Sweet potato soup

Sweet potato soup is the sweetest of the winter soups, so it needs a balancing hand: ginger and cumin for warmth, coconut milk to round it off, lemon and salt for sharpness. One potato in the pot adds body and reins in the sweetness.

Pot calculatorOrder Sweet potato soup

VeganGluten freeDairy freeParve

Updated

Sweet potato soupIllustration
Time55 minCook 40 min
Pot8 bowls2.8 litres
Per bowl262 kcal4.2 g protein · a 350 ml bowl
Cost of the pot₪23for the pot, about ₪2.8 a bowl

The story of Sweet potato soup

The sweet potato is the tuber of a plant in the morning glory family and has no close kinship with the potato. It came from Central and South America, and the Spanish, who brought it to Europe, called it batata, the name that stayed in Hebrew too. Israel grows it on a large scale, and it is in the market all year round.

After harvest, sweet potatoes spend about a week in warmth and high humidity. This toughens the skin so they keep for months in storage, and it also turns some of the starch into sugar. That is why a sweet potato from the market is sweeter than one just pulled from the ground, and why sweet potato soup tends to come out sweet. Israeli homes cook it alone, with a potato or with coconut milk, as a parve soup that suits any meal.

What makes Sweet potato soup itself

Sweet potato alone gives a thick, sweet, vivid soup, and easily a cloying one. This recipe is built on balance: potato adds neutral starch, ginger and cumin add warmth, coconut milk rounds it off and a squeeze of lemon at the end brings back the edge. The result is orange, deep and smooth, and only as sweet as it should be.

Sweet potato soup for any number of people

Change the number of people and the bowl size, and every ingredient updates in grams, with the cost, calories and protein per bowl.

Bowl size
Units
2.8litres in the pot
4Pot to use, litres
₪23Cost of the pot
₪2.8per bowl
262kcal per bowl
4.2g protein per bowl
IngredientAmountCost
The base
Olive oil30 ml₪1.6
Onion, chopped200 g · 1 pcs₪1.2
Garlic cloves15 g · 3 pcs₪0.5
Fresh ginger, grated20 g₪0.7
Ground cumin2 g₪0.2
The sweet potato
Orange sweet potato, peeled1.3 kg · 4 pcs₪13
Potato, peeled200 g · 1 pcs₪1.2
Liquid and seasoning
Boiling water1.2 l
Coconut milk200 ml₪4.0
Salt13 g₪0.0
Ground black pepper1 g₪0.1
Lemon juice20 ml₪0.4
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Shelf prices at a large Israeli chain and specialty shops, October 2026. Nutrition from the ingredients in grams, before cooking.

How many calories in Sweet potato soup? Nutrition facts and calorie calculator

Change the amount of any ingredient, drop one, or pick a lighter version, and the numbers per serving update at once: calories, fat, carbs, protein, sodium and fibre.

Sweet potato soup has 75 calories per 100 ml. A 350 ml bowl made with our recipe has 262 calories: 4.2 g protein, 9.5 g fat and 36.2 g carbohydrates. A 250 ml cup has 187 calories.

Lighter

Ingredients, for the whole recipe

  • 30 ml30 kcal per serving
  • 1 pcs10 kcal per serving
  • 3 pcs3 kcal per serving
  • 20 g2 kcal per serving
  • 2 g1 kcal per serving
  • 4 pcs140 kcal per serving
  • 1 pcs19 kcal per serving
  • 200 ml56 kcal per serving
  • 13 g0 kcal per serving
  • 1 g0 kcal per serving
  • 20 ml1 kcal per serving

What each add-on adds to Sweet potato soup

Values for the amount in the row, from the national food database.

Add-onCaloriesProtein, gFat, g
A tablespoon of oil122013.8
A slice of white bread792.50.5
A slice of challah12641.1

How to make Sweet potato soup

In cook mode the screen stays on, tap a step when it is done, and the timers run next to each step.
  1. Peel the sweet potato and the potato and cut into 3 cm cubes. If you are not cooking right away, keep them in a bowl of cold water, because cut sweet potato darkens in the air.
  2. Heat the oil in a 5 litre pot over medium heat, add the onion with a pinch of salt and fry for 8 minutes, until soft and golden.
  3. Add the garlic, ginger and cumin and stir for a minute, until fragrant.
  4. Add the sweet potato and potato and stir for 2 minutes so they are coated in the oil and spices.
  5. Pour in 1.2 litres of boiling water, bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer gently, partly covered, for 20 to 25 minutes, until the cubes break when pressed with a spoon.
  6. Turn off the heat, add the coconut milk and blend with a stick blender for one to two minutes, just until smooth.
  7. Return to medium heat and warm to a simmer, without boiling hard.
  8. Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice, taste, and add more lemon if the soup feels too sweet.

