Sweet Potato Soup Recipe (Silky Smooth) - Real + Vibrant (2024)

FAQs

Why isn't my potato soup creamy? ›

One trick to make your potato soup a little less grainy is to add some form of dairy –- cream, milk, or even cheese. Because dairy is generally creamy in texture, that characteristic will carry over into your soup. Crisis averted.

Grate a starchy vegetable like squash, pumpkin, sweet potato, or white potato into the soup and let it simmer. It will release that starch and help to thicken the liquid as it cooks.

Add Flour Or Cornstarch

You can thicken soup by adding flour, cornstarch, or another starchy substitute.

When the soup comes to a boil, reduce heat a touch to maintain a gentle boil. Boiling at too high of a temperature will break down your potatoes and make your soup grainy. You want your potatoes to be fork-tender but still have a little “bite” to them.

The best options for thickening soup are cream or half and half. Plain yogurt or even freshly grated cheese works well and adds an extra layer of tangy, salty flavor. Add the dairy at the end and avoid bringing the soup to a boil since this can cause yogurt, cheese, or cream to split.

Not Adding Acid. If a soup is tasting bland in the bowl, consider adding acid rather than salt. A squeeze of lemon or lime, or a dash of yogurt or sour cream can add brightness to the bowl.

Balance Out the Flavors

Sour: The general go-to here would be lemon juice, although lime will also work. Orange juice will only add more sweetness as will some kinds of vinegar. White wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, or apple cider vinegar are good choices but shy away from balsamic because of its inherent sweetness.

Sugar: A pinch of sugar softens the edges of anything that tastes too sour or harsh (looking at you, tomato-based soups).

(Another hot tip if you're boiling your sweet potatoes: Don't overcook them! They tend to absorb water, which could make the filling watery.) So, say you do have some undercooked bits of sweet potato. You have two choices: Pick them out or bake your sweet potato casserole long enough to soften the underdone pieces.

Soup Thickening Method: Cornstarch Slurry

About this method: One of the most common ways to thicken sauces and soups is with a starch-based slurry, and cornstarch is a popular choice. Cornstarch is flavorless, easy to mix up, and versatile, which makes it a go-to pantry ingredient.

Does heavy cream thicken soup? ›

Heavy cream

Use heavy cream as a keto-friendly thickening option for your soups and broths. Heavy cream has more fat than regular whole milk, so you can add it to your soup recipes without worrying about it curdling.

It's important to note that cornstarch has twice the thickening power of flour. If you need to substitute cornstarch to thicken liquid in a recipe that calls for ¼ cup (four tablespoons) flour, you only need two tablespoons cornstarch.

How do you make soup smooth? For a soup with a smooth consistency, work with veggies that are soft but not mushy. Additionally, streaming oil or cream into the soup can better emulsify the ingredients for a silkier texture. Blender features can also play a major role in getting your soup to the right consistency.

The purple foam that you're seeing while making potato soup with Russet potatoes, barley, onions, and water is likely due to a chemical reaction between the potatoes and the water.

If your potato soup is still crunchy after cooking for 6 to 7 hours on high in the crockpot, it's likely that the potatoes were not cooked long enough or the crockpot may not have reached a high enough temperature.

Add Stale Bread: A few slices of bread also help make a soup creamy. Tear them into pieces and let them soak in a cup or two of the hot soup before pureeing and stirring back into the main pot. 4. Add Yogurt: Plain yogurt works much like cream when added to soups like our avocado soup, but with a lighter result.

The reason why your soup might be turning gluey or even slimy is that you're overworking your spuds. Potatoes are full of starches, which are complex carbohydrates that easily absorb liquid and turn soft — and eventually goopy — when submerged under hot water.

Another reason that cream soups can become watery is that the vegetables or other ingredients in the soup continue to emit moisture through the cooking process. Mushrooms and potatoes are prime examples of vegetables that continue to “weep,” or lose moisture as they cook further, especially from a raw state.