This curried lentil sweet potato soup is rich, flavorful, and requires about ten minutes of prep, followed by hours of gloriously fragrant simmering away in the slow cooker.
This recipe did it for me. I will be using a lot more of my slow cooker this year.
Up until now I haven’t nearly used this thing enough. It was a Christmas gift from my mom, I don’t even know how many years ago. I always thought of it as one of those nice-to-have items, but by no means a necessity. I also kind of thought I’d be sacrificing something by making meals in it. Because, you know, anything that’s so easy as to only involve throwing a bunch of stuff into one vessel and letting it do its thing can’t be all that great, right?
I’m happy to say that no sacrifices were made for this lentil sweet potato soup. Yes, pretty much everything went right into the slow cooker at once, around lunchtime. The house smelled glorious all afternoon, and by dinnertime, all that was required of me was about two additional minutes of prep work and some ladling.
Oh, and there’s another great thing about the slow cooker, and this is pretty specific to this soup. Normally when I make a soup like this, as in a thick and hearty legume based one, I’ll tell you it’s better the second day. That would be because the legumes continue to suck up broth overnight, making the soup even thicker and heartier. Because this one simmers for hours, the lentils get a lot more suck time in, so it’s like eating it the second day but it’s really the first day! Hot and fresh soup at optimum consistency after a half day of a dreamy curry-smelling home. The best of all worlds, in your slow cooker. Score!
Slow Cooker Curried Lentil Sweet Potato Soup
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion diced
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 tablespoons fresh grated ginger
- 1 large sweet potato, about 1 pound, diced into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 1/2 cups dried brown lentils
- 6 cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1/2 tablespoons Asian chili paste (sambal oelek), or to taste
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoons garam masala
- 2 teaspoons lime juice (about 1 lime)
- 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
Place the onion, garlic, ginger, sweet potato, lentils, broth, coconut milk, chili paste, cumin, and garam masala into a slow cooker. Stir a few times to mix everything well. Cover and cook 5-6 hours on low, or 3-4 hours on high, until lentils and sweet potatoes are tender.
Stir in the lime juice and tomatoes. Allow to cook for about 10 minutes more, just to bring the temperature back up. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls and top with cilantro. Serve.
Hi Alissa!
I love your site and use recipes off of it often! This one looks DELICIOUS. Could you suggest something to use in place of the the coconut milk, though? I have allergy and digestion issues with it, unfortunately :/
Thanks!
-Amanda
Hi Amanda!
I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying the blog – thank you so much for reading!
You’ve got a couple of options for the soup. First, you could just leave the coconut milk out. I’ve made similar soups without the coconut milk, and while not quite as rich, they’re always tasty. Alternatively, you could use an unflavored soy or almond milk place of the coconut milk. If you ever make cashew milk you could try that too, but it does have a tendency to separate in certain recipes, which wouldn’t really affect the taste – it just wouldn’t look as pretty. Good luck and I hope you enjoy it. :)
I made this recipe last week. Thank you so much for sharing. My new favorite soup. I wrote a post about how good this recipe is. I shared a link to your blog as well. thank you again.
Awesome!!! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I just checked out your blog post – thank you so much for saying such nice things about my recipe. :)
Just made this soup and wow – it is really delicious. I added some carrots and celery because I had them on hand and figured they wouldn’t hurt. A couple of other changes: I didn’t have chili paste on hand so I just used sriracha and did not add any salt as we are trying to cut out as much salt as possible i our family. Still *very* flavorful and family members can add salt to individual servings if they choose. The lime juice added something special and we are enjoying the suggested cilantro as a topping! Thanks, I look forward to trying more recipes from the site!
Awesome! This soup is definitely customizable and your modifications sound great. So glad you like it. Thanks John!
Hi Alissa!
This recipe sounds really delicious and I’m thinking of making it in two weeks for a birthday dinner. I was just wondering what size of Slow cooker you used to make this soup. I have a 5qt one and I’m wondering if it’ll be too big.
My family likes flavor, but not heat. What modifications should I make?
I’d just leave out the chili paste and go easy on the garam masala. :)
How long would I cook this on the stove if I don’t have a slow cooker, and what heat level? Thanks!
I’d keep it at a low simmer, so probably low to medium low heat, for about 40 minutes – but be sure to check it every so often!
I’ve made this recipe twice now and both times it came out great!! I separated the remainder into three Tupperware bowls and brought it to work every single day it is that good. And two of those days co-workers yelled out, “what smells so delicious??” Highly recommend! Yum!
Yay!! I love making a big batch of this and enjoying the leftovers for days. :) Glad you like it!! Thanks Susan!
I made this soup for dinner tonight & it was delicious! Thank you for sharing your recipe.
I’m happy to hear that!! Thanks Tara!
We loved this. Easy and delicious!
I’m so glad it was hit! Thanks Karen!
I goofed and tried doubling the recipe in my 7 qt slow cooker, but I didn’t have enough room to add the tomatoes, and even without was filled to the brim. Once it started bubbling, it started to spill over the edge. Yikes! I heated the tomatoes in a separate pan on the stove and added them to individual bowls. Next time I will only 1.5X the recipe, not double it! Delicious, though, and I’ll have plenty to last my family several meals worth. Thanks!
Oh no! It does make a nice big batch! I’m glad it worked out though!! Thanks Jessica!
I have made this recipe several times. I’ve shared the link with a number of friends. It’s always a hit.
I usually adapt it to the electric pressure cooker. I use some of the coconut oil from the coconut milk to sauté the onions and garlic before adding the other ingredients and using the pressure function to cook it.
I usually size up and make 6-8 servings.
I’m so glad you’re enjoying it! Great idea to use oil from the coconut milk. Thanks so much!!
Yummy!!! Used butternut squash instead of sweet potato and lite coconut milk instead of full fat, added at the end to prevent breaking. Turned out beautifully. Will go into the recipe binder!
Butternut squash sounds delicious in this! Glad you enjoyed it!
I’ve made this twice now and it’s our new favorite! My husband isn’t a huge soup fan, but he’s obsessed with this soup! I didn’t have any garam marsala so I googled how to make my own. Ive never had it before. What a delicious blend of spices! I toasted the blend and stored it in a jam-size mason jar. Thank you for this delicious recipe!
Ps I made another batch for our church’s monthly soup dinner and everyone loved it there, too!
I’m so glad it was a hit! This one is a favorite in my house too. :) Thanks so much for letting me know you enjoyed it!