Fall in love with our creamy, nutritious, and deliciously exotic West African soup, our Peanut Soup with sweet potatoes and spinach will impress your guests and satisfy your hunger for hours. A super delicious way to get part of your daily vegetable intake.
Tips on How to Make a Delicious Peanut Soup
This hearty peanut soup begins with a base of sautéed onions, garlic ginger, and tomatoes, and a sprinkling of dried red chili peppers. The inspiration for this soup comes from the perfect combination of flavors that are the foundation of West African’s celebrated cuisine. The soup becomes a silky African peanut stew with the addition of a generous swirl of peanut butter and a delicious blend of sweet potatoes and spinach.
Swap things around and customize it to your liking.
- The success of our peanut soup relies on fresh ingredients, high-quality olive or coconut oil, and naturally processed peanut butter.
- Either smooth or crunchy peanut butter can be used.
- If you are not a fan of spinach switch it out for collard greens, kale, Swiss chard, or even okra.
- Do you want a lighter soup? Swap the sweet potatoes for butternut squash or even spaghetti squash.
- You can top this peanut butter soup with cilantro, scallions, chives, or honey-roasted peanut for an extra touch of sweetness and crunch.
Some interesting facts about peanuts
Peanuts originated in Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru where they gained popularity before being brought to Spain by the conquistadors. In fact, the peanut is featured in much of Latin America’s pre-Colombian art. From Spain, the peanut was exported to Europe, Africa, and eventually the U.S. by Portuguese, French, and British colonial traders. European explorers also brought chili peppers and tomatoes to West Africa where the iconic Peanut Soup was born.
Why We Love Peanut Soup
Known for its high levels of niacin, unsaturated fatty acids, and Vitamin E, the peanut may be the most affordable beauty product on the market today. Some literature suggests that Niacin and omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids from peanuts are critical for the regeneration of skin cells. Vitamin E keeps free radicals from blemishes and wrinkles.
The peanut also contains resveratrol, the high-powered antioxidant that may improve mood and cognitive function and strengthens neural pathways, making it a great source of protein for those looking for a vegan source of nutritious protein.
In addition to all of this, African Peanut Soup is just downright tasty. It's so good! I mean how could you not like a soup made with peanut butter?
How to Make Peanut Soup Recipe
First, you'll need to sauté the onions and garlic in a large stockpot. When the onions are translucent, add water and the remaining ingredients except for the peanut butter and simmer your vegan soup until the sweet potatoes are tender. Once the sweet potatoes are tender, you can add the peanut butter, stir it in really well, and heat the peanut butter soup to boiling. Once it boils, turn off the heat and serve it with any of the various recommended toppings! This soup is vegan and gluten-free.
Toppings for Sweet Potato Peanut Soup
- Chopped Cilantro
- Chopped Scallions
- Diced Cucumber
- Crushed Peanuts
- Veggie Chicken
- Spiced Tofu
- You might enjoy serving a thicker version of this sweet potato peanut soup as an African Peanut Stew on top of our turmeric rice.
- Baby Spinach -- stirred in when you take the soup off the heat.
Storing Leftover Peanut Butter Soup
You absolutely can refrigerate your peanut soup for 3-5 days and reheat it in the microwave. It can also be frozen in airtight containers for up to five months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight and the microwave before serving. Just be aware that any reheated leftovers may have a different texture and appearance with this soup.
Other African Recipes To Try
- Shakshuka. A North African Eggs in Tomato Sauce
- Matcbucha. A North African Tomato and Red Pepper Dip.
- Morrocan Carrot Salad.
Other Awesome Sweet Potato Recipes
- Three-bean sweet potato chili
- Sweet potato biscuits. These would be really fantastic served with this variation on African Peanut Stew.
- Sweet Potato Tacos
Did you like our West African Peanut Soup recipe?
