Spicy Peanut Soup. Are you ready?
All the people shout: WE ARE READY!
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.
Some Options For Cooking 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.
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.
Check Out Our Video For How To Make Spicy Peanut Soup:
More Soup 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!)
Spicy Peanut Soup with Sweet Potato + Kale
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- 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
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- half an onion, diced
- 1 jalapeño, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 1 14-ounce can fire roasted tomatoes
- 1 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!
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: West African-Inspired
Keywords: peanut soup, peanut stew, Instant Pot soup, spicy soup, sweet potato soup
View the freezer meal version of this recipe here.
You might also like our full freezer meals post.
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our best healthy winter recipes page. Check it out!
Pinterest
Can’t believe how good this was. First time cooking a curry recipe. Even my husband, who objects to most of my healthy cooking, loved this recipe.
Awesome, Stacy! So glad it was a hit!
This is SO delicious! Made it for my non-vegetarian family and it was a hit. I doubled the recipe but 6 potatoes was too much for the insta pot. Made it with 4.5 and one less cup of water and it came out great.
So glad to hear it, Liz! Thanks for the comment!
Made this for my dad. I added extra kale just for thickness and to use up the bag. Rave reviews from my dad. This was excellent! Not one recipe from you all has even slightly missed the mark. I send all the recipes to my friends and family. I loved the freezer to Instant Pot collection (which is where I found this gem).
We love hearing this, Greta! Thanks so much for the comment!
This soup is something very special <3
Cook as is…you won’t even notice it
This is forking incredible. So creamy, filling, and delicious. I just finished my first batch and I’m trying to resist the urge to make another 😀
So glad you enjoyed it, Noah!
Has anyone tried a different milk? I don’t like coconut milk but was thinking I’d use some almond milk or normal milk instead.
I love this recipe and have made it many times! I’m making it tonight but I’m out of peanuts. I have cashews – do you think it would be an okay substitute for the crunch? I do have peanut butter so the flavor will be there. Thank you!
Cashews would be a great substitute!
I want to try this in the instant pot with chicken…about how long do you think it should take to cook with cubes of chicken breast?
We’d try 12 minutes!
Really good, highly recommend hitting this with a generous squeeze of lime!
This is AWESOME. I cooked up some chicken breasts and thighs in turmeric, cayenne, salt, and coconut oil, and added those, but otherwise followed the recipe to a T. It came together so quickly and was super satisfying, and guy approved. Totally will make this again!
This is delicious!! Question, what do you think about replacing butternut squash for all or some of the sweet potatoes?
I think butternut squash would be a great substitution for some or all of the sweet potatoes! If you give it a try, we’d love to hear back!
This is so good. I added chicken from a rotisserie chicken I bought at Sam’s Club . Then it was very thick & Hearty. I loved the peanut butter addition. Very easy to make in the instant pot. Will make again. Great recipe, thank you.
Thank you for this delicious recipe! I am mother of three and a full time nursing student – I need fast, easy, nutritious meals. You weren’t kidding when you said this checks all the boxes! This meal will go into my regular rotation from now on. I had seconds and my husband had thirds!
We love hearing this, Amy! Thanks so much for the comment!
So easy and so tasty! I just made this for the first time and will definitely make it again. Will likely add chicken or shrimp next time. Agree it would be great over rice too, as it is nice and thick!
This isn’t something I’d normally try but it was great. One question – what kind of peanut butter do you use? I’m assuming something better than the Skippy that we usually have at home!
Glad to hear it Rachel! We like to use all natural peanut butter with the only ingredients being peanuts and salt.
Made this for a starter for Christmas dinner (as opposed to the usual sweet potatoes). It was amazing! Since I didn’t have curry powder, I added cumin, coriander, ginger, and chili powder as well as the turmeric.
Sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing, Ron!
This looks good. It reminds me of the West African Peanut Stew dishes I have had over the years. The ingredients are almost exactly the same except, the stew is typically served with pounded yam instead of flatbread.
Yes, this is quite similar to West African Peanut Stew. Pounded yam sounds wonderful!
This was great on a cold winter evening. Will make again. Used a potato masher to mash up a bit of the sweet potato.
So happy to hear that it hit the spot! Thanks for the comment!
I love all your recipes and am very excited to make this soup. If I want to add skinless boneless chicken breast, do I need to adjust the time on the slow cooker or do anything else differently? Thanks!
The chicken should be cooked in 6 hours, so you shouldn’t need to do anything differently!
Hi! Great recipe, and easy in the instant pot for a weeknight dinner. We like it served over rice. I will say with curries and turmeric, it’s always a good idea to bloom the spices no matter the method of preparation. Otherwise, they can end up tasting flat and bitter. Just use the saute function on your instant pot to do the onions and aromatics (garlic, peppers, and spices). Then add the potatoes for a swish or four, and after the spices are nicely bloomed and the onions are translucent; THEN dump the tomatoes, coconut milk, and one cup of water, scraping any brown stuck bits from the bottom of the instant pot with a wooden spoon. Turned out with a richer flavor that way.
Great tip on the spices. Thanks Jenn!
This was blind-blowingly delicious! I used full-fat coconut milk and added a tsp of smoked paprika…left a few seeds from the jalapeno and this was a huge hit!!!!
Hello,
I was ready to make this recipe when I realized I had no curry. What can substitute with that is not turmeric?
Here’s link that might be helpful in determining a good substitute! https://www.mashed.com/167609/heres-what-you-can-substitute-for-curry-powder/#:~:text=Try%20using%20a%20blend%20of,make%20the%20spice%20blend%20sing.
So happy to hear that, KC!
Is it okay to use Regular Coconut Milk instead of light?
I prefer this with regular coconut milk! First time I made it with regular coconut milk that I get from the international market and we loved it so much I was stoked to make it again. Tonight I made it with light coconut milk (generic Kroger—which cost literally half as much), and it was meh, at best. If I had made it with Kroger light the first time, I don’t think I would have bothered making the recipe again. Go for the fat! And the real stuff. Price be damned.
“Instant Pot: Cook everything except peanut butter and kale on high pressure for about 3 minutes with a quick release.”
Do you mean 30 minutes?
It actually was 3 mins, wonders of the insta-pot. Took a long time for it to pre-heat though.
This was so insanely good in the IP!! I’m in love!
Glad you enjoyed it, Lisa!
This soup is SO, SO, SO good!! And easy. The flavours just work and I love the texture the peanuts add. I can never find fire roasted tomatoes, so just use canned diced tomatoes. I also crush the sweet potato gently with a wooden spoon after it’s cooked and add a little honey and sriracha for extra kick. It’s a perfect dinner for a cold night!
Honey + sriracha sauce! Sounds like yummy add-ins!