Warm and Satisfying Slow Cooker Sweet Potato and Kale Soup

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You need this superfood soup in your life.

I don’t know about you, but it seems these days we are all looking for ways to get dinner on the table quickly. And, nothing says “easy” quite like soup! But, who has time to make it from scratch? You do, thanks to this recipe! Just wait until you see how easy our slow cooker sweet potato and kale soup is! Oh, and did we mention how yummy it is?! You’ll be eager to make this again and again.

Soup Packed with Flavor and Nutrition

Not only are we going to make this easy for you, but we are going to make it good for you, too!

Sweet potatoes and kale are two of our favorite superfoods. Not only are they packed with nutrients and vitamins, such as A and C, they are especially beneficial for optimizing women’s health. When we talk about “eating the rainbow,” here you have the deep orange of sweet potatoes and the green boost of kale. If you love the taste and texture of potatoes, but know that white potatoes aren’t the healthiest option, pick up a few sweet potatoes during your next shopping trip.

Kale also has the benefit of being a fiber-rich food, so it will serve to add some more tasty texture to our soup. While we do want to cook it, we don’t want to lose that color and chew so we add it only at the last part of our cooking process.

Our soup starts with some of the ingredients you expect: onion and garlic that we’ll “sweat” (briefly and gently) in a skillet with a little oil before adding them to the slow cooker along with our other veggies and spices.

Contributing to our “rainbow” of color and nutrition, we’ll drop in some diced red bell pepper. Peppers are another great source of vitamins A, C and B6, and they will provide a nice visual and flavor boost to our finished soup.

Cubed sweet potatoes, of course, are the star of this soup, and we’ll add some spice and heat in the form of bay leaf, red pepper flakes and paprika to amp up the flavor.

About the Broth

We use vegetable broth as the basis for our soup. Certainly, if you aren’t following a vegetarian diet, you can use low-sodium chicken broth instead. However, regardless of what you use, keep in mind that the soup, overall is only as good as the broth or stock you start out with. It’s always best if we can make our own, but how many of us have time for that these days? If we did, would we be relying on our slow cooker to make our soup?

Don’t be shy about purchasing a high-quality, organic broth for your soup. The results will be worth it.

And, for the Finish…

The final step, after the soup has cooked on its own for 6 to 8 hours is to add the kale. You’ll want to pop that in about 10 minutes before you are ready to serve it so it doesn’t overcook. If you don’t care for kale or don’t have it on hand, you can substitute other leafy greens like chopped swiss chard, escarole lettuce, or even mustard greens. Therein lies the beauty of soup– you can tailor and tweak it oh, so many ways!

So, that’s all there is to it! A healthy soup filled with superfood ingredients, ready for you when you walk in the door after a busy day. One-pot clean up and a hearty, nutritious meal.

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 red onion small, diced
2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup red bell pepper diced
2 sweet potatoes peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon paprika
kosher or sea salt to taste
1 bay leaf
2 1/2 cups vegetable stock fat free, low sodium
1 cup kale rinsed and loosely packed

In a small skillet add oil and sauté onion and garlic over medium low heat until tender, about 4 minutes. Add to the slow cooker sautéed onion and garlic and all other ingredients, except kale. Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours. Add kale the last 10 minutes of cooking time and allow to wilt. Remove bay leaf and serve.