Now that it's soup season, whip up this easy sweet potato soup for one in just over 30 minutes. It'll warm you up and leave you feeling satisfied with it's added creamy tofu. Also try this Instant Pot Chicken, Mushroom, and Wild Rice Soup.
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[This recipe was originally posted in October 2018. It has been updated with new cooking instructions, expert tips, FAQ, and ways to repurpose/use up ingredients]
I made this recipe after attending a sponsored event with the North Dakota Soybean Council, my expenses were covered on this trip. I was not compensated for my time and was not asked to create this recipe.
Table of contents
How will this soup make your life easier?
Soup is a great meal in the fall and winter when it's cold outside. Instead of feeling like you have to make a protein on the side, add the protein directly into your easy sweet potato soup.
Make this Protein Packed Mac & Cheese, White Bean & Farro Bowl, Veggie Tacos, or Black Bean Pasta for a quick and easy vegetarian dinner.
What makes this simple sweet potato soup so good?
- Sweet Potatoes: use cooked ones
- Silken Tofu: It makes your soup very silky smooth and adds protein too.
- Onion
- Olive Oil
- Thyme: Fresh thyme is great, you can use dried thyme too.
- Broth
How do I make this instant pot sweet potato soup?
Start making your easy sweet potato soup by preparing vegetables: scrub sweet potato, and slice it in quarters. Slice ends off the onion, and then remove outer layers from onion.
Pour water into Instant Pot bowl. Place trivet in bowl, place sweet potato, onion, and one thyme sprig on trivet. Close lid, set vent to SEALING. Set to MANUAL, select high pressure and set timer to 15 minutes.
Cook, then let pressure release naturally for 10 minutes (once cooking is done, let time count up to 10 minutes, then remove lid). Remove thyme sprigs.
Transfer sweet potato and onion from Instant Pot to high powered blender, or use an immersion blender in your Instant Pot bowl.
Also add silken tofu, chicken/vegetable stock, olive oil, and salt to high powered blender (no need to chop or break anything up!).
Select soup setting, blend. Pour your easy sweet potato soup into bowl and serve immediately with crusty bread or your favorite rice.
Substitutions/Tips
- Cook the whole sweet potato and onion if you'd like to use them in other recipes (highly recommend!)
- The onion will become really soft if cooked with the sweet potato. This is fine for soup, like this easy sweet potato soup or if you were to use the rest in a sauce-like tomato sauce.
- Thin your easy sweet potato soup with chicken/vegetable stock, heavy cream/other cream, or milk.
FAQ
You can add spices, aromatic vegetables, or a good stock to add flavor to a soup. In this easy sweet potato soup recipe, we use all three: thyme, salt, onion, and vegetable (or chicken) stock.
You can add condensed milk, cream, or silken tofu to make soup thick and creamy. The tofu is a great option because it adds extra protein to soup.
Yes, you can swap the sweet potatoes for butternut squash, acorn squash, or other squash. They may require more or less time to cook, but you can definitely swap them.
What can I make with the leftover ingredients?
- Sweet Potato: Swap it out for the butternut squash in this Harvest Bowl, or swap for frozen butternut squash in this Roasted Frozen Butternut Squash (bake 10+ minutes less)
- Tofu: Protein Packed Mac & Cheese, Panko Tofu for One, Pesto Tofu for One, Honey Garlic Tofu for One, Sticky Tofu for One.
- Onion: chop it up and add to Pumpkin Turkey Chili, Spicy Pickled Onions, Vegetarian Mushroom and Lentil Stroganoff.
Did you make this easy sweet potato soup? Leave me a comment & rating to share how it turned out!
Easy Sweet Potato Soup with Tofu (Single Serving)
Equipment
- knife
- cutting board
- Measuring spoon
- Measuring Cups
- Large serving spoon
- Instant Pot
- High powered blender
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- ¼ large sweet potato
- ¼ onion
- 1 sprig thyme
- ¼ package silken tofu
- ¼ cup vegetable (or chicken) stock
- 1 teaspoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- additional salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Scrub sweet potato, and then slice ¼ off. Slice off ends and remove outer layers from onion. Cook sweet potato and onion in Instant Pot: pour 1 cup of water into Instant Pot, then place trivet in bowl. Place ¼ (or more) of the sweet potato and ¼ of the onion (or more) on top of the trivet.
- Close lid, set vent to SEALING. Set MANUAL, select high pressure and set timer to 15 minutes. Cook. Turn knob to release steam immediately. Remove thyme sprigs.
- Add sweet potato, onion, ¼ package silken tofu, ¼ cup stock, 1 teaspoon olive oil, and ¼ teaspoon salt to high powered blender (no need to chop or break anything up!). Select soup setting, blend. Transfer to serving bowl, serve immediately with crusty bread or your favorite rice.
Notes
- Cook whole sweet potato and whole onion in the Instant Pot. You can use the remaining vegetables in other dishes like this harvest bowl and soups
- The onion will become really soft if cooked with the sweet potato. This is fine for soup, or if you were to use the rest in a sauce-like tomato sauce.
- Thin with more stock or milk
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TB says
I'm confused -- is it 1/2 or 1/4 package tofu? (Different in ingredient list and instructions.)
TB says
And when do you add the olive oil?
Rebecca says
shoot! I missed a couple ingredients here. Sorry about that. You add it with the tofu, stock, and salt to the blender. thanks for the catch
Rebecca says
thanks for the catch, I've updated it! It's 1/4 package for one serving, 1/2 for 2 servings.
Rosey Rebecca says
Adding tofu is a great idea to thicken soups! I’ve never thought of that before. I’ve been a vegetarian for nine years and never cook tofu at home bc I’ve never been a fan of the texture but this looks like great way to get in that protein! Definitely keeping it in mind!
Rebecca says
ohh awesome! ya, the texture is hard for me too! using silken tofu is awesome in soups/smoothies because it's all blended and you barely notice it
traci says
Oh yum! And such an easy recipe! I'm always looking for ways to incorporate tofu into recipes...and not know it's there. This is perfect for that! Thanks for the recipe...just pinned!
Rebecca says
yay! great to hear!
Jacqueline Debono says
I've never actually tried tofu but this soup looks delicious. I'd love to try it out!
Rebecca says
this would be a great place to start if you're interested in trying it!
Annissa says
Great use of sweet potato as main recipe for this soup combined with the flavor of tofu. Looks so creamy and comforting!
Rebecca says
thanks so much!
Sara says
I have never had sweet potato soup,but you know, it sounds like something I would LOVE on a chilly fall day!
Rebecca says
it's perfect for a chilly fall day!
Caitlyn Erhardt says
Yum! I adore sweet potatoes and love that you combined it with tofu! Great recipe!
Rebecca says
awesome! thanks so much