Warming, hearty, and healthy, this Sweet Potato and Kale Soup is bound to quickly become a 30-minute dinner staple in your household! Made with plenty of vegetables like sweet potato, kale, bell pepper, and carrots paired with creamy peanut butter and lentils for protein and plenty of spices for flavor, it’s a nutritionally balanced meal that’s delicious on its own or with your favorite bread or salad.
If I could only choose one type of meal to eat for the rest of my life, it would definitely be soup. Warming, easy to make, and packed with nutrition- What’s not to love?
Specifically, this Sweet Potato and Kale soup would be a top contender. As a Registered Dietitian, I’m always looking for ways to make healthy meals come together quickly that also taste amazing, and this soup checks the boxes.
When making soup a complete meal, I like to make sure it’s a good source of protein, fiber, fat, and carbohydrates to keep me feeling satisfied and energized throughout the day, just like in my Vegan Chickpea Noodle Soup and my Easy Vegan Lasagna Soup.
This soup is warming, creamy from the base of peanut butter, and hearty while still being super healthy.
Just like my Carrot, Sweet Potato and Ginger Soup, and Creamy Vegan Coconut Lentil Soup, this soup comes together in 30 minutes and is packed with nutrition!
What Makes This Soup Healthy?
If you’re wondering what exactly makes this soup healthy, let’s talk about it:
Carrots, canned tomatoes, and bell peppers: We use lots of veggies in this soup to make it high in vitamins and minerals, and increase the volume so you’ll stay feeling fuller for longer! I love packing lots of veggies into my easy soup recipes, like my Carrot, Sweet Potato and Ginger Soup, so you can feel confident you’re getting a good dose of them without having to think too much about it!
Sweet potato: A great source of fiber, energizing carbohydrates, and beta-carotene! I like to keep the skin on the sweet potato to make sure I’m getting all of the wonderful fiber and nutrients. The sweet potato is this recipe is what helps to make the soup more of a meal, since carbohydrates help us to feel satiated.
Canned lentils: I chose to use canned lentils in this recipe since they’re already pre-cooked, meaning all you need to do is drain and rinse them before adding to the soup! Lentils add a great source of protein to this soup as well as fiber. We also use canned lentils in my Creamy Vegan Coconut Lentil Soup!
Peanut butter: While adding peanut butter to a soup might sound strange, I promise, it’s delicious! The peanut butter addds a creamy, savoriness to this soup, while also adding some protein and healthy fats, just like in my Peanut Lime Noodle Bowl Recipe.
Kale: If you’re trying to add more leafy greens into your diet, this soup is the perfect way to do so! I love adding greens to soup, not only for their vitamin and fiber content, but because they wilt down to basically nothing meaning you can add a few handfuls without even noticing! The same can be said for any recipe where we’re heating greens, just like my White Bean and Kale Vegan Pasta Recipe!
How to Make this Sweet Potato and Kale Soup
This soup requires just a few minutes of chopping and sautéeing, and then it’s basically all simmering time until it’s cooked!
- Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the diced onion and sauté for 3-4 minutes, until the onion is translucent. Add the minced garlic and sauté for 2 minutes more.
- Add the sweet potato, carrots, bell pepper, drained and rinsed canned lentils, peanut butter, veggie stock, chili powder, chili flakes, salt and pepper. Stir to combine, then increase the heat to high until the soup comes to a low boil.
- Place the lid on the pot and let simmer for 20-25 minutes, until the sweet potato is fork tender.
- Mix in the chopped kale and let wilt in the soup for 1-2 minutes. Serve and enjoy!
Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the diced onion and sauté for 3-4 minutes, until the onion is translucent. Add the minced garlic and sauté for 2 minutes more.
Add the sweet potato, carrots, bell pepper, drained and rinsed canned lentils, peanut butter, veggie stock, chili powder, chili flakes, salt and pepper.
Stir to combine, then increase the heat to high until the soup comes to a low boil.
Serve and enjoy!
Ingredient Substitutions & Storing Leftovers
There are definitely some substitutions that can be made if you don’t have all the ingredients on hand!
Lentils: If you don’t have canned lentils on hand, fear not! You can cook 1 cup of dried lentils to yield approximately two cups of cooked lentils. You could also substitute with a different bean like chickpeas, navy beans, or black beans!
Kale: Spinach also works well in this recipe!
Spices: While I wouldn’t classify this soup as spicy, it does have a little kick to it from the chili flakes. Feel free to decrease the amount or omit altogether if you’d prefer!
I recommend refrigerating leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
What to Pair with this Sweet Potato and Kale Soup:
This soup is a balanced and complete meal on its own, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t go wonderfully with other recipes, too! I love pairing this sweet potato and kale soup with my 20-Minute Lemon-Tahini Vegan Caesar Salad or my Apple Radicchio Salad with Rosemary Thyme Tofu.
It also goes great with my Sundried Tomato & Hummus Toast or my 5-Ingredient Spicy Edamame Dip with crackers!
Connect with Lauren!
I hope you love this recipe as much as I do! If you try it, let me know what you think by leaving a rating and a review in the comments below. You can also find 60 other delicious, easy plant-based recipes in my cookbook, The Simple Vegan Kitchen!
Also, be sure to take a photo and tag me at @tastingtothrive_rd so I can re-share on my stories! Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest so you never miss a new recipe or blog post.
More Sweet Potato Recipes
Carrot, Sweet Potato and Ginger Soup
Vegan Burrito Bowl with Spicy Lime Sauce
Spring Vegan Salad with Creamy Dijon Dressing
30-Minute Sweet Potato and Kale Soup with Lentils
Equipment
- 1 Large pot
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 540 mL can of lentils drained and rinsed
- 1 large sweet potato diced
- 2 carrots diced
- 1 bell pepper diced
- 796 ml canned diced tomatoes I used no salt added
- 1/3 cup peanut butter
- 4.5 cups vegetable stock
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp chili flakes
- 1 tsp salt or to taste
- pepper to taste
- 2 cups chopped kale
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the diced onion and sauté for 3-4 minutes, until the onion is translucent.
- Add the minced garlic and sauté for 2 minutes more.
- Add the sweet potato, carrots, bell pepper, drained and rinsed canned lentils, canned diced tomatoes, peanut butter, veggie stock, chili powder, chili flakes, salt and pepper. Stir to combine, then increase the heat to high until the soup comes to a low boil.
- Place the lid on the pot and let simmer for 20-25 minutes, until the sweet potato is fork tender.
- Mix in the chopped kale and let wilt in the soup for 1-2 minutes. Serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
Did you try this recipe? Make sure to leave a review, take a photo and tag me at @tastingtothrive_rd so I can see!
I see tomatoes in the picture and you mention adding canned tomatoes before the recipe card, but it’s not in the recipe itself. What kind of canned tomatoes and how much?
Hi Theresa! Thank you for pointing this out- I used one 796 ml can of no salt added diced tomatoes with their juices. I added them at the same time as the lentils, peanut butter, etc.
This soup is SO GOOD! I made it as an Instant Pot dump and go recipe. Just threw everything in the pot except the kale and cooked on high pressure for 10 minutes and then natural release for 10 minutes. Then added in the kale. So flavorful! This will be a staple in the rotation.
Thank you for such a great recipe!
I’m so happy you loved it, Sarah! Making it in the Instant Pot is such a great idea.