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Eye roll. Regular sweet potato soup is out here living its safest possible Plain Jane life. Sweet, orange, fine, no opinions, no spiritual awakenings, no risks taken at all. This Moroccan sweet potato soup recipe read the memo, crumpled it up, tossed it off the Empire State Building observation deck, and crammed harissa, cardamom, cumin, and cinnamon into the pot like it's trying to start a revolution. No blender required. It's still sweet potato soup underneath all that, don't panic, but this one just has an unreal amount of two essential things: pizzazz and razzmatazz.
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But chill, this isn't even just a flavorful sweet potato-centric affair. Chickpeas and kale, cilantro and parsley pile in by the handful too, because all the warm spices in this bad boy need something nourishing to join forces with.
This is the soup for people whose Thanksgiving table is one bowl away from putting everyone to sleep. Don't get me wrong, vegan butternut squash soup and roasted mushroom soup are the reliable old friends who show up every year and never cause drama, but this one joins my Thai pumpkin soup in the "cool cousin who moved abroad and came back cooler and way more weird" category.
This recipe is hearty and super tasty. It us easy to prepare and will satisfy any hungry belly. The spices give it that lovely Moroccan flavor profile.
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🥰 Why you'll adore this Harissa sweet potato soup recipe
✊ Vegan AF & GF: Dairy never got an invite and chicken stock got left standing outside in the cold, same cold shoulder as all my vegan soup recipes give them. This one's also gluten-free, which is great because every time you see a majestic field of wheat blowing in the breeze, you scream.
🍽️ This Is Dinner, Not a Warmup Act: Everything you need for survival! Dark leafy greens, protein from chickpeas, B vitamins galore from the sweet potatoes.
Tested and Approved Worldwide: My 1,000+ testers around the globe do not let a single one of my vegan recipes slide through untested, and this soup passed with the harissa swirl getting most of the applause.
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🍠 Vegan Sweet Potato Soup Ingredients
The Sweet Potatoes
Any variety of sweet potato or yam (nope, they aren't the same) works here. Orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, garnet yams, jewel yams, whatever your grocery store is calling them that day, they'll all get soft and sweet and do the job beautifully. Its sweetness is exactly what keeps harissa's heat feeling balanced instead of like a full-on ambush, so don't be stingy here.
Harissa Paste
Use my harissa sauce recipe, or grab one from the store. I don't care. OK, maybe my feelings… Anyway, taste as you go, since heat levels swing wildly between brands. If you have a bunch leftover after making this, it makes my Moroccan carrot salad, harissa chickpeas, Lebanese lentil soup, and harissa cauliflower legendary, so put it to work.
Kale
Goes in last so it stays green and tender instead of turning into that sad, overcooked mush nobody likes, and everyone thinks is dumb. I like making this Red Russian kale personally, though lacinato or curly kale both work just fine. And if you want to reduce your prep time by a few seconds, grab a pre-cut bag of kale. It's ok.
The Spices
Cumin, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, this squad is not messing around. None of them could carry this soup solo, but together they're unstoppable. I mean think about it, what if all the Beatles were Ringo wearing a one-man band contraption thingy.
The wild mountain cumin, Cloud Forest cardamom, and Royal Cinnamon from Burlap and Barrel genuinely spoil you for regular, stale ol' grocery store spices forever.
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Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes
If you have a bunch of options, the Muir Glen fire-roasted tomatoes are the winner. They give sweeter, smokier vibes to borani banjan and pinto bean chili too, so it's a can worth keeping stocked in your pantry at all times, IMHO.
Plant-Based Yogurt
Kite Hill's unsweetened almond milk yogurt is my favey because it just tastes and feels closest to real dairy yogurt. Trader Joe's cashew milk yogurt is a totally acceptable, cheaper swap, since it's an optional garnish and does not need to be perfect, just good and creamy.
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
🤯Variations
Extra-Spicy Moroccan Sweet Potato Soup
Want to go even further off the deep end? Stir a spoonful of shatta into each bowl right before serving, and dust the top with a little baharat for extra spice complexity.
Japanese Sweet Potato Soup
Japanese sweet potato soup swaps this whole spice direction for miso, furikake, scallions, and toasted sesame oil instead, with crispy tempura sweet potato strips on top rather than roasted chickpeas.
Harira
Duhhhh. Not everything spicy and Moroccan needs sweet potato involved. Tomatoes, lentils, cinnamon, and vermicelli noodles instead, no sweet potato in sight. Harira is the traditional Ramadan fast-breaker, and it will absolutely convert you into someone who puts suspicious amounts of cinnamon in savory soup without a second thought.
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📖 How to make Moroccan Sweet Potato Soup
Sauté, spice, simmer, garnish. That's genuinely the whole thing, I'm not hiding extra steps from you. Follow the steps and tips below, or scroll to the recipe card if you already know your way around this one.
