A couple of months ago, I served Kate’s Vegetarian West African Peanut Soup for a wine pairing dinner I was hosting. I loved the soup and it was a big hit at the party! I think my main tweak was I wanted to make the soup a little bit thicker (I like a really thick, creamy soup most of the time) and I was aiming for something that I could make in a crock pot or slow cooker. So that was the inspiration behind this spicy peanut and wild rice soup.
I had tried other versions of West African peanut soup before and have always loved the combination of sweet potatoes and peanut butter. Yes, you read that right. There is peanut butter in this soup. And although that might sound a little strange, I promise it’s super delicious. In some ways, it kind of reminds me of spicy peanut sauce for spring rolls.
You simply throw in about half the ingredients to a crock pot and cook on high for 3 hours (you can cook on low for longer if that fits your schedule better). Then stir in the rest of the ingredients and blend some of the mixture (optional, but I like it this way) and BOOM—dinner is served.
I also found that this spicy peanut and wild rice soup makes great leftovers, so you could easily store in airtight containers in refrigerator and simply rewarm for easy lunches or dinners. This soup also freezes well in case you are in need of some freezer-friendly dinners at your house.
I like to top this with some fresh cilantro and chopped peanuts just before serving. The cilantro really sets the flavor off, but if cilantro isn’t your thing or you don’t have any, I think green onions or chives would be good as well. Enjoy! This is seriously one of my favorite soups lately. Yum! xo. Emma
Spicy Peanut and Wild Rice Soup
Ingredients
- 1 large sweet potato
- 1 cup wild rice
- 1/2 yellow onion
- 2 tablespoons grated ginger
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 6 cups vegetable stock
- 1/3 cup creamy natural peanut butter
- 6 ounces tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon hot sauce like Sriracha
- salt and pepper
- cilantro and peanuts to serve
Instructions
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Peel and chop the sweet potato and chop the onion into very small pieces. Finely mince the garlic and grate the ginger. In a large crock pot, add these ingredients along with the rice and vegetable stock. Cook on high for 3-3.5 hours until the rice is fully cooked.
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Remove about 1/3 of the mixture to a blender. I found that the sweet potatoes floated more than the rice, so I was able to easily capture more of those for the blender than the rice. Add the peanut butter, tomato paste, and hot sauce. Blend well. Then add this back into the crock pot and give that a good stir and allow everything to get nice and warm. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.
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When you're ready to serve, top with some chopped cilantro and peanuts.
Recipe Notes
You can use a combination of vegetable stock and some water if needed (like if you run low on stock. Like you could easily use 4 cups vegetable stock and 2 cups of water if needed.
17 Comments
This looks incredible! Definitely trying it sometime this week. Thanks for the recipe! ❤️✨
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
This looks like a flavor explosion in the best possible way. I’ve never wanted to make a recipe so quickly! Can’t believe I’ve lived my whole life so far without this soup. I love peanut butter and I love sweet potatoes. Sounds like a perfect bowl of comfort food that’s actually good for me. Thanks for sharing!
I want to try this soup.
Perfect! We’re currently remodeling our kitchen (read: no oven or stovetop right now), and I’ve been looking for crockpot “dump” recipes that I can freeze. Thanks for developing this recipe and sharing!
Ha. I sort of love ‘dump’ recipes although it’s a very unappetizing name. 🙂
Good luck with your kitchen reno!
Made this for dinner tonight and it was sooo yummy! Left out the ginger because I didn’t have any and it was still great. Will definitely make again. 🙂
Yay! Glad you enjoyed it!
This recipe looks so yummy, I need to try it soon! Thanks for sharing, hope you are having a lovely day.
-Kate
https://daysofkate.com/
This sounds amazing and I will try it! My one question is about the very small amount of cooking on the tomato paste. I’ve found tomato paste needs to be well cooked, even browned a little in the bottom of my soup pot before adding the liquid. I wonder how this would work if the tomato paste was added to the crock pot along with the first batch of ingredients.
You could certainly add it sooner if you prefer, or brown in a pan and then add to the crock pot. I just like to keep crock pot recipe as simple as possible when I make them, as that’s sort of the point (or at least for me). But I think your suggestion here is great, thanks for sharing!
wow
I was looking for a soup recipe for the whole family and I stumbled on this article. I read and followed the instructions carefully and I made it deliciously! Every member of my family is so happy! Thanks for this!
This recipe looks so yummy, I need to try it soon! Thanks for sharing, hope you are having a lovely day.
http://www.a-tayar.com
That soup looks super delicious, I definitely have to try it!
https://www.makeandmess.com/
Does this taste very sweet potato-y? ???? I’m not a huge fan of sweet potatoes but the soup sounds delicious
hmmmmmmm , That soup looks super delicious,
https://www.motameez.com/
Just made this last night and it was absolutely delicious! I’m from Minnesota and grew up eating wild rice, and this was one of the best ways I’ve enjoyed it. I can’t believe something this easy could be this good. This is going in my regular rotation, no question.