If you enjoyed this recipe, it would help us tremendously if you left us a star rating in the comments below or on the recipe card. Do you have any questions about the recipe or do you need a swap for any of the ingredients? We are here to help, just leave us a question in the comments below.
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Peanut Soup with Sweet Potatoes and Spinach
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 16 cups 1x
Description
When you’re looking for a creamy, nutritious, and deliciously exotic soup, our Peanut Soup with sweet potatoes and spinach will impress your guests and satisfy your hunger for hours. A super delicious way to get part of your daily vegetable intake.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 large onion, diced small ( we used a sweet onion)
- 1" piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
- 1 -28 ounce can tomato puree
- 1-2 tsp sea salt ( to taste)
- ½ tsp crushed red pepper ( or to taste)
- 2 medium large sweet potatoes, diced ( about 4 cups)
- 1 lb frozen chopped spinach
- 1 cup all natural peanut butter (you can use smooth or crunchy)
- Optional toppings: chopped scallions, chopped cilantro, diced cucumbers
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot. Add the minced garlic and onions and cook for about 5 minutes or until the onions are translucent
- Add 6 to 8 cups of water (see note 1), ginger, tomato puree, salt, crushed red pepper, sweet potatoes and spinach. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer, covered for 20 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are tender ( See note 2)
- Once the sweet potatoes are tender, add the peanut butter, mix well, bring to a boil again, and turn off heat.
Notes
- Add 6 to 8 cups of water, depending on how thick you like the soup. Start with 6 cups and you can always add more if you want to thin it out
- Time may vary depending on the size of the dice of the sweet potatoes
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30
- Category: soup
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: West African
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 165
- Sugar: 6.2
- Sodium: 217
- Fat: 9.5
- Saturated Fat: 1.8
- Unsaturated Fat: 7
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 17.3
- Fiber: 4
- Protein: 6
- Cholesterol: 0
Keywords: soup, peanuts, West African, Vegan, gluten-free, kosher, parve, vegetables, quick, easy
Raquel says
This soup is delicious! So warm and filling! The addition of peanut butter adds just the right amount of creaminess and flavor. Thank you for sharing!!
★★★★★
Vicky & Ruth says
Thank you Raquel, we love the way the soup came out.
Leah says
Wow, this peanut soup looks so good! I've never eaten a peanut soup! The flavours look delicious. Can't wait to make this 🙂
Vicky & Ruth says
Thank you Leah. Let us know what you think when you make it.
Shira says
I absolutely love this soup, so delicious and unique. Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
★★★★★
Vicky & Ruth says
Thank you ❤️!
Oranit says
Can’t wait to make the soup it looks delicious!!! Perfect for this time of the year. Thank you!
Paula Zevin says
This soup starts out darn good and gets better as it sits overnight and the flavors develop more. It's easy to make, takes kindly to shortcuts such as frozen sweet potatoes and ginger cubes, and will fill your house and kitchen with amazing aromas. I served mine with salt & lime tortilla chips, and the bowl was liked clean even by the inveterate omnivore in the house. Well done!
★★★★★
Vicky & Ruth says
Thank you for sharing Paula, this peanut soup is one of our favoites!
Annie says
I just made this lovely, creamy soup and am now eating a second bowl for lunch. Had to make one substitution when I discovered my organic sweet potatoes had gone wonky. Happily I had two cans of pumpkin in my cupboard which worked out very nicely. My appreciation to you today.
Vicky and Ruth says
Thank you so much, Annie. it really makes us happy when you make our recipes and you love them! Next time you love a recipe it would be really helpful if you gave us a star-rating 😉
Susan Nathan says
This soup is so delicious! It's easy to make and the flavors are wonderful together. To the leftovers, I added garbanzo beans because I wanted to up the protein content a bit. Either way, it was really delicious! I'm definitely making this again. Thanks for such great recipes!
★★★★★
Vicky and Ruth says
The addition of chickpeas is such a great idea! We love this soup as well, you can't go wrong with peanut butter!