This creamy sweet potato carrot soup is made silky with the addition of a sweet potato and creme fraîche for a perfect vegetarian lunch.
Make this soup ahead and keep it in the refrigerator if that's easier for your schedule. And if you don't have any créme fraîche, substitute heavy cream or full-fat coconut milk.
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A steaming bowl of soup is one of my favorite things to have on a cold day. And carrots are at their sweetest best in winter months.
❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
- Healthy soup: Both carrots and sweet potato are nutritious (see the section below on their nutrition).
- Easy. This delicious soup is easy to make without any fancy ingredients or equipment.
- Portable. I keep it in the refrigerator for quick lunches on the go. Or take it to work with you and warm it up if your office has a microwave oven.
👩⚕️ Nutrition Benefits for Carrots and Sweet Potatoes
Carrots are a great source of beta-carotenes, which help to prevent cancer. And while they're good for our bodies whether cooked or raw, the beta-carotenes are more easily absorbed by the body when cooked.
Sweet potatoes are rich in Vitamins A and C, antioxidants, and fiber.
🧅 Main Ingredients + Notes
The secret to faster and easier meals often lies in the ingredients. For example, store-bought items and ingredients you make ahead and store in the refrigerator (or freezer) can turn a 60-minute recipe into a 30-minute meal or less.
For all of the ingredients, measurements, and directions for this sweet potato soup, go to the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post.
- Unsalted butter
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Yellow onion
- Garlic
- Carrots
- Sweet potato
- White wine - a dry white wine is best, such as Sauvignon Blanc
- Vegetable broth or vegetable stock - Either make homemade vegetable broth or use 1 teaspoon of Better Than Bouillon, Roasted Vegetable Paste per cup of water.
- Crème fraîche - If you don't have this ingredient, you can use either heavy cream or full-fat coconut milk.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to products and foods I use in my kitchen. This means that at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. To view my entire storefront of recommended kitchen tools and equipment, check out my shop on Amazon.
🔪 Recommended Equipment
- Chef's knife
- Vegetable peeler
- Dutch oven or other large pot with a heavy bottom to prevent the soup from burning.
- Stick blender or high powered blender (If you don't have either of these, you can also use a food processor.)
🎯 Why This Recipe Works
Adding a sweet potato to almost anything makes for a super soft and silky dish, whether it's soup or bread, like this sweet potato bread and sweet potato biscuits.
👩🍳 Substitutions
- This carrot soup recipe with sweet potatoes is a creamy soup with added dairy. I use crème fraîche for its slightly tangy flavor, but you can use sour cream or full-fat Greek yogurt instead. To have a creamy flavor without the tang, use heavy cream.
- If substituting Greek yogurt, choose a full-fat product. This reduces the risk that the soup will separate when heated.
- Half-and-half is okay, but has more risk of separating when heated than heavy cream. Do not use whole milk.
👩🍳 Preparation Tips
- Only add the crème fraîche, or other dairy, such as sour cream, Greek yogurt, or heavy cream, after the soup is puréed.
- Be careful not to bring the soup back to a boil after adding the crème fraîche at the end of making the soup. Otherwise, the cream may break, creating a grainy soup. Only reheat the soup to barely a simmer.
💡Ideas for Possible Variations
- Add a pinch of red pepper flakes to this soup if you like a little heat.
- Add a knob of peeled fresh ginger when adding the garlic.
- Serve topped with chopped fresh parsley.
- To intensify the carrot flavor, use roasted carrots. Be careful not to roast them too long as roasted carrot skin can be more difficult to purée into a smooth soup.
🧊 Storage Tips
Any soups containing creams of any kind, including yogurt, have a risk of separating when frozen and then thawed. If you know you'll freeze some of the soup, make that portion only up until adding the crème fraîche or other cream. When reheating the soup, stir the cream and serve.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4 - 5 days.
- Freeze in a freezer-safe container for up to 2 months.
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Creamy Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup Recipe
Equipment
- Chef's knife
- Vegetable peeler
- Dutch oven or other large pot with a heavy bottom
- High-speed blender or immersion blender or food processor
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large onion diced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 pound carrots peeled and chopped
- 1 large sweet potato peeled and chopped
- ½ cup dry white wine such as a Sauvignon Blanc
- 6 cups vegetable broth
- ½ cup crème fraîche or heavy cream or coconut milk (full fat)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper or to taste
Instructions
- Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot such as a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the diced onion and sauté, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for another minute, until fragrant.
