Sweet Potato Soup with Bacon and Coconut Milk

A bowl of sweet potato soup topped with bacon and fried sage leaves.

Sweet Potato Soup with Bacon and Coconut Milk

Course: Soup

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free, Low Lactose

Keyword: sweet potato soup, sweet potato soup with coconut milk

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 40

Total Time: 45

Servings:

Calories: 672kcal

This sweet potato soup recipe with coconut milk and bacon is dairy free and gluten free. The coconut milk adds creaminess and a hint of sweetness, bacon and sage give it that cozy fall flavor.

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US Customary - Metric

Equipment

Ingredients

2.5 lbs sweet potatoes
1 yellow onion
6 slices bacon divided
2 tablespoon finely chopped sage plus more leaves for frying
¼ teaspoon cayenne
4 cups chicken broth
13.5 ounces full fat coconut milk (one can)
1 teaspoon kosher salt plus more to taste
olive oil for frying sage leaves amount depends on the size of the skillet

Instructions

Heat a Dutch oven or heavy stockpot over medium high heat. Add 4 slices of the bacon and cook until crisp. Transfer to a paper towel to cool. Leave the bacon grease in the pot.
While the bacon cooks, use a good chef's knife to dice the onion. Once you've removed the bacon from the pot, add the onions to the bacon fat and sauté until they are fragrant, translucent and just beginning to turn brown on the edges, about 5 - 8 minutes.
While the onions cook, use a vegetable peeler to peel the sweet potatoes and chop them into large chunks. Finely chop the sage.
Add the sage and cayenne to the pan with the onions and stir for about one minute, until the sage is fragrant. Season with a pinch of salt.
Add the chicken stock, 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, and sweet potatoes to the pot, crumble in the bacon, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook for about 25 minutes until the potatoes are fork tender.
If you want to fry the sage leaves, place a small skillet over medium high heat and cover the bottom of the pan with olive oil. Once the oil is shimmering, add the sage leaves and fry for about 20 seconds. (careful! they spit a bit!) Remove to a paper towel to drain and hit them with a pinch of sea salt like Maldon right away.
To cook the bacon, place a paper towel on a microwave safe plate, top with the remaining two slices of bacon. Cover with another paper towel and microwave for 2 - 4 minutes until bacon is crisp. Let cool, then crumble and set aside.
Turn off the heat and use an immersion blender to blend the soup until smooth. You can also use a regular blender, just do this in batches and see tip below about blending hot liquids.
Stir in the coconut milk and simmer for a few minutes until the soup reaches your desired consistency. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary. Transfer to individual bowls and top with microwaved bacon and fried sage leaves to serve.

Notes

I've written this recipe in a specific order so that you can be chopping and prepping one thing while another thing is cooking. So you shouldn't have a whole lot of prep time on the front end. If you don't feel confident about this, go ahead and chop the sweet potatoes and onions and sage ahead of time before you start cooking the bacon.
We're cooking 2 slices of bacon separately in the microwave because the bacon fat from 6 slices of bacon is just too much to leave in the soup. And no one wants to try to scoop hot bacon fat out of a pot.
Frying the sage leaves is totally optional, but you should try it. It's fun and fancy.
When frying the sage, it will bubble and pop a LOT for a very short amount of time due to the water content in the leaves. Don't do too many at a time.
It really doesn't matter how you cut up the potatoes. You don't have to cut them too small, just try to make them about the same size so they cook evenly.
There's just enough cayenne in the recipe to give it a bit of heat on the finish. If you like it spicy, feel free to add more.
Use caution when blending hot liquids! Hot liquids can expand in the blender and cause the top to come off, resulting in hot soup flying all over you and your kitchen. Ouch. If you are using a traditional blender to purée the soup, do this in small batches with the top vented to allow heat to escape. This is why I love an immersion blender for this task.

Inspired by a recipe from Alex Guarnaschelli.

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Nutrition