I love using my crockpot on busy days so that I don’t have to worry about making dinner later. Since I’m using it to make life easier, I definitely prefer recipes that don’t require any sauteing before putting everything into the slow cooker to cook. That’s what I love about this recipe. It’s delicious, filling, and oh so easy. It could be just a one step soup if you don’t want to blend it at all at the end. I prefer it half blended, but if you’re looking for a recipe that’s the epitome of easy, feel free to skip that step. This soup is easy, creamy, and delicious with a lightly sweet flavor and a subtle amount of spicy heat. The frozen pineapple acts as a natural sweetener that balances out the heat of the chili paste beautifully. Once the pineapple has cooked, it won’t taste like pineapple and won’t taste out of place in this soup. If you don’t have any pineapple around, it could easily be replaced with 1-2 teaspoons of granulated sugar or your sweetener of choice.
Have you tried this recipe? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments below!
Spicy Sweet Potato Lentil Slow Cooker Soup (Vegan, Gluten Free, Oil Free, Flour Free):
Ingredients
- 3 medium sweet potatoes peeled and cut into ½” cubes, about 6 cups
- 1 medium yellow onion chopped
- 1 cup red lentils rinsed
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1" piece ginger peeled and minced
- 2 medium carrots peeled and cut into ⅛” thick half moons, about 1 ⅓ cups
- ½ cup frozen pineapple chunks*
- 2 Tablespoons curry powder
- 1 Tablespoon Herbes de Provence optional
- Fine sea salt to taste
- 2 Tablespoons vegan and gluten free bouillon
- 1-2 Tablespoons Red Chili Paste** depending on flavor preference
- 1/2 can full fat coconut milk 13.5 ounce or 398 ml can
- 6 cups water
Instructions
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Combine all ingredients in a crockpot.
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Cook on low for 7 hours, or on high for 3-4 hours. I strongly recommend cooking this recipe on low. Cooking this on low stops the red lentils from turning to mush and gives them a nice texture in the soup.
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After it’s finished cooking, use an immersion blender to blend the soup about halfway (so that there are still some chunks of sweet potato). If you don’t have an immersion blender, blend half of the soup in an upright blender 1 cup at a time. Be sure to do this in small batches so that the steam has room to expand and escape.
Recipe Notes
*The frozen pineapple adds a nice natural sweetness to balance out the spice of the chili paste. You won’t be able to taste the pineapple flavor once it’s cooked. If you don’t have pineapple, you can replace this with 1-2 teaspoons granulated sugar or sweetener of choice.
**I used Huy Fong Foods brand Red Chili Paste (the same brand that makes Sriracha).
