Sweet Potato, Tomato & Kale Chowder Recipe

It’s getting chilly out there. Over the past few weeks, the temperature has really been dropping. Sure, the daytime temps are still in the 70s up here in Maine, but at night, I’ve had to make a few small fires in the wood stove to warm things up. What this means is that it’s soup season. That’s right, soup is back in full force. Today’s recipe is a really nice sweet potato stew and guess what – I already picked out another recipe for next week. A wonderful looking cream of mushroom soup and uses an entire three pounds of mushrooms. That’s going to be a good one. But let’s first concentrate on what we have going on today.

The Recipe

This is a really good soup that takes full advantage of a decent variety of vegetables. From celery to sweet potatoes to kale, I’d say it’s well rounded. Personally, I like the fact that both white and sweet potatoes are used. Also, the inclusion of diced tomatoes was a nice touch, as was the thyme, sage and garlic. When I ate this soup last night, I felt like I was eating something that was prepared in one of those giant cauldrons. It was so hearty and flavorful. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Good thing I have a lot of leftovers. I know what I’m eating tonight.

Ingredients

Serves: 4-6

2 Tablespoons Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
1 Large Vidalia Onion, Chopped
4 Stalks Celery, Chopped
1 Tablespoon Garlic, Minced
3 Tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon Ground Sage
8 Cups Vegetable Broth
4 Cups White Potatoes, Diced
4 Cups Sweet Potato, Diced
1 28-Ounce Can Diced Tomatoes, Drained
1 Teaspoon Dried Thyme
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
4 Cups Kale, Stemmed and Chopped
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Cup Gruyere Cheese, Shredded

Step-by-Step Instructions

I’d like to thank Southern Cast Iron for this recipe. I’ve been getting into their website lately and I have been pleasantly surprised by what I’ve found. You can count on more recipes from them in the future.

Prep the Ingredients

It’s always much more fun to prepare a recipe like this when all the vegetables have been prepped beforehand. With that in mind, that’s what I did. I first cut up the sweet and white potatoes into one inch pieces.

Next, I chopped the onion and cut up the celery stalks.

And finally, I washed and chopped the kale into bite sized pieces. I also drained the liquid from the can of the diced tomatoes.

Of course, there is also the measuring out of the herbs and the mincing of the garlic, but I didn’t snap any photo of those things.

Soften the Onion & Celery

Warm a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the olive oil to the pot and when it’s to temperature, add the onion and celery to the pot as well. Stir occasionally and let these ingredients cook for about seven minutes or until they become somewhat soft. A bit of brown on them will only enhance the flavor, so you might want to let them cook a little longer.

After that, add the garlic and let everything cook for two more minutes.

Add Flour & Sage

Next, add the flour and the sage to the Dutch oven and stir. Let these ingredients cook for one more minute.

Add Almost Everything Else

Once that’s done, you can go ahead and add in the broth, both types of potato, the tomatoes, thyme, ground black pepper and the salt. Bring the broth to a boil over high heat and then, after it begins to boil, reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

Add Kale

After the 20 minutes has passed, the ingredients should be somewhat cooked through. You can keep the heat at the same temperature and add in the kale. Mix it into the rest of the soup and continue cooking for another five minutes. This is what things should look like after all this cooking.

Plate & Serve

Divide the soup between bowls and serve while hot. You can also sprinkle some Gruyere cheese on top of each soup if you so desire. Enjoy!

The Final Potato Chowder

This recipe makes almost a gallon of soup, so if it’s just a few of you, this should last a couple of nights. That’s perfect because you won’t need to make lunch or dinner in the meantime. I truly enjoyed this chowder and I’ll definitely make it again. It has my stamp of approval. If you decide to go ahead with this recipe and give it a try, please let me know your thoughts down below in the comment section. Thanks for reading!