Nutty Vanilla Sweet Potato + Kale Soup
The best soup we’ve ever made! The vanilla aroma was incredible, the kale was thick and chewy, the salty peanuts were a perfect sweet/savory mix. We’ll be making this one again!
Nutty Vanilla Sweet Potato + Kale Soup
- 2 pounds of sweet potato, cut into 1” pieces and microwaved in a bowl on high for 6.5 minutes to start the cooking process
- 3 cloves garlic, pressed
- 1 can lite coconut milk
- 1 cup 2% milk (or skim, or whole)
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 4 cups kale, trimmed, washed and torn into small pieces
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1/4 cup salted peanuts, for garnish
- Shredded coconut, for garnish
- Prepare sweet potatoes in microwave.
- Heat a large pot on medium high. Spray with cooking spray and add potatoes, cooking until they begin to brown. Stir in garlic.
- Add coconut milk, milk, masala, salt, pepper and flakes.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Mash potatoes with potato masher or puree with immersion blender.
- Add raisins, kale and vanilla and cover. Allow to cook for 8-10 more minutes, until kale is bright green.
- Portion into bowls and garnish with 1 tbsp each peanuts and coconut.
These were 100% North Carolina sweet potatoes!
And Carolina kale 
Nutritionals
Serves 4.
~400 kcal, 7 grams fiber, 10 grams protein, 11 grams fat.
{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
Sounds yummy!!!!!!!!!!
I’m so thankful to have found your blog. I’ve tried several recipes to date and have loved them all. I made this soup yesterday. It is absolutely delicious…and so filling. I’m looking forward to having again this evening.
This soup was awesome!! I used chard instead of kale, and it came out great. Thanks for the recipe.
Can’t wait to try this…sounds delicious!
It was yummy! Thanks for the recipes!
Hi, We tried your recipe tonight and it was delicious. We’d never had Kale before. Interesting stuff. Do you take out the stem? How small did you cut it up? I think our pieces were a little too big.
Your site is awesome. We also made the Acorn Squash with goat cheese, nuts and rice the other day. That was really good too.
Thanks for the recipes!
Jane ,
Yes, I take the leaves off of the thick steams and tear them into pieces about the size of a golf ball. Bite-sized! It makes eating much easier. Glad you liked it though!
Kath
This soup is incredible! I used spinach instead of kale just because I was too lazy to go to the store and really wanted to make the recipe. Thanks so much Kath, your blog is awesome!
I made this soup on Monday, except I did it in my Crock-Pot instead of on the stove. It was wonderful!!! And the left-overs taste even better than the original batch, if possible. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Kath,
I really want to make this but was wondering where the heck I can buy garam masala? I don’t live near any health food stores and the spice section at my local grocery store doesn’t have it–any tips for possible substitutions? Would turmeric work? Also, could I use vanilla soymilk instead of regular milk? Thanks so much!
Katharine ,
You could just use cinnamon or allspice in place of the masala. I had to go to Fresh Market to find it. And I’m sure soymilk would be a fine replacement. Vanilla might be a nice touch!
Kath
This soup is AMAZING. We absolutely loved it and can’t wait to make it again. We didn’t have North Carolina sweet potatoes, but we think our 100% Texas sweet potatoes had to be just as good! Thanks, Kath!
Kath,
Thank you for the recipe – this soup was SO good! I have to admit, I omitted the vanilla and added cilantro to make it a big more savory (and served it with a scoop of greek yogurt) – and it was SO SO good! Why is kale so good in soup??
Your African travels sound amazing – can’t wait to hear more about them on the blog!
I made this last night with a few modifications and I think it was the best soup I’ve ever had!! Thanks for the inspiration Kath! I get so many good ideas from your site
Hi there, this soup looks fantastic! I just started my own food blog and plan to make this tonight and share the results on there. Thanks so much for the recipe, I can’t wait to taste it.
Hey Kath,
I just made this soup and LOVE LOVE LOVE it! But I was just wondering on how you figured the calorie count. It just seems a bit high, considering the ingridents that are included. I would think it would range more around 200-250 per cup? Just wondering.
Lauren ,
I added up the ingredients and divided by 4 servings, which is what I eyeballed that it served. It might be off, but probably not more than 50 kcal +/- per serving.
Kath
Wow! Glad everyone is so excited about this Weekend Cook and Tell topic, it’s going to be a good one.
yemek tarifleri
I just made this! It was heavenly! Next time I’m gonna try blending it cuz all those sweet p skins and patches of kale were a little difficult for my family.
I have been wanting to make this for a long time and when I finally got an immersion blender I went for it. WOW. This soup is amazing. I used half sweet potato and half butternut squash and full fat coconut milk because I couldn’t find light (darn!). I can not get over how delicious it was – I even brought it on a road trip and it was great cold! I highly recommend everyone make this immediately!
I changed things a bit, swapping in some butternut squash for some sweet potatoes, adding in some more coconut milk and changing the spices a bit. Mine was a bit thick, so I called it a curry. Otherwise, I LOVED this soup! Thanks so much for sharing!
I wrote about it here: http://tastespace.wordpress.com/2010/11/10/vanilla-sweet-potato-and-kale-curry/
omg this has been just such a lovely soup and have made it about 4 times now.
I skip the microwaving and think it’s unnecessary if the sweet pots are going to simmer for 30 minutes anyway. Thanks for sharing your creations and knowledge!!
This soup is so delicious. It takes Kale to a whole new level. I love the chewiness of the Kale, the sweetness of the potatoes and of course, the creaminess of the coconut milk broth.
I’ve made it both with real full fat coconut milk and another time with lite coconut milk, and I prefer using the lite version because it keeps the soup light and not too think for the leftovers.
You can see my post here raving about this recipe > http://healthycoconut.wordpress.com/2011/01/04/sweet-potato-and-kale-soup/
This was amazing! All my roommates agree. What I love also is that it costs no more than $10 to make, which is nice when you’re on a college student budget! Can’t wait to try your oatmeal recipe for breakfast.
I made this for dinner tonight… delish! I didn’t have any coconut milk, so I used unsweetened soy milk and added some shredded coconut. I can’t wait to devour the leftovers tomorrow!
I’m vegan, and used regular coconut milk and replaced the milk with veggie broth. I couldn’t find a reason why the milk was in there, and it turned out great! Such a lovely combination! Kale and potato soups are my favorites, and this is a right at the top of the list now!
Thank you so much for another wonderful recipe! I used 1/2 sweet potatoes and 1/2 butternut squash and I think it worked out great… all sweet potato is a bit too sweet for me! Also, I added more of everything & maybe 1/2 a can of chicken broth to make it a little more soupy (once I used the immersion blender it didn’t end up soupy at all!) I also switched dried cranberries in for raisins. I think that’s it! The spice is delish! Thank you for giving us such great recipes to play with and build on!
This might be one of the best things I’ve ever made! Love your stuff!!