Okay, YUMMMM. Spicy Peanut Soup with Sweet Potatoes + Kale! Comforting and SUPER nutritious. Naturally vegan, gluten free, refined sugar free, ALL THE GOOD THINGS.
Spicy Peanut Soup with Sweet Potato + Kale
Spicy Peanut Soup. Are you ready?
All the people shout: WE ARE READY!
Featured comment
So, so yummy! I just made this soup and the final result exceeded my expectations – just pure peanuty, creamy, and entirely healthy goodness.
Christina
When eating well involves:
- sweet potatoes
- peanuts / peanut butter
- fire roasted tomatoes
- garlic and jalapeño
- cilantro
…and a generally creamy, spicy, YUMMY vibe, there is no denying this.
You guys, this soup! Stew? It’s kind of both. It depends on how you make it and how much liquid you add, but EITHER WAY IT IS SO DARN GOOD. It literally checks all the boxes – creamy, satisfying texture; extremely awesome flavor; super nutritious; doesn’t take five and a half days to make. It doesn’t have meat, but girl, if you want meat, add meat! Not huge on kale? Swap for spinach. These are my favorite kinds of recipes – ones that just kind of let you do whatever you want to do and make it your very own.
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How To Make This Peanut Soup
Okay, you’ve got choices here.
- Instant Pot: Raise your hand if you got one for Christmas. Yeah? Good news, because this can be made in the Instant Pot!
- Slow Cooker: also a yes!
- Stovetop: ALSO a yes! In almost the same amount of time! You just need to babysit it a little more, but hey – babysitting garlic, onion, jalapeño, sweet potatoes, and a creamy soup base as it comes together happens to be my all-time favorite kind of babysitting.
- Freezing it for meal prep: OF COURSE YES! More on that HERE.
So many options, all made easy when you have so little time.
Why I Love This Soup
This soup is cozy and lovely. It’s not too spicy, although you could just omit the jalapeño altogether if you were worried about that. It has just the right balance of creaminess and kick and it reminds me of another version of a good-for-you curry. Speaking of which, this would go great over some brown rice or quinoa.
You would not be sad if you made a skillet of socca (bread! hot, buttery, crispy, gluten-free chickpea flat bread!) to go with this soup.
You have no excuses. I am not letting you get out of making this recipe.
Blanket, soup mug, and Netflix, coming right up.
Spicy Peanut Soup: FAQs
Can this soup be made in the Instant Pot or slow cooker?
Yes! See recipes notes.
Can I substitute anything for the peanut butter?
Almond butter (and almonds on top) could work!
Can I add protein to this?
Sure can! Cubed chicken would be perfect. Just simmer for a bit longer until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.
Spicy Peanut Soup with Sweet Potato + Kale
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 5–6 (about 1 1/2 cups per serving) 1x
Description
Okay, YUMMMM. Spicy Peanut Soup with Sweet Potatoes + Kale! Comforting and SUPER nutritious. Naturally vegan, gluten free, refined sugar free, ALL THE GOOD THINGS.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- half an onion, diced
- 1 jalapeño, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
- one 14-ounce can fire roasted tomatoes
- one 14-ounce can light coconut milk
- 2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon curry and/or turmeric
- 1/2 cup chopped peanuts
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 1–2 cups kale, stems removed, chopped
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat and add the onion, garlic, and jalapeño. Saute until soft and fragrant.
- Add sweet potatoes. I like to brown them a little bit with the aromatics to get them nice and flavorful.
- Add tomatoes, coconut milk, water, spices, and peanuts. Simmer until sweet potatoes are fork-tender.
- Add peanut butter and kale. Simmer until everything is thick, creamy, and delicious. Top with more peanuts and a little cilantro if you’re obsessed like me.
Notes
Instant Pot: Cook everything except peanut butter and kale on high pressure for about 3 minutes with a quick release. (Sometimes I reduce the liquid when I make it in the Instant Pot by a cup or so, and then just add more as needed when it’s all done. But that is optional – it should work fine either way.) Stir in the peanut butter and kale after cooking. Voila!
Slow Cooker: Cook everything except peanut butter and kale on low for 6 hours. Stir in the peanut butter and kale. Donezo! Don’t cook the sweet potatoes too long or they’ll fall apart on ya! Just cook until they pierce easily with a fork. If you’re doing Sugar Free January with us, this is an excellent recipe that has natural sweetness and nutritious fats to keep you full. I like to dip into this with some seedy crackers – you can find our product recommendations on this post.
One last note. This recipe is inspired by an amazing West African recipe called maafe, or groundnut soup. I did what I always do and changed/added some ingredients based on what I love and what I had on hand (kale, jalapeño, coconut milk, cilantro, etc.) making it more of a cultural mash-up. That’s why I’m not calling it a proper West African peanut soup even though those are its roots. If you want a legit West African version of that soup, here are two sources – a blog post, and a video.
Freezer Meal Version
- Freeze Together:
3 cups chopped sweet potatoes, fresh or frozen
2 jalapeños, minced
half of an onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
1 14-ounce can fire roasted tomatoes
1 14-ounce can coconut milk - Instant Pot Instructions: High pressure 8 mins + 10 mins natural release
- Slow Cooker Instructions: High setting 6 hours
- Final Step: Stir in 1/4 cup peanut butter, 1/2 cup chopped peanuts, and 1-2 cups chopped kale. Add water to thin to desired consistency.
- Check out our full freezer meal posts with all recipes and instructions here!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: West African-Inspired
Keywords: peanut soup, peanut stew, Instant Pot soup, spicy soup, sweet potato soup
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View the freezer meal version of this recipe here.
You might also like our full freezer meals post.
