Reimagine potato soup: Sweet Heat Potato Soup

Over the years, I adapted my grandmother’s potato soup recipe, which used golden potatoes from her garden. She threw in finely chopped celery and milk, but no red pepper or cloves or sweet potatoes. Everything else is the same, even love, in my Sweet Heat Potato Soup.

In a food processor, finely chop four small (or two large) scrubbed and unpeeled sweet potatoes and boil until tender. Drain into a large bowl and save 2 cups of sweet potato water.

In a large pan, fry two slices of bacon. Halfway through, add two pats of butter and a handful of peeled garlic and cover with the lid.

About five minutes later, add ½ cup of finely sliced onion.

Remove the bacon and place on paper towels. When cooled, chop into small pieces to add to the soup base.

Add the 2 cups of sweet potato water and 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, about 10 crushed clove tops (do not use stems), and a teaspoon of thyme and stir.

Optionally, add a cup of kale to the base, cover and cook until tender.

Add salt and pepper to taste to the cooked sweet potatoes, add to the soup base and baptize the base with low-fat cream. It does not need much; a drizzle over the top is plenty.

This soup is sweet to the tip of the tongue and hot everywhere else to warm you on a wintry day.

Enjoy with toast and share with a neighbor.

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Jan. 31, 2026

Stephanie M. Sellers

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