Im reviewing this for myself (ha!), because my husband isn’t a fan of curry with sweet potatoes or soups with sweet potatoes. I, personally, love the richness and the sweetness of sweet potatoes in almost any hot dish, so this was right up my alley.
If you are like me in this way, you’ll enjoy this curry. I added shredded chicken, which isn’t necessary but it gave it an extra bit of texture that we all liked. I served it over rice, and also with naan, so it was a fully carb loaded meal. Great for a cold winter’s night. It has some heat but not too much. If you like more you can add the red pepper flakes (which we did) and/or sriracha.