- Add the chopped carrots, sweet potato, and wine and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring every now and then with a wooden spoon, for 5 minutes, or until most of the wine has cooked off.
- Add the veggie broth and bring to a simmer and cover the pot. Reduce the heat and continue to simmer until the carrots and sweet potato cubes are soft, 20 - 30 minutes, depending on the size of the veggies.
- Either purée the soup in the pot, using an immersion stick blender, or pour it into a high-speed countertop blender and purée. If using a blender, return the puréed soup back to the pot. Stir in the crème fraîche, and reheat over medium heat until hot, but not simmering. Add salt and black pepper to taste before serving.
Norma Chang
After reading through your recipe, I am sure I will enjoy Winnie's book. A large bowl of your soup would be so welcome right now to ward off the frigid temp. Currently it is -7F, will be in the 20's later in the day, a heat wave.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
This is such a crazy winter, isn't it? -7˚F is insane! My husband is in DC today and due to fly back to CA tonight. Fingers crossed he beats this next storm. This carrot - sweet potato soup is just amazing, and so is the book 🙂
Viviana@bonheurcuisine
I adhere totally to the concept of the book. The soup looks delicious and its silky texture is so inviting! I will go for the squash addition instead of the sweet potato. Thank you for the recipe!
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Me too Viviana. I was immediately drawn to the book, and keep it nearby for reminders now. And soup is just sublime. It's the best carrot soup I think I've had.
Erika
Ditto Norma--this soup sounds so fabulous!! I'm going to go buy some carrots today so I can use up that lonely sweet potato that's sitting on my counter. Let us know how the sugar observing goes--I'm very curious! I should probably join you...
(PS. I love the color coordination between the book cover and the soup!)
Erika
Oh and do I answer the question for the giveaway here? I'd like to make a simple change to my work habits. I need to get up every hour and walk around!
The Wimpy Vegetarian
The sugar thing is so hard for me, and I've really noticed it got worse over the holidays - or maybe I'm just increasing my awareness of it now. And that's a GREAT change to make. I used to have a computer program on my computer that would give me a reminder to do that. When I'm on the computer now and look up at the clock, I'm always amazed that two hours have flown by.
itzia
i would definitely make a simple change to my health.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
You and me both itzia! I've renewed my commitment (again) to getting myself back to the gym.
Winnie
Thank you so much for the fabulous review and for sponsoring the giveaway!
The Wimpy Vegetarian
It was my pleasure! Thank you for such a lovely book and recipe 🙂 I drank my glass of water this morning!
lizthechef
I have Winnie's book and agree that it is a treasure. I screamed when I saw a pile of them at the register in my favorite Santa Fe bookstore last December.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
I remember when that happened! You posted it on FB with a photo!! How fun 🙂
apuginthekitchen
I love Winnie and her book is one I have to have. She is amazing and so is this soup. On my way over to Amazon to buy a copy now, thank you for posting this, it reminded me to re subscribe to her blog, for some reason the emails of posts stopped.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Oh I'm so glad! I thoroughly enjoyed her book - and keep it nearby as a reminder to make some simple changes that even I can adhere to. I'm actually thinking of having her soup for breakfast it's so good 🙂
Lucy
I would like to make changes to improve the health and well-being of my whole self and this book like it fits right in with that goal.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
This book is perfect for that! There are so many small things we can do towards that goal 🙂
Melanie
Going to bed earlier!
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Oh YES. Me too. I cannot seem to turn off the light before midnight, and I know I'd feel better if I went to bed around 10pm. Good one!
ZeBot Zebra
I'm such a carrot fan that I've been known to eat so many that my stripes turned bright orange --- and reading this post, I love them more than ever.
Your writing is super-fun & informative, your photos are beautiful -- and your energy (as always) is contagious!.
Okay: gotta go make some carrot soup now!