The science of Sweet potato soup

Kitchen science

The enzyme that sweetens sweet potato

Sweet potatoes contain an enzyme, beta-amylase, that breaks starch down into maltose sugar. It works mainly between about 60 and 75 °C, after the starch has begun to swell and before heat switches the enzyme off. The longer the sweet potato spends in that range, the sweeter it gets. That is why slow-baked sweet potato is so sweet, and why boiling water, which heats it quickly, gives a less sugary soup.

Kitchen science

Potato, but not too much

Potato starch tastes neutral and adds body without sugar. Blend it too hard, though, and the blades tear the swollen starch granules, and the released starch makes the soup gluey. Short blending with a stick blender keeps it smooth without turning it rubbery.

Kitchen science

Coconut milk is an emulsion

Coconut milk is tiny droplets of fat spread through water. A long, hard boil breaks the emulsion and the fat floats. So it goes in at the end and is only warmed to a simmer. If it does split, a minute with a stick blender brings it back.

Kitchen science

How to balance sweetness

Lemon's acidity, salt and the heat of chilli and ginger all reduce how sweet the soup tastes, even though the amount of sugar has not changed. So fix a sweet soup with acid and salt, not more water, which only dilutes the flavour.

Kitchen science

Purple sweet potato changes colour

Purple sweet potato gets its colour from anthocyanins, which change with acidity: in acidic conditions they lean red, in alkaline ones blue and green. In a soup made with hard water and no lemon, purple sweet potato can turn greyish.

Sweet potato soup in every kitchen

Without coconut milk

Leave out the coconut and add 200 ml of water. The soup is lighter, and a teaspoon of raw tahini over each bowl brings the richness.

Dairy

Fry the onion in butter and use 150 ml of double cream instead of coconut milk. Serve with a spoonful of sour cream and chives.

Sweet potato and red lentil

Add 150 g of rinsed red lentils with the sweet potato and another 300 ml of water. The lentils thicken the soup and tone down the sweetness.

Hot, North African style

Fry a tablespoon of harissa and a teaspoon of sweet paprika with the garlic, and serve with coriander and lemon. The heat balances the sweet.

Roasted sweet potato and roasted garlic

Roast the sweet potato and a whole head of garlic at 200 °C for 40 minutes, then squeeze the soft garlic into the pot. Sweeter and deeper.

Common Sweet potato soup problems and how to fix them

Sweet potato soup is too sweet

An especially sweet batch, or not enough salt and acidity. Add salt gradually, lemon juice, ginger or a pinch of chilli. Next time add another potato, or swap some of the sweet potato for pumpkin and onion.

Sweet potato soup is gluey

The potato was over-blended, usually in a powerful jug blender. The texture cannot be fully restored, but thinning with a little boiling water helps. Next time use a stick blender, briefly.

The soup is very thick after a night in the fridge

The starch reorganises in the cold and sets like a jelly. That is normal. Add boiling water as you reheat, stir and check the salt.

The coconut milk split and the soup looks oily

The soup boiled hard after the coconut went in. Blend for a minute with a stick blender, and from now on warm it only to a simmer.

The soup turned brown instead of orange

The garlic or ginger browned, or the cut sweet potato sat in the air and darkened. Fry the garlic for a minute only, and keep the cubes in water until they go in the pot.

Storing, freezing and reheating

3 to 4 days

In the fridge

3 months

In the freezer

2+4

To cool

Bring it from 60 to 21 °C within two hours and down to 5 °C within four more. Split a big pot into shallow boxes.

75 °C

Reheating

Reheat over medium heat with a little water, stirring. Do not boil hard, because of the coconut milk.

Nutrition of Sweet potato soup

From our recipe, per bowl and per 100 g, next to the national food database.

