Soups are enjoying a season ticket at my table these days, for their warming qualities, but also their inherent thrift. With a few seasonal vegetables, aromatics like leeks or onion, and some homemade or store-bought stock, you can blip up a healthful, cleanly flavored bowl of autumn’s finest offerings. Add a rich grilled cheese sandwich with bacon and a crisp, vinegary salad, and you’re set.
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Sweet Potato and Apple Soup
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
Description
Rich sweet potatoes, apples, and chicken stock blend into a creamy soup that’s finished with a fresh squeeze of orange.
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 leeks, whites only, cleaned and sliced thinly
- 2 stalks celery, sliced thinly
- 3 large sweet potatoes (larger than a fist), peeled and cut into large dice
- 1 tart green apple, peeled, cored, and diced
- 7 cups (1680 ml) chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 dried bay leaf
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp curry powder
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) half-and-half or light cream
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) freshly squeezed orange juice
- extra thyme leaves for garnish
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a medium to large soup pot over medium heat.
- Saute the leeks and celery until soft, about 8 minutes.
- Add potatoes, apple, stock, bay leaf, thyme, and spices, and bring to the boiling point.
- Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer about 20 minutes, or until potatoes are very soft.
- Puree soup in the pot with an immersion blender, or transfer in batches to a standard blender and puree until smooth (if using a standard blender, leave the hole in the lid uncorked and cover the hole with a kitchen towel for safety). As each batch is pureed, pour into a large bowl; when all soup is pureed, pour contents of bowl back into your soup pot.
- Stir in half-and-half and salt and pepper to taste.
- Heat gently over low heat. Add orange juice and adjust seasonings to taste.
- Garnish with extra thyme leaves and a good grind of black pepper.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Category: Soup
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 190
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why does the recipe call for a tart green apple rather than a sweet variety?
The tart green apple balances the natural sweetness of the 3 large sweet potatoes — combined with 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp curry powder, and a finishing squeeze of 1/2 cup (120 ml) orange juice, the tartness keeps the soup from tasting one-dimensionally sweet. 
When should I add the orange juice, and why not earlier?
The orange juice goes in last (step 7), after the soup has been puréed and the half-and-half stirred in — adding it at the end preserves its fresh, bright flavour rather than cooking it into the base.
How do I safely blend hot soup in a standard blender?
The instructions include a specific safety note: leave the hole in the blender lid uncorked and cover it with a kitchen towel to let steam escape — otherwise pressure can build and blow the lid off. Work in batches, pouring each into a large bowl before returning everything to the pot.
what a lovely soup!