Out of Season: Sweet Potato-Chipotle Soup

Creamy bowl of soup

I know it's totally not typical soup weather since it's now summer here in Wisconsin, but this recipe was perfect for the slow cooker since I could start it in the morning and it would cook all day and all I needed to do when I got home was whiz it up with the immersion blender.  Plus I didn't heat up the house with the stove and didn't have to stand over it while it cooked. 

This recipe also has an excellent tip, instead of attempting to chop up chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, whiz up an entire can and measure it out from there. 

Inspiration

Marin Mama Cooks sweet potato and chipotle soup

I skipped the olive oil and used olive oil cooking spray to saute the onion, I also used dried cilantro because I've got it in the pantry. 

Ingredients

serves 8

• cooking spray
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp dried cilantro
• 3/4 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/ 1/2 tsp pureed chipotle in adobo (see note below)
• 2.5 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
• 6 cups stock

Note: The original poster used a store-bought jar of pureed chipotle in adobo, I figured I would make my own.  I dumped a can of chipotles in adobo into the small food processor/chopper cup of my immersion blender and whizzed it up. Then I measured out the amount called for and put it in the slow cooker and put the rest of the puree in a plastic-wrap-lined ice cube tray to freeze for later recipes.  I measured out the puree as I put it in the tray, mine are 1.5 tsp chunks.

Directions

Saute the onions over medium heat in a medium-sized skillet sprayed with the cooking spray. After 6-8 minutes, add the garlic and cook for 1-2 more minutes.  Don't add the garlic at the beginning because it can burn pretty easily.  If you need to prevent the onions from sticking, add a splash of water.

Sauteing onions and garlic

While the onions are cooking, dump everything else into a medium-size slow cooker.  

Sweet potato chunks, I like how the
mottled color looks like co-jack cheese.

Into the slow cooker with all the spices and stock.

Whizzed up can of chipotles in adobo.

Chipotles in adobo puree going to be frozen cubes.  

I cooked the soup on low for nine hours.  When I got home, I stuck in the immersion blender and whizzed it up.  Husband Jeff requested to keep a little texture, so I stopped before it was totally smooth.  I served it with croutons on top.

Verdict

Sweet and only a little smoky-spicy.

I liked this, it would be perfect for fall.  It was pretty sweet from the sweet potatoes (duh!) so I added more salt.  I have to admit I was too lazy to actually measure out the amount of salt called for in the recipe when I was pulling this together, so instead I sprinkled some from our salt shaker into the slow cooker.  It wasn't enough for my tastes, so I added more at the table to counter the natural sweetness.

Sonny D tasted it, but only because it was the only way to get more crackers.  He didn't seem to hate it and didn't say it was too spicy, so I guess it passes. 

In the future I would add a little more chipotle in adobo paste, it wasn't smoky-spicy enough for me.  I had to make it as written the first time though since the first time I made a recipe with chipotles in adobo I accidentally used one whole can rather than one whole pepper.  EEP!  It was so tasty, but so incredibly spicy that we couldn't eat it.

I like how this didn't seem like a lot in the slow cooker (wasn't all the way to the rim) but it made a lot of soup.  We had it for dinner the first night, lunches the second day, and I froze two more two-serving containers for future dinners.