Roasted Sweet Potato Pear Soup

Roasting brings out the natural sweetness in our Roasted Sweet Potato Pear Soup. A healthy, nutritious fall or winter soup that’s festive enough for the holidays.

Taking advantage of passive cooking means you can do something other than watching over a soup pot because the oven does all the work for you. Then it’s; sauté, soup, simmer and blend for a power-packed soup in 20 minutes.

Of course, 20 minutes is your finishing time because your main elements, both sweet potatoes and onions are already roasted and cooled.

Sweet Potato Goodness

Packed with nutrients such as beta-carotene, B vitamins, potassium and fibre; sweet potatoes are also low in calories and extremely economical. When cooked raw in liquid sweet potatoes can be starchy and bland. So we’re breaking down that starch with quick heat, turning it into natural sugar, with a bit of caramelization to compliment juicy, ripe pears.

Roast your sweet potatoes, split, flesh-side down for about 45 minutes (or the time it takes to vacuum a 900-square-foot apartment). Here I put the onions in second, at the fifteen-minute mark (because that’s how long it took me to dust) so they were tender and translucent without too much colour.

Cool Roasted Elements, Then Soup Them Up.

Once roasted, I allowed about 20 minutes for both the sweet potatoes and onions to cool (approximately the time it took to clean the bathroom) before peeling then sautéing my pears and ginger, adding stock, the cooked sweet potato pulp, roasted onions, coconut cream and blending until smooth and lush.

Roasted Sweet Potato Pear Soup was my ‘clean house’ reward (also known as “lunch”) with very little effort and kept me on a budget, with six servings costing out at about $6 (CAD).

Because – multi-tasking!

@thefoodgypsy

Roasted Sweet Potato Pear Soup, simple, but festive enough for the holidays. Healthy. Nutritious. Vegan. Easy! The oven gets all that natural sweetness into your bowl, while you live your best life! #CapCut #sweetpotatoes #easyrecipe #soupseason #fyp

♬ The Blue Danube – Strauss

Pear Notes

Let’s talk about pears for a moment here. I absolutely adore pears. They move easily in the kitchen from sweet to savoury. I often swap-out apples for pears in some of my favourite sweet-meets-savoury entrées.

My favourite fresh, eating pear is Bosch. They’re juicy and aromatic, with sweet, mealy flesh. Love them in salads or in lighter baked applications like tarts, where you take advantage of their natural, slightly mealy texture.

If I’m poaching pears or using them in a blended application like this one, I use anything other than Bosch. For all the pear flavour notes without the grainy texture.

In this recipe for Roasted Sweet Potato Pear Soup, I’m using nice, firm RIPE Red Anjou Pears. Bartlett Pears also do well in this recipe because their soft, sweet flesh is packed with pear flavour.

We’re looking for some colour on our pears here, again, caramelization brings out that rich pear taste. Coupled with a hint of ginger for a tummy-friendly, warm soupy hug of plant power.

Just Plants, Thanks!

Today I’m cooking vegan, not because I’m vegan, but because plants are nutrient-dense and delicious!

You can swap vegetable stock for chicken stock, and coconut cream for heavy cream if that’s how you roll. Same plant goodness, but slightly different flavours.

Safe Soup Notes

Blended soups like this one often lead to burns if you’re not working safely. I use a wand blender to purée soups and sauces. This always poses a risk to the cook, because we’re working with piping hot, chunky ingredients.

The risk of hot splatter is high. All it takes is bringing your stick blender too high in the liquid and – hot soup EVERYWHERE.

To avoid this I often move the entire pot into a clean sink and blend it there. This way splatter is contained and everyone; including me, small children and pets (who like to hover near the knees in the kitchen) are safe from burns.

Some use blenders or food processors for this purpose. If that’s your only method of blending, be careful when transferring your hot ingredients because that’s where you risk hot splatter and overflow.

Ideally, I prefer not to transfer hot liquids so I work in one, big high-walled pot just for this purpose.

Roasted Sweet Potato Pear Soup, your cold weather soup, on a budget. 

Roasted Sweet Potato Pear Soup

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5 from 1 review

• Author: Cori Horton
• Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
• Yield: serves 6
• Diet: Vegan

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Description

Roasting brings out all the natural sweetness in our Roasted Sweet Potato Pear Soup. A healthy, nutritious fall or winter soup that’s budget-friendly, festive enough for the holidays and popular with the entire family!

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 3 large sweet potatoes
• 2 medium yellow onions
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 large ripe pears (any variety other than Bosch)
• 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 1 cup coconut milk (good quality, cream in)
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Cilantro or parsley to finish

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°f (190°c). Prepare a good-sized sheet pan with parchment. Wash and split sweet potatoes lengthwise. Coat well with olive oil and place, flesh side down, on the prepared sheet pan and roast at 375°f (190°c) for 20 minutes.

2. Nearing the end of the 20-minute mark, peel and split onions then coat with olive oil and place on the same sheet pan as the sweet potatoes. Roast for an additional 30 minutes, or until onions are translucent and tender and sweet potatoes are fully cooked and caramelized on the bottom, then remove from oven to cool.

3. While sweet potatoes and onions are cooling; peel, core, and lightly chop pears. Then peel and mince fresh ginger. Place a decent-sized pot on the stove on medium heat. Once it’s to temperature, add a good slick of olive oil. When the oil starts to shimmer, add the pears and sauté well, until they’re starting to colour, then add ginger, and cook lightly until fragrant. Season to taste.

4. Add stock to pear ginger base, then add coconut cream and stir. Now that your sweet potatoes are cool enough to handle, scoop or peel back the skin of the potato and add the cooked pulp to the soup pot. Add roasted onions, and simmer for 10 to 12 minutes.

5. Blend soup, either using a hand blender or by staging into a food processor or blender, until smooth. Be sure to take appropriate safety precautions when working with hot liquids! Taste. Fine-tune seasoning, adjust thickness to your liking and serve immediately.

 

Notes

Roasted Sweet Potato Pear Soup will last in the fridge for up to five days and freezes beautifully.

• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 1 hour + 10 minutes
• Category: Soups
• Method: Roasting
• Cuisine: American