Talk about comfort food, Southwest Sweet Potato Chowder is perfect for a chilly night! The smokiness of chipotle with roasted sweet potatoes and pecans makes this a hearty meal.
I love sweet potatoes like a fat boy loves cake. Sometimes I even crave them.
And, sweet potatoes are a good thing to crave: they are one of nature’s most nutrient-dense foods and are full of anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory goodness. The old saying about apples should be replaced with “A sweet potato a day keeps the doctor away.” Bring on those beautiful orange root veggies, I say!
I decided to scratch my sweet potato itch this time by making a soup – and I think the sweet richness pairs well with smokiness, so I added chipotle peppers and smoked paprika.
This soup is so easy, that’s it’s almost not even a recipe: just throw everything in a slow cooker and let it simmer away all day – your house will smell amazing, BTW. Then, top with some roasted sweet potato chunks, cilantro leaves and pecans and – HOOOOOoooooo Ray – Sweet Potato Heaven!
- 3 large sweet potatoes, about 2½ pounds, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, diced
- 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, diced
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 6 cups vegetable broth
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- ½ cup light sour cream, plus extra for garnish
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 1 cup diced cilantro leaves
- 1 cup diced pecans
- Place in a slow cooker the following: ⅔ of the sweet potato chunks, onion, garlic, chipotle pepper, smoked paprika, cumin, vegetable broth, vinegar and soy sauce. Cook on high for 3 to 4 hours or on low for 6 to 8 hours.
- One hour before serving, preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Toss the remaining sweet potato cubes in oil and spread on a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes at top of oven, until soft and lightly browned.
- Ten minutes before serving, spread the pecans on a small baking sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until browned and fragrant.
- Whisk the sour cream and some salt and pepper to taste into the soup in slow cooker. Blend in batches in your blender or blend with a stick blender until smooth. Spoon into serving bowls. Top with a few chunks of the roasted sweet potato chunks, a little sour cream drizzled, cilantro and pecans.
- Serve immediately.
Food bloggers’ adventures with southwest yammy goodness:
Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas, Karina’s Kitchen
Hatch Chile Sweet Potato Stew, Gluten Free Goddess
Sweet Potato Chili, A Year of Slow Cooking
Chipotle Smashed Sweet Potatoes, Serious Eats
Turkey and Sweet Potato Enchiladas, Gluten Free Goddess
— posted by Donna
Sandy is a former elementary educator whose love for cooking has gone out of control. She has completed a degree in culinary arts and is now a food writer, photographer, cookbook author and co-creator of the popular website Everyday Southwest. 
Dear Donna, I as well enjoy the medicinal value o jem, though I depise preservation process of the starch. Burning easily and drying out within a half-hours time; when and if the climate is not adequate. I have to prepare this potato each and every night at True Food Kitchen. Also, I am a student colleague of Sandi. Thanks.–NJK
I feel lucky to have Sandy for my sister! I envy you getting to work with her!!!
Hola! Beautiful. I never met a sweet potato recipe I didn’t like. This soup looks so delicious- I love your addition of pecans. Perfect!
We are so happy that everyone likes this soup! We promise you will love it!
Oh YUM! This looks soooo good!
WOW….what a beautiful and yummy blog!
Congrats on the foodie blogroll!
Enjoy!
Looks good to me, must give this a try, thanks
Thanks soupmaker – just visited your blog and I’ll be going back!
healthy!.. new for me as I use sweet potato rarely.. the pic is so tempting… am definitely going to try it..
Thanks for sharing!
Uma – Don’t you just LOVE sweet potatoes?!
Hello Girls! I found this blog in Foodista and followed it here. This is a lovely blog and awesome SOUTHWEST SASSY SWEET POTATO STEW recipe. I am a potato lover and I think this is interesting recipe. By the way you can place more Foodista widget in your past and future blogs so that other Foodista readers can follow and see your blog too. Just search for a related recipe or food in Foodista and use its widget. I hope to read more from you. Cheers!
Christine – Thanks! And glad to know the widget tip!
Do you have nutritional information for this yummy sounding soup?
We’ll work on posting that info!
The best thing to cook using slow cooker is the fact that we only need to put this and that into a cooker and we can leave them there for hours. In time you back to your kitchen there you go your meals are ready to eat.
How to Make Sweet Potato Fries
Yes! I love letting the slow-cooker do all the work.
Hi Donna! I could not find a contact e-mail address for you, but I am a writer from Ocala Style Magazine and we are interested in featuring this recipe in our magazine for an upcoming issue. Please e-mail me if you think this would be at all possible! Thank you very much!
Hi MacKensie, Thanks for your interest in Donna’s Sweet Potato Chowder. I will forward this message to her right away!
How do I print this recipe? I’ve never had this trouble on other sites, but I can’t find a print link, and it won’t even allow me to “select” the text so that I can paste it into a Worddoc to print. Help!
I’m not that much of a online reader to be honest but your blogs really nice, keep it up!
I’ll go ahead and bookmark your site to come back down the road. Many thanks