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Thanks ZeBot (and Laura)! I always smile when I see your photo :-). Sorry to miss the AGM last night - my first miss in years now. I would have loved to check out the new venue too!
annelies
I've had my eye on that book ever since it came out. I particularly appreciated Winnie's take on sugar, reading a post on her blog about it, which struck me as sensible. Homemade soup might be one of my favorite foods and this carrot soup is perfect for our chilly winter days and nights.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
I completely agree annelies - the chapter on sugar really grabbed my attention. That's the main change in my diet that I really want to make. And I would say that Winnie's whole book takes a very sensible approach. Good way to put it!
Choc Chip Uru
If eating soups as delicious as this is the simple change, I will definitely do it 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
cathy
This looks so silky - and it must be good for you right?
The Wimpy Vegetarian
It's TOTALLY good for you, cathy! And so incredibly good. I'm planning making more over the weekend because it's so easy to throw together.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
I think this soup falls into the category of eating real food, and I completely agree CCU!
Laurie Dupree
Susan, can't WAIT to try this...can't decide between sweet potato or squash addition, but either way just LOVE a good carrot soup...too bad we're iced/snowed in here in GA or I'd run out and pick up a couple of the ingredients I'm missing TODAY.....would have been a great cozy meal for a night like tonight...have to settle for homemade chili until we dig out!! Thanks for sharing!
The Wimpy Vegetarian
I love carrot soups too, Laurie. I made mine with the sweet potato, if for no other reason than I had one on hand that I needed to use. If you try it with squash instead, I'd love to hear what you thought! Hope you're safe, warm, and comfortable at home. What a crazy winter you've had in Atlanta!!!
T.
I already made one BIG change this year. I stopped drinking (not an alcoholic but not a great relationship either). Now I hope to change more that is nourishing for my mind, body and soul...and my family's as well.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
That's HUGE, T. Really huge. And congrats to you. I cut back last year to only an occasional glass of wine when we go out, and I feel SO much better and sleep so much better. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
sarah
I want to make sure not let my laundry pile up!
The Wimpy Vegetarian
When you figure out how to do that, you must let me know 🙂 I'm looking at a big pile right now!
mjskit
I would love to be fully retired rather than semi-retired, but I would have to win the lottery for that. Maybe I should buy a ticket.:)
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Totally understand, MJ. There's a lot of that going around these days. I have several friends in their 70's that still need to work. Maybe we should all go out and start buying those lottery tickets.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Hi MJ! You won my first raffle!!! Many congrats to you for winning Winnie's Book One Simple Change. Please email me through my Contact page with your mailing address!! I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did 🙂 -Susan
chantal
My eating and exercise habits. I want to eat healthier and to exercise more regularly and to build up my core strength.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Good one, chantal! I just got back the gym a few minutes ago - I'm totally working on core strength, of which I currently have NONE.
Melissa
I really need to change how I organize… I'm constantly forgetting where I put things.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
I'm so enjoying reading all these areas people want to change and am feeling so validated. I'm in the midst of reorganizing myself - so I completely understand. I'm so tired of looking for my cell phone, keys, glasses, purse, etc etc. I'm almost need to budget time everyday just to look for things.
Becca F
I need to stop snacking so much and have square meals and a limited amount of snacks
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Great one, Becca! This might be ok if the snacks were slices of apples or an orange. My problem is my snacks involve cookies and pound cake....
Becca F
Yeah! Mine usually does too unfortunately.
Christina
I'd love to be more organized!!!
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Oh, so would I, Christina! This is so true of so many of who are trying to pack so much life into a day.
Becca Entenberg
I would like to focus on managing my time better.
John
I'm with you about this.
I would also like to have more time, but hey, this is how life is 🙂
Sarah | Curious Cuisiniere
This year I'm working to slow down so that I can enjoy the simple things. It is so refreshing to not be a constant whirlwind of stressful activity.
Kristy @ She Eats
Susan - thank you for hosting such a great giveaway (and writing such an amazing post!) It's an honor to be in SRC with you!
To enter the giveaway: I'd like to make more time for me and the things I LOVE. I've been so busy with starting my own business, blogging and now a podcast, I've forgotten the things I love like self-pedicures, reading quietly with a glass of bourbon, or dancing. I don't dance enough anymore. So I'm working on it.
PS. Soup. Looks. Amazing.
NennaM
That soup looks so delicous that I have to try the recipe tomorrow! I´d love to find a new job and have better kitchen, else is perfect 😛
jacquei
my eating habits
Carolsue
I would like to change the way I eat, I'd like to eat healthier.
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