I love creamy soups. Their creamy texture and vibrant flavors all spell “comfort” to me.
This deliciously rich and seductively silky soup showcases the sweet potato. An ancient tuber, sweet potatoes have been radiocarbon-dated in the Cook Islands to 1000 AD and are thought to have originated in either South or Central America.
Sweet potatoes have held an important place in U.S. history since its beginnings, especially in the southeast. Up until 1920 the average American ate 29 pounds of sweet potatoes per year. Then in the mid-20th century, after the Great Depression, its popularity started to decline and now the average American only eats about 3 pounds per year. That’s a huge decrease! Based on that statistic one could conclude that the average American only eats sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Does that sound about right?
Southern historian Kent Wrench writes: “The Sweet Potato became associated with hard times in the minds of our ancestors and when they became affluent enough to change their menu, the potato was served less often.”
That’s a shame. Not only because sweet potatoes taste wonderful, but also because sweet potatoes are loaded with nutrition. Among other things, they’re one of nature’s best sources of beta-carotene. They’re also a great source of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients. And despite the common misperception that sweet potatoes, like regular potatoes, are full of starch, because they aren’t simple carbohydrates sweet potatoes have actually been shown to help regulate blood sugar. This is especially great news for sweet potato-loving type II diabetics. And these are only a few examples of the health benefits of sweet potatoes.
BOTTOM LINE: Our ancestors were smart to load up on 29 pounds of sweet potatoes a year! Let’s break out of the mindset that they’re only for the holidays and enjoy them more throughout the year!
Ready to make some soup?
Let’s get started!
Peel, rinse and chop up the sweet potatoes.
Peel and either halve or quarter the shallots, depending on their size. Peel the garlic cloves and leave them whole.
Place the sweet potatoes, shallots and garlic cloves in a bowl and toss with olive oil.
Spread the vegetables out single-layer on a lined baking sheet.
Roast at 450 degrees F for about 25 minutes, flipping the veggies over after every 10 minutes or so, until browned.
Place the roasted veggies in a blender with the hot chicken stock and tarragon and puree until smooth.
Add the cream, curry powder, salt and pepper and blend until combined. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve immediately.
Enjoy!
- 1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut diced
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
- 3 medium shallots, peeled and cut in half lengthwise
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 3 cups hot chicken stock (vegetarian/vegan: use vegetable broth)
- ⅓ cup heavy cream (vegan/paleo: use cashew or almond milk)
- 1 sprig fresh tarragon
- ½ teaspoon curry powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Peel, rinse and chop up the sweet potatoes.
- Peel and either halve or quarter the shallots, depending on their size. Peel the garlic cloves and leave them whole.
- Place the sweet potatoes, shallots and garlic cloves in a bowl and toss with olive oil.
- Spread the vegetables out single-layer on a lined baking sheet.
- Roast at 450 degrees F for about 25 minutes, flipping the veggies over after every 10 minutes or so, until browned.
- Place the roasted veggies in a blender with the hot chicken stock and tarragon and puree until smooth.
- Add the cream, curry powder, salt and pepper and blend until combined. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve immediately.
I love creamy soups too and love that you included cashew milk in your DF options as that’s what I love to use in my soups to make them dairy-free! Sweet potato and tarragon are so delicious together roasted that I can only imagine just how divine they are put together in a soup. It looks amazing!
These flavors together sound so amazing, I can almost smell it!
Wow! I had no idea that our sweet potato intake was so low. We eat them quite a bit as they are quite healthy. Hopefully your soup will inspire more people to eat them.
I love how creamy and smooth this soup is….perfect for the cold weather!
Creamy Soups are my favorite. This looks so delicious!
It’s funny that you mention that, because growing up, the sweet potatoes only came out for Thanksgiving. I remember “discovering” how good sweet potatoes could be when made in all different methods (other than the sweet potato casserole). I adore them now – and this soup sounds delicious!
This soup looks so creamy and perfect… need a bowl stat!
This has to be the prettiest soup ever!! Love it!
The hint of tarragon in this recipe has me crazy! Love the idea of combining curry, sweet potatoes, and tarragon!
I love sweet potatoes so much! Sweet potato fries were the number one search recipe query on Google last year. And your soup is right on up there with super popular things, I bet! Looks great!
I love creamy soups, too. I also love sweet potatoes. This soup looks wonderfully comforting and delicious. Perfect for winter.
I am certain I eat more than 3 lbs per year! And with good reason–so yummy! I love sweet potato soups too, and this one looks amazing!
I love the addition of curry powder. I bet it’s delicious!
The color of the soup is just gorgeous! I love creamy soups too! They always warm me up more!
Just wanted to say that we’re making this next week. I added it to my menu for the week! Can’t wait!
Awesome, Angie, thank you and hope y’all enjoy it! 🙂
Wow! This sounds like the perfect bowl of soup to curl up with on a cold night! Beautiful!
I love curry and I love sweet potatoes! This is such a beautiful combo!
This soup sounds too good. Loving these flavors and love that you used your blender. Perfect weeknight meal. Mmmm. 🙂
This soup looks and sounds absolutely delicious! I love rich creamy soups with a whole lot of flavor. Could I possibly touch it up with some cardamom if tarragon is not available tonight at my local store? I’ll give it a try as soon as possible.
Lots of love from sunny Athens, Greece.
Maroula x
Hi Maroula, thank you and friendly greetings to sunny Athens! You’ve probably already been to the store but yes, cardamom would be a lovely substitute and certainly complementary to the curry.
Question: Directions under the pictures say to peel the garlic cloves and leave them whole, and that first picture she
How’s them whole. Step-by-step directions say to halve the garlic cloves, and the follow-on pictures (above) seem to show them halved.
If whole, why not halved. If halved, why not whole? Does it make a difference?
Hi Adrienne, sorry for the confusion – it makes no difference either way. I happened to use particularly large garlic cloves for the photo shoot and so I halved some of them. Happy cooking!
Excellent soup! Thank you!
Wonderful, Anita, thanks so much!