ServingkcalProtein, gFat, gCarbs, gFibre, g
Our recipe, a 350 ml bowl2624.29.536.26.5
Our recipe, 100 ml751.22.710.31.9
Typical Sweet potato soup, 100 g370.90.18.01.1
Typical Sweet potato soup, 100 g (2)961.55.210.12.0

What the ingredients of Sweet potato soup cost

What each ingredient costs in one pot, and where to buy it.

IngredientPriceIn this potWhere to buy
Orange sweet potato, peeled₪9.9 per kg₪13Greengrocer
Coconut milk₪20 per litre₪4Supermarket
Olive oil₪53 per litre₪1.6Supermarket
Onion, chopped₪5.9 per kg₪1.2Greengrocer
Potato, peeled₪5.9 per kg₪1.2Greengrocer
Fresh ginger, grated₪35 per kg₪0.7Greengrocer
Garlic cloves₪34 per kg₪0.5Greengrocer
Lemon juice₪20 per litre₪0.4Supermarket
Ground cumin₪86 per kg₪0.2Supermarket
Ground black pepper₪139 per kg₪0.1Supermarket
Salt₪2.1 per kg₪0Supermarket

Shelf prices at a large Israeli chain and specialty shops, October 2026, VAT included. Vegetable prices change with the season.

Make Sweet potato soup a meal

Shabbat

Ready Shabbat food

Soup, hamin, mains and sides, with a quantity calculator and prices.

Plan Shabbat
Hosting

Hosting trays

9 trays to go with the soup, with a planner by number of guests.

Tray planner
Events

Catering

A whole menu in grams per guest, with a reheating table.

Menus

What to serve with Sweet potato soup

Serve with a spoonful of coconut milk, chilli, coriander and a drop of lemon, with toast or warm pitta alongside.

Sweet potato soup in large quantities: events, offices and communities

How much of everything by number of guests, at a 350 ml bowl. For institutional pots, catering and community kitchens.

GuestsLitres30 l potsCost of ingredients
258.81₪71
50181₪142
100352₪284
200703₪568
5001757₪1,421

Every ingredient for any number of guests is in the calculator above: type the number of people.

Order Sweet potato soup

A ready pot for Shabbat, an event or the office, ordered ahead.

  • Cooked to order, for Shabbat, an event or the office.
  • Tell us how many people and when, and we send a quote.
  • Delivery in Tel Aviv from ₪35, free over ₪750.
Ask for a quote for Sweet potato soup

Order Sweet potato soup for a large event

Large orders in Israel and abroad: events, offices, synagogues, communities and institutions.

  • In Israel: cooked in Tel Aviv and delivered to events in the area, and to large events anywhere in the country on a quote.
  • Abroad: for communities, events and restaurants. Tell us where, how many and when, and we come back with a quote and options.
  • Institutional quantities and a shopping list for any number of guests, in the calculator above.
Ask for a large-order quote

Frequently asked questions

Do I peel sweet potato for soup?

Yes, for an even colour and a smooth texture. The skin is edible, but it adds dark flecks and an earthy taste.

How long does sweet potato take to cook for soup?

20 to 25 minutes from the boil for 3 cm cubes. They are ready when they break under the press of a spoon.

Can I make sweet potato soup without coconut milk?

Yes. Add another 200 ml of water, and for richness serve with tahini or olive oil.

What is the difference between sweet potato soup and orange soup?

Sweet potato soup is built almost entirely on sweet potato, so it is thicker and sweeter. Orange soup combines carrot and pumpkin, and it is lighter and earthier.

Is sweet potato soup with coconut milk parve?

Yes, coconut milk comes from a plant. This recipe is parve, vegan and gluten free.

Can sweet potato soup be frozen?

Yes, for up to 3 months. Blend for a minute after thawing, because the coconut may separate.

Why add a potato to sweet potato soup?

It adds neutral body and reins in the sweetness. One medium potato for every 1.25 kilos of sweet potato is enough.

How many calories are in Sweet potato soup?

A 350 ml bowl of Sweet potato soup made with our recipe has about 262 calories and 4.2 g of protein. Per 100 ml: 75 calories.

How much does it cost to make Sweet potato soup at home?

A pot of 8 bowls costs about ₪23 at Israeli shelf prices in October 2026, about ₪2.8 a bowl. The calculator above works it out for any number of people.

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