This Instant Pot Sweet Potato Chicken Soup is the perfect dinner for a cold winter night. Made with simple ingredients, it’s easy to throw together and can also be made in the slow cooker.
*Originally published 2/2019. Updated 1/2025*
Hi friends!
This Instant Pot Sweet Potato Chicken Soup is perfect for the cold winter weather here in Ohio. If you’re looking for even more soup options, check out:
Creamy Sweet Potato Chicken Soup
One of my favorite instant pot tricks is that if you cook sweet potatoes chunks long enough, they basically fall apart when you stir them.
I often use this method to make a creamy type soup without the cream. Similarly, you can blend in a can of beans to add extra fiber and protein as well as a creamy texture.
If you decide to make this on the stove top and your sweet potatoes don’t fall apart on their own, feel free to remove the chicken and use a blender or immersion blender to blend up part of the broth to achieve a creamy texture.
The sweet potatoes in this recipe make it creamy while still keeping this recipe dairy-free and gluten-free. If the sweet potatoes falling apart make it too thick, add a little more broth!
Ingredients in Instant Pot Sweet Potato Chicken Soup
Here are a few of the ingredients you need to make this soup:
- Sweet potatoes – if you don’t have them on hand, try butternut squash, acorn squash or carrots
- Chicken thighs – feel free to swap in chicken breasts if you prefer.
- Spinach – this is optional, but fresh baby spinach wilts easily into soups and is a great option for adding more veggies
- Corn – Feel free to use fresh, frozen or canned corn
- Seasoning – this is a basic soup recipe and there are tons of great seasoning combinations you can use – try Old Bay, McCormick’s chicken seasoning or a combination of cumin, paprika and cayenne pepper.
How To Make Sweet Potato Chicken Soup
To make this soup, pull out your Instant Pot and follow a few simple steps:
- Combine all ingredients except the spinach and corn in the Instant Pot.
- Cook as directed.
- Remove the chicken and shred it and return to the pot along with the spinach and corn.
- Serve and enjoy!
Chicken and Sweet Potato Soup Recipe
Here’s the recipe:
PrintInstant Pot Sweet Potato Chicken Soup (with slow cooker option)
This Instant Pot Sweet Potato Chicken Soup is the perfect dinner for a cold winter night. Made with simple ingredients, it’s easy to throw together and can also be made in the slow cooker.
Ingredients
- 1.5 pounds sweet potatoes (approx 2 large or 4 cups roughly chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs (or breasts)
- 1.5 cups chicken broth (more if desired)
- 1 cup corn kernels (frozen, canned or fresh)
- 3 giant handfuls fresh baby spinach
- 2 tsp Old Bay**
- 1 tsp salt
- Avocado to garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Peel and roughly chop sweet potatoes. You can also leave the skin on if you want to!
- Place sweet potatoes, garlic, peppers, chicken thighs, seasoning and broth in the instant pot.
- Seal and manually set the timer for 12 minutes.
- Quick release. Remove chicken to shred. Use a fork or potato masher to gently break apart sweet potato chunks as you stir. Switch to saute, return chicken to pot and stir in corn and spinach.
- Let simmer 2-3 minutes, taste, adjust seasonings and serve. If you want to thin it out a little, add an additional half cup of broth.
Notes
**If you don’t have Old Bay, try swapping in Montreal Chicken Seasoning or 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp paprika and 1/2 tsp curry powder.
To make it in the slow cooker, increase broth to 2 cups, cook in low for 6-8 hours until sweet potatoes break apart easily. Add spinach and corn for last 15 minutes.
See what I mean by easy?! Be sure to let me know if you try this one. Want more instant pot recipes? You can browse my instant pot archives here.
Instant Pot Chicken and Sweet Potatoes Soup FAQs
What can I substitute for sweet potato in chicken soup?
If you don’t have sweet potato, squash is a great option. Butternut squash, acorn squash or other similar squash with the peel removed will act similarly to sweet potato in this recipe. You could also use carrots but they don’t fall apart as easily and you’ll likely need to blend them by hand to make it creamy.
Is soup with chicken and sweet potatoes healthy?
Yes! This soup is packed with protein and vegetables and makes a great complete meal on a cold day. Sweet potatoes are a great source of Vitamin A and C. You can leave the skin on to add fiber. The spinach adds more Vitamin A and iron and the chicken adds protein.
Can you freeze Instant Pot chicken and sweet potatoes?
Yes! Let cool and then portion into containers like Souper Cubes (aff link) to freeze for later. This soup can be reheated in the microwave or on the stove top.
You could easily double this recipe and freeze half!
What to serve with chicken sweet potato soup?
This soup is fine on its own, but would be great alongside crusty bread and a side salad for a healthy, balanced meal!
What is the sweet potato chicken soup crockpot version of this recipe?
To make this recipe in the slow cooker, start with 2 cups of broth. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Remove the chicken to shred and use a blender or immersion blender to blend the sweet potatoes. Add more broth as needed to achieve your desired consistency. Stir shredded chicken, spinach and corn into soup and let cook for 15 minutes more.
Can I turn this into chicken noodle soup with sweet potatoes?
To make this recipe more kid-friendly, increase the broth to 3 cups. The sweet potatoes will still dissolve right into the broth but it will be thinner and more soup-like. You can also reduce the amount of seasonings and skip the spinach if you want.
Do I have to garnish with avocado?
No! I love to use avocado as a soup garnish because it blends right in with its mild flavor and adds some healthy fats but feel free to skip it. You could add some fresh herbs or cheese on top if you want to!
Enjoy!
–Lindsay–
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This was SO good and a family favorite. I love how quick it is as well.
yay! glad to hear it!
This looks yummy! I’ll have to give this one a try soon!
Should I mince the garlic?
I ended up just putting them in and mashing them when I mashed up the sweet potatoes. I have been having a hard time finding instant pot recipes that actually work and don’t cause the burn notice to come on so I was nervous to do this at first but it turned out DELICIOUS! I love how easy it is. I added a few more dashes of old bay because, well, I’m from Maryland and we put old bay on everything. Even my three year old loved it and he WILL NOT eat sweet potatoes! Thank you!
What if I don’t have an instant pot and I would like to cook this in a regular pot on the stove top? Any suggestions?
You can cook it just like you would a normal soup. I would start with the sweet potatoes, chicken, garlic, red pepper and broth. Bring to a boil and simmer until cooked, then add the rest. If you want to the sweet potatoes to kinda fall apart like that do in the original recipe, you’ll need to cook them the longest so in that case I would put them in to boil for 15 min or so before you add anything else.
I have made this countless times. And am about to make it tonight! Love love love this recipe. Simple, comforting and nutritious.