Roasted sweet potatoes, onions, bell peppers, and garlic simmer with lentils and spices to make this delicious fall soup. Use leftover sweet potato peel to make a crispy topping
Sweet potatoes are fab!
These colorful gems pack a serious nutritious punch. They are loaded with Vitamin A, a good source of Vitamin C, and have 4 grams of fiber.
Plus, sweet potatoes are super versatile. They aren't just relegated to being mashed with marshmallows on top, which happens to be my least favorite way to eat them.
I am a huge soup fan. And I love when the soup has some sort of topping. Bacon is a personal favorite, but I've used bacon as a soup topper multiple times (like Pumpkin Soup with Bacon and Split Pea Soup). So for today's soup, I decided to change it up a little.
To not waste the sweet potato peel, I decided to lightly fry them to make them for a crunchy topping.
Wasting food stinks, so frying the sweet potato peels makes it a no-waste soup. Love it!
Frying sweet potato peels and onions is totally optional. You could also leave the peel on the sweet potato and roast the entire onion to add to the soup.
Roasting the veggies brings out their sweetness and adds a little extra flavor. I used smoked paprika but that's optional. It just adds another dimension of flavor to the soup.
And I used some lentils to add body and extra protein & fiber to the soup.
This is a great vegetarian/vegan main dish or you can serve it as a starter for a meal. Enjoy!
Roasted Sweet Potato Lentil Soup
Ingredients
- 2 medium sweet potatoes
- 2 medium red bell peppers
- 1 large onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup red lentils
- 4 cups broth no salt added vegetable or chicken
- 4 cups water
- ยพ teaspoon salt
- ยฝ teaspoon smoked paprika or use regular
- ยผ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ยผ teaspoon pepper
- โ cup canola oil for optional topping
- lemon slices optional
- fresh chopped basil optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with foil. Set aside.
- Peel sweet potatoes, reserve peel for topping, and chop the peeled sweet potatoes. Dice bell pepper and onion.
- Put the chopped sweet potatoes, bell peppers, onions, and garlic cloves on the prepared baking sheet. Toss with olive oil, and roast in preheated oven for 35 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking time.
- Meanwhile, add the lentils, broth, and water to a large pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and reduce heat to a simmer. Make sure to stir occasionally.
- After the veggies have roasted, transfer to pot with the lentils. Stir in salt, paprika, cayenne, and pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and puree using an immersion blender or carefully transfer to a blender.
- Serve soup with optional topping, lemon slices, and fresh basil. Enjoy!
- To make optional topping:
- In a small skillet, heat canola oil over medium-high heat. Add the sweet potato skins to hot oil and cook for about 30-45 seconds. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Repeat until all the sweet potato skins are fried.
Sweet Potato Lentil Soup Nutrition Facts
*Nutrition Facts are calculated without optional topping. If you add topping, 1 cup + topping is 153 calories, 4.5g fat (0.5g saturated), 21.9g carbohydrates, 7.4g fiber, 6.1g protein
Kelly @ The Pretty Bee: Cooking + Creating
Yum, this looks like a perfect fall soup~ I love the addition of lentils!
Meme
Thanks Kelly! Lentils just seemed like a natural pairing with sweetpotatoes - so glad I used them