Step One
Sauté-braham Lincoln:
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. After 90 seconds when the oil is hot, add the onion, carrots, and celery. Sauté for 7-8 minutes, until the vegetables soften.
Step Two
Harissa Ford:
Add the garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper, and harissa paste. Sauté for 2 to 3 minutes to bloom the spices.
Step Three
Sim Simmer, Who's Got the Keys to my Bimmer:
Add the sweet potatoes, tomatoes, chickpeas, and vegetable stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are soft.
Step Four
Kale Me Maybe:
Stir in the cilantro, parsley, kale, lemon juice, and salt to taste. Simmer for 4-5 more minutes, just until the kale is tender.
Step Five
Almond by Myself:
Meanwhile, toast the almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat for 2-4 minutes, stirring frequently, until lightly browned. Remove from the heat and set aside.
You can skip this step if you don't want to include the almond garnish.
Step Six
Harissa Explains It All:
Ladle the soup into bowls. Garnish with toasted almonds, cilantro, parsley, plant-based yogurt, and additional harissa, swirled into the yogurt with the back of a spoon.
💡Serving Ideas
This soup basically wants a fresh bread and a slammin' mezze table built around it, so let it be so.
Warm kuboos, za'atar manakeesh, or a olive oil-soaked stack of bazlama for scooping is not up for debate, so talk to the hand, m'dear.
Now, if it's your holiday soup course, this is a great non-traditional pick next to something like truffled cauliflower soup or acorn squash soup, so your table gets some actual range instead of 4 orange bowls that all taste vaguely the same.
👉Top tips
- Bloom the Spices Before Adding Liquid: Cooking the garlic, ginger, and spices in the pot for a couple minutes wakes everything up and builds way more flavor than dumping it all in at once.
- Add the Kale Last: Stir the kale in right at the end so it stays bright and tender instead of becoming sucky, limp, overcooked nightmare sludge. It only needs a few minutes tops.
🤷♀️ Recipe FAQs
Yes, plenty of options work here. Peeled butternut, acorn squash, or pumpkin are all easy swaps, and you can even use kabocha squash without peeling it at all, same trick as in my kabocha squash soup recipe, since its skin is completely edible and blends up smooth once cooked.
Depends entirely on the brand, so start with less than the recipe calls for if you are heat-sensitive, taste, and build from there. Some brands are mild and smoky, some will genuinely fight you. If you want full control over the heat, my homemade harissa recipe lets you dial it in exactly the way you like it, no gambling on a random jar at the store.
🧊 In the Fridge
Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Add the garnishes fresh each time rather than storing them mixed in.
❄️ In the Freezer
This soup freezes beautifully for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and add fresh garnishes after reheating.
🔥 Reheating
Warm gently on the stovetop over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, and thin with a splash of stock if it's thickened up. Add fresh herbs, almonds, and the yogurt-harissa swirl right before serving.
✌️You'll love these Autumnal vegan soups:
Learn the secrets to perfect falafel in this fun cooking class with Chef Adam Sobel!
Moroccan Sweet Potato Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 teaspoons olive oil
- 2 cups onion diced
- 1 ½ cups carrots peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 ½ cups celery diced
- 5 teaspoons garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon ginger grated
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon cardamom
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ cup harissa paste
- 2 lbs. sweet potatoes peeled and cut into 2 cm cubes
- 14.5 oz. canned diced tomatoes preferably fire roasted
- 15 oz canned chickpeas drained and rinsed
- 8 cups unsalted vegetable stock or water
- ½ cup cilantro chopped
- ½ cup parsley chopped
- 4 cups kale stems removed and chopped
- 1 tablespoon salt or to taste
Optional Garnishes:
- ¼ cup sliced almonds toasted
- 2 tablespoons cilantro leaves
- 2 tablespoons parsley chopped
- ¼ cup unsweetened plant-based yogurt
- 2 tablespoons harissa paste
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. After 90 seconds when the oil is hot, add the onion, carrots, and celery. Sauté for 7-8 minutes until the vegetables soften.
- Add the garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper and harissa paste. Continue to sauté for 2-3 minutes to bloom the spices.
- Add the sweet potatoes, tomatoes, chickpeas, and vegetable stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are tender.
- Stir in the cilantro, parsley, kale, lemon juice, and salt to taste. Simmer for 4-5 more minutes, just until the kale is tender.
- Meanwhile, toast the almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat for 2-4 minutes, stirring frequently, until lightly browned. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Ladle the soup into bowls. Garnish with toasted almonds, cilantro, parsley, plant-based yogurt, and additional harissa, swirled into the yogurt with the back of a spoon.
Notes
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Rachel says
This recipe is hearty and super tasty. It us easy to prepare and will satisfy any hungry belly. The spices give it that lovely Moroccan flavor profile.