More Soup Recipes To Love
- Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup (creamy, cozy, and everything you need)
- Best Detox Crockpot Lentil Soup (add a lil’ Parmesan and perfection)
- Instant Pot Minestrone Soup (made modern without the pasta!)
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our best healthy winter recipes page. Check it out!
Filed Under: All Recipes Dairy-Free Gluten-Free Healthy Instant Pot Jalapeño Kale Most Popular Peanut Butter Soups Stovetop Sugar Free January Sugar-Free Sweet Potato Tomato Vegan Winter
January 9, 2020
Nice to meet you!
I’m Lindsay and I ♡ FOOD. I used to be a teacher, and now making food and writing about it online is my full-time job. I love talking with people about food, and I'm so glad you're here.
Did you make a recipe? Tag @pinchofyum on Instagram so we can find you!
Made this tonight! More stewy than soupy to my preference. I also added a glug of thai curry paste. SO GOOD. Thanks for the recipe.
So I made a double batch kinda accidentally because I had too high of a
sweet potatoes ratio to the rest of the ingredients (I could only find small sweet potatoes and had to guess how many equaled a large one.) I might also you to add about how many cups of chopped sweet potatoes the recipe calls for! Additionally, since I have so much I was thinking of freezing some. Any experiencing with freezing and thawing coconut milk/sweet potatoes/kale…? I don’t have any
My son has peanut and tree nut allergy. Looking for advice on if sunflower butter and sunflower seeds would be a good substitute for his portion. Thanks!
The sunflower butter might work! Otherwise I’d just omit the peanuts and peanut butter – it’ll still be delicious. 🙂
I’d like to make this with squash. Any recommandation (weight, etc.)?
Thank you,
Dumb question. When making for freezer meal are you saying combine all ingredients in a bag, don’t cook and then freeze?
I did make this on the stovetop and it was awesome. It’s quick, cheap and healthy!
That’s correct!
So good! I used my immersion blender on about half of it to make it more closely resemble a West African Peanut Stew that used to be served at a restaurant where I worked. I ate it over rice, and it was absolutely scrumptious!
I’m just eating some of this leftover and it is delicious. I added both curry and turmeric and upped the curry a bit. I also added some ginger and a can of chickpeas. I’m a big fan. Very yummy. I Will definitely make this again.
Glad to hear it, Jen! Love the chickpea addition!
This was a real disappointment. Way too sweet while also tasting very bland. I added ginger, cumin, and more garlic to try and save it, but it was just ok.
THIS SOUP, it’s soul warming, lightly spicy, and a bit crunchy. I love this soup so much. I proselytize it to anyone who will listen.
Love it. Thanks Alisha!
We liked this a lot! I used an immersion blender at the end to make it a bit less chunky. Also felt like it needed just a bit more to be to our taste (which I do for all recipes, not just this) so added some soy sauce for umami, dried chiles for spice, and lime juice for a little acidic punch. Delish!
This was DELICIOUS. I can’t image calling it bland. I only had regular coconut milk so I used that, and I added a bit more salt and a bit more PB. Sweet, creamy, spicy. Fabulous. I love the soupy-stew consistency.
My family really enjoyed this soup. Delicious!
Thanks for this great recipe.
I needed to double it, and I used the doubling thing on the website to show the doubled recipe. When it was 1X, the portion size showed was 1½ cups and when it was 2X, the portion size went to 3 cups. I’m sure it’s delicious, but I don’t think that was your intention (to double the portion size).
1.5 x 2 = 3
This is so, so good! I am eating some I froze a while back. I can’t eat spicy any more (sigh), so I didn’t use the pepper and I don’t use oil…but even without them, it’s just a fantastic soup!
Pinch of Yum has never steered me wrong … until now. This was very bland and an odd consistency. I should have either added liquid to make it more like soup, or served it with rice to make it more like a curry. I also found myself adding much more salt. Even then, I would not make this again. (PSA: If you have not made a recipe, do not review it. Any review that says, “Looks yummy! I’ll try it!” is not a review of the dish, and is not helpful to those deciding whether to invest the time and energy in making a recipe.)
My family really enjoyed this soup. The only thing I did different was add a little vegetable base with the water. Creamy, delicious and very filling.
I have really liked most of your recipes (although I usually need to add more spices for flavor) but this is one that I did not care for at all. My daughter and husband thought it was okay but definitely not one of our favorites.
The slow cooker instructions list cook time as 6 hours on low, but the freezer recipe says 6 hours on high. Is it that much of a difference with the ingredients being frozen? I am planning to make a double batch in my crock pot tomorrow for a work event and just want to be sure I have it right.
Amazing recipe! I will try for sure!
Hi! I am alergic to coconut. I’m assuming that I can substitute a different milk product for the recipe; do you have any suggestions as per resulting texture/creaminess? Thank you!
Hi, Caroline! You could do whole milk or cream in its place. Enjoy!
Loved this soup!! Made in the instapot and swapped spinach for kale since it already had it. Added a bit more peanut butter, ginger, both the turmeric and curry and wow was it good. Topped with crushed peanuts and a dollop of garlic chili sauce. So quick and easy. Can’t wait to prep for freezer meals and serve again this winter! Thanks for sharing <3
I usually love Pinch of Yum recipes, I found this soup very bland. I even doubled amount of garlic used at the beginning.
Just trying your spicy peanut soup – my daughter loves making it. Is there any chance in the future you can give measurements or weights for some of your ingredients ( sweet potatoes for example.) I’m vegan and notice you have lots of recipes – looking forward to trying them out.
Thank you ! 🙂
Delicious! The only modification that I did was to use up a leftover box of chicken broth for the water. So it was about 1.5 cups broth and .5 cups water. I also used my immersion blender to mix it all up and the results were delicious. Not too spicy and really really creamy. Will for sure make again.
Delicious! Added chickpeas at end for some protein. Delicious and easy!!