Sweet Potato Soup Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why isn't my potato soup creamy? ›

Why isn't my potato soup creamy? Most creamy soups require you to add dairy of some sort into it. If you're finding your soup is too thin adding milk, add in cream instead, or whole milk.

Perhaps the simplest approach is to flavor your soup with salt throughout the cooking process. Instead of waiting until the end of cooking to realize your soup lacks taste, you can add a bit of salt during each phase of cooking. Doing so will help bring out the flavors of each of the ingredients.

If your soup is too sweet, you could try adding an acidic ingredient such as lemon juice or vinegar to balance out the sweetness of the carrots. You can also add some savory ingredients such as garlic, onion, and herbs to add more depth and flavor to the soup.

Starchy Vegetables

Grate a starchy vegetable like squash, pumpkin, sweet potato, or white potato into the soup and let it simmer. It will release that starch and help to thicken the liquid as it cooks.

The best options for thickening soup are cream or half and half. Plain yogurt or even freshly grated cheese works well and adds an extra layer of tangy, salty flavor. Add the dairy at the end and avoid bringing the soup to a boil since this can cause yogurt, cheese, or cream to split.

Some of our favorites are Dried Shallots, Dehydrated Red Bell Pepper, Dehydrated Green Bell Pepper, Tomato Flakes, Minced Onion and Roasted Garlic Flakes. Or, add a bay leaf to your recipe. The bay leaf will give the soup a little something extra without overwhelming the dish.

If your dish is a little too sweet, try rounding out the sweetness by adding flavors or ingredients that are sour, bitter, or spicy. It may be obvious not to add more sweet ingredients, but you should also stay away from salty ones since they actually bring out the sweetness in food.

What can I add to soup to make it sweeter? ›

Sugar: A pinch of sugar softens the edges of anything that tastes too sour or harsh (looking at you, tomato-based soups).

Like salt, sugar is added to tomato soup to offset the acidity of tomatoes and to help enhance the flavor. Other than salt and sugar, many soups have heavy cream added for consistency and to add body. Cream-based soups, such as chowders and bisques, are high in calories and saturated fat.

Don't overcook the vegetables. One of the main reasons that vegetables become soggy when cooked in broth or soup stock is that they are overcooked. To prevent this, try to cook your vegetables until they are just tender but still firm. This will help them retain their shape and texture.

To get a pound of raw sweet potatoes you'll need: 2 large sweet potatoes, 3 medium sweet potatoes, or 4 small sweet potatoes. If your recipe calls for 2 lbs. of sweet potatoes, simply multiply the above amounts by 2, if it call for 3 pounds, multiply by 3, and so on.

Russet potatoes, as a member of the starchy/floury potato family, are inherently grainy. Using them in soup will result in an unpleasant gritty texture. When making potato soup, be sure to reach for a waxy variety such as fingerling potatoes, red potatoes, or baby potatoesto get a smoother texture.

It's best to use fresh, firm potatoes. Acidic Ingredients: If your soup contained highly acidic ingredients (e.g., tomatoes), it could have affected the texture of the potatoes. Acidic ingredients can slow down the softening process of potatoes.

Your potato soup is bland? Try adding a little more salt. That's usually the answer to any issue of blandness, no matter the recipe in question. A basic Appalachian style potato soup uses only a handful of simple ingredients, leaning on milk and water and often bouillon to create the brothy soup base.

Like many of us chefs and home cooks, potatoes break down when overworked in the kitchen. While it might seem like merciless mashing would lead to a smoother soup, it actually has the opposite effect, creating a base that's more like gluey gunk.