Purple Sweet Potato Soup with Cream Cheese
Purple Sweet Potato Soup is an elegant and heartwarming winter soup. Its vivid colour is enhanced by beet, red onions, garlic, cream cheese, and a touch of dill and served with feta and croutons.
Purple Sweet Potato Soup is made with gorgeous sweet purple potato, a recipe inspired by the well-known borscht soup. Except this one is purple instead of red. It is an unctuous soup created with roasted sweet potato, beet, red onion, garlic, dill, cream cheese, and a touch of vinegar to balance all those root veggies’ earthiness. A colourful soup that will fuel you for a long, cold day, a proper winter soup with a lovely topping of crouton, crumbled feta, and fresh dill.
Hearty Soup
Soups come in all shapes and styles—light and brothy, thick like a stew, creamy and comforting, or even served chilled. Some are perfect starters, while others stand strong as a main dish. This antioxidant-rich purple sweet potato and beet soup sits somewhere in between. With its ultra-thick, velvety texture and bold colour, it’s hearty enough to satisfy but elegant enough to serve as an appetizer. Best enjoyed warm—not piping hot or cold—it’s a cozy bowl that brings both nourishment and beauty to the table.
Purple Sweet Potato
Meet the vibrant purple sweet potato—a stunning, slender cousin of the classic orange variety. Not only is it packed with bold flavour, but deep purple adds serious wow to any dish. Often confused with ube (a Filipino yam), purple sweet potatoes may look similar but have different root vegetables.
Curious how they compare to regular orange sweet potatoes? The biggest difference lies in their nutrients: orange sweet potatoes are rich in beta-carotene, great for eye health, while the purple kind is loaded with anthocyanins, powerful antioxidants linked to brain and heart health. Both are deliciously healthy, naturally low in fat and cholesterol, and bursting with vitamins and nutrients. If you want to know more about them, check out this link from the Livestrong website.
The Toppings
Add some fun textures to create the perfect balance to this earthy soup. I’ve added crunchy croutons and crumbled feta to get this lovely salty kick and fresh dill for its acidity. These toppings work wonderfully well with this type of soup, thick enough to hold them on its surface. No croutons? No problem, any crunchy veggie chips, whether beet chips or even orange sweet potato chips, would work great here, too. The feta could be replaced with fresh goat cheese and the dill with polyvalent basil. You are the chef!
Important Notes
- Due to its cream content, this soup should never be brought to a boil. Gently heat it until it begins to steam—or, at most, a single bubble appears. It’s meant to be served warm, not piping hot.
- Roast the sweet potatoes, but not until they turn brown; otherwise, you’ll get a brown soup.
- The vinegar, even if in small quantity, must go at the end of cooking, and don’t even think about skipping this step; it’s the most important one to balance out the earthiness of the soup. You can adjust the quantities depending on the acidity level of your vinegar.
Purple Sweet Potato and Beet Soup
Ingredients
- 3 purple sweet potatoes
- 1 beetroot precooked
- 200 ml cream
- 200 ml water
- 100 g cream cheese
- 1 red onion
- 3 garlic cloves chopped
- 2 tbsp cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 branches fresh dill
- salt and pepper
Toppings *optional
- feta cheese
- fresh dill
- croutons
Instructions
- Begin by peeling and chopping the potatoes, onion, and garlic cloves. If using raw beetroot, peel and chop it as well. Drizzle with olive oil, then season with salt and pepper. Place the vegetables on a parchment-lined rack and roast in the oven at 180°C (350°F) for 25 minutes.
- Once roasted, add to a blender or food processor with the rest of the ingredients and blend until homogenous.
- Warm up the soup gently before serving, until the first bubble bursts.
- Add the toppings and serve.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Did You Make This Recipe?
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Is the cream used heavy cream? Can one substitute milk for a less thick ( and more calorie wise) version?
You can try with milk, but no guarantees on the final texture and flavor. The cream is yes, heavy cream, which is not much and will go a long way.
Looks delicious 😋 is this the same as purple yum (ube)?
No, not the same but close in taste! One could easily substitute the other. Here you can check this video about the difference. https://youtu.be/AhRzF8kK69I
The beautiful purple color is so appealing. This soup reminds me of my purple sweet potato pudding. Your soup is packed with so much good nutrition. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
I know, the color is such a show-stopper! But believe me that the best is to come with this soup!
I need to try that. It looks amazing
Oh yes! Be on the look-out for those precious purple sweet potatoes!
interesting my daughter will love this post I will share with her. She is 21 years old and loves to make the sweet potatoes for the family holidays.
She can do the recipe with orange flesh sweet potato too, as delicious!
This looks so delicious! I’ll have to try it!
Yes! Such a treat!
What an amazing colour you achieved on this soup. It be lovely as both a meal and conversation starter for any dinner party!
I could talk hours about this soup! But it’s main attraction is it’s taste!
The colour of this soup is stunning and my daughter was so excited to eat it because purple is her favourite colour. She doesn’t like sweet potato normally but she was excited for this and really enjoyed it.
I thought my kids would fuzz over the color but au contraire! They loved it too! Just like your daughter will.
I loved the flavour of this soup. The aesthetic arrangement of the topping makes it a delightful starter when having guests.
Great way to impress! I agree!
I’ve been eating these potatoes mashed for years. But as a soup not only pretty but delicious. Great recipe. I tasted it before adding the vinegar, and yes that vinegar is essential. Cleaned the taste up and canceled out the heavyness.
Vinegar, just a tad, goes a long way!
DELICIOUS! I just made it. It’s beautiful and so tasty!
A good soup should be appealing for the eyes, too. Glad you liked it!