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Don’t let the humble ingredient list of this cozy coconut curry sweet potato kale soup fool you—it’s bold and full of flavor from curry powder, red pepper flakes and garlic. Featuring just a little bit of ground pork for texture and flavor, the true stars of this show are the tender sweet potatoes, chickpeas and dark greens.
Curried Sweet Potato Soup
First off, this soup is part of my Soup-er Simple Series, which means it has a short ingredient list, quick cook time, and loads of flavor.
One way I keep the ingredient list short is by intentionally choosing ingredients that can both build a flavor base for a quick homemade stock and add texture and character to the final dish. If an ingredient can work double time it will!
For starters, I brown just half a pound of ground pork in the pot before doing anything else. The pork itself will add texture and savoriness to the soup while the drippings will be used for cooking down the onion and garlic, laying the foundation for a flavorful broth.
Besides the simplicity and quick-cooking nature of this soup, I truly love how cozy and comforting it is. Just one bowl satisfies even the hungriest of eaters, so you can guarantee the whole family will be well-fed. Healthyish comfort food through-and-through!
Ingredients in Sweet Potato Kale Soup
- Ground pork: I like to think of the ground pork as a flavoring or additive here. It’s certainly not the main event, more of a supporting player.
- Onion: I prefer yellow onion for this recipe, but use whatever you have on hand.
- Garlic: fresh is always best! Don’t worry about mincing the garlic, just give it a good chop.
- Curry powder: this is the main flavor of the soup so I recommend using a high-quality curry powder. Make sure it’s fairly fresh, too.
- Red-pepper flakes: pepper flakes add a nice bit of heat to the soup. If you don’t have red pepper flakes feel free to use black pepper or a bit of cayenne (start with ¼ teaspoon and adjust from there).
- Sweet potato: when preparing the sweet potato, make sure each piece is fairly even in size to ensure even cooking.
- Canned chickpeas: any white bean will work, but chickpeas add the best texture.
- Full-fat coconut milk: you can also use whole milk or half-and-half.
- Dark leafy greens: Swiss chard, kale or collard greens all work really well.
How to Make Sweet Potato Curry Soup
- Cook the ground pork in a large pot. Transfer the pork to a bowl and reserve the drippings in the pot.
- Cook the onion in the drippings until softened.
- Add the garlic, curry powder and red pepper flakes and cook briefly.
- Stir in the sweet potatoes and cook 2 minutes.
- Add the coconut milk and water, then bring to a simmer and cook until the sweet potatoes are nearly tender.
- Stir in the cooked pork, greens and chickpeas. Season with additional salt and pepper flakes to taste.
Expert Test Kitchen Tip
Save time on prep by prepping the ingredients as you cook. This is usually the opposite of what I recommend but hear me out.
While the pork cooks, chop the onion. While the onion cooks, chop the garlic and prep the sweet potatoes.
This way, every single minute is being used—not wasted!
FAQ
I love the creaminess and flavor that full-fat coconut milk adds but half-and-half or whole milk will also work well. If you do end up using a dairy milk, make sure it’s slightly warm before adding it to the soup and do not let the soup come to a boil. Cook the soup over a low-simmer—anything higher and you’ll likely curdle the milk.
If you’d like to avoid additional saturated fat, feel free to drain off the pork drippings and use a tablespoon of olive oil instead.
It’s really quite mild for how much red pepper is added! The coconut milk cuts through the spice. If you’re concerned about spice you can start with ½ teaspoon and adjust to taste at the end.
Variations of this Coconut Curry Soup
- use red curry paste instead of curry powder.
- top each serving with thinly sliced serrano, scallions (green onions), and a fresh squeeze of lime juice.
- swap the chickpeas for rice noodles.
- skip the ground pork altogether and add shredded cooked chicken breast or rotisserie chicken to the soup with the greens and chickpeas.
- add cauliflower florets instead of chickpeas for a lower-carb option.
- use bulk sausage instead of ground pork—sweet potato, sausage and kale soup has a nice ring to it!
More Recipes to Love
- Vegan Curried Carrot Soup
- Coconut Curry Salmon
- Harissa Sweet Potato Hummus
- Vegan Sweet Potato Ravioli
Did you make this coconut curry soup recipe? Let me know how it went—leave a comment and star-rating below. And if you snapped a pic, share it on IG and tag me @zestfulkitchen. I love seeing what you make!
Coconut Curry Sweet Potato Kale Soup
Description
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Ingredients
- 8 ounces ground pork
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped (~2 cups)
- kosher salt
- 4 large cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/4 cup curry powder
- 1 teaspoon red-pepper flakes + more for serving
- 1 ½ pounds sweet potatoes peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks (about 5 cups)
- 2 (15-ounce) cans full-fat coconut milk
- 1 bunch Tuscan kale or Swiss chard, stems removed, torn into bite-size pieces (7–8 cups)
- 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Optional toppings:
- Yogurt
- Cilantro
- Lime wedges
Instructions
- Cook pork in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, breaking up into chunks with a wooden spoon, until cooked through, about 5 minutes. Transfer pork to a bowl; reserve drippings in pot. Drippings should measure about 1 tablespoon, if not, add a splash of oil.
- Heat drippings over medium. Add onion and 2 teaspoons kosher salt; cook until softened and translucent, 5–8 minutes. Stir in garlic, curry powder and pepper flakes; cook 1 minute.
- Stir in sweet potatoes then add coconut milk and 3 cups water; bring to a boil over high, then reduce to a simmer and cook until potatoes are nearly tender, 8–10 minutes.
- Stir in kale, chickpeas and reserved pork; cook until warmed through and kale has wilted, about 2 minutes. Season with additional salt and red pepper flakes to taste.
- Top servings with yogurt, cilantro and additional red pepper flakes.
Loved this curry!! I underestimated the amount of salt I needed – but once that got corrected it was delightful.
Hi Carl! I’m glad you found the right balance of salt—that’s one of the hardest parts in cooking. So glad you enjoyed this one!
The chickpeas seemed undercooked. I think they need a few more minutes. We will make this recipe again!
Canned chickpeas can range in texture but they should go into the soup already fairly tender since they are cooked prior to canning. I’m sorry to hear they seemed a bit undercooked! Thanks for the note!
This turned out great! It was a tad bland so I added an additional tablespoon (maybe more!) to zhuzh it up. It’s very possible my curry powder is old and therefore not as potent. I used chicken stock instead of water also.