Hocking Hills Soup–Instant Pot (or Crockpot) thick and creamy pumpkin-sweet potato spiced soup with chicken. It’s cozy and warm and absolutely delicious.
Hocking Hills Soup
Hocking Hills, Ohio is a beautiful place that Greg and I were able to visit this fall. The area is known for its stunning natural beauty, outdoor recreational activities, and distinctive geological formations. The leaves were popping when we were there and it was such a great time to visit. Today’s recipe is from a blog called Hocking Hills Homegrown. This soup reminds me of the cozy cottages and the chilly fall weather. When I scanned through the list of ingredients I was like “hmmm, will this be good?” But Skyler and I both agreed that we LOVED this soup and could not get enough. You wouldn’t expect a 15-year-old to love pumpkin and sweet potato soup but he did. The flavors were spot on! We added chicken to our version and it rounded out the meal to make it more filling. TRY IT! I think you’ll love it 🙂
Ingredients/Substitution Ideas
- Butter–or oil
- Onion–or a shallot
- Curry powder
- Cumin
- Ground nutmeg
- Garlic powder
- Kosher salt
- Pepper
- Chicken broth–or vegetable broth
- Sweet potatoes
- Pumpkin
- Heavy cream
- Lime juice–or lemon juice
- Chopped, cooked chicken–optional, but really good!
Steps
Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When display says HOT add in the butter and swirl around to melt. Add in the onion and saute for 3 minutes. Stir in the curry powder, cumin, nutmeg, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
Pour in the broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Add in the sweet potatoes and pumpkin (don’t stir).
Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure the valve is set to sealing. Set the SOUP button to 8 minutes (or 8 minutes on low pressure). When time is up let pot sit 5 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
Use an immersion blender to blend the soup until mostly smooth (a few chunks will remain).
Stir a half cup of the hot soup into the cream to temper it. Then stir the cream into the pot. Stir in the lime juice and chicken.
Ladle into bowls and serve topped with croutons.
Notes/Tips
- Serve with a dinner roll, cornbread or freshly baked French bread. This soup goes well with a spinach salad with a balsamic dressing.
- Make sure to use canned pumpkin puree not canned pumpkin pie filling 😉
- You can also use evaporated milk in the place of the heavy cream (no tempering necessary).
- Try adding a scoopful of cooked orzo pasta into each soup bowl for a more hearty soup.
- I used chopped rotisserie chicken from Costco in my soup and it was so good!
- This recipe is gluten-free (don’t top with croutons if you need it to be gluten free).
- I used my 6 quart Instant Pot*. You can also make this in a 3 or 8 quart pot.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container* in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Other recipes you can make with sweet potatoes are Feta Dill Sweet Potato Mash and Ruth’s Chris Sweet Potato Casserole.
More Instant Pot Soups…
Instant Pot Green Enchiladas Chicken Soup
An easy soup recipe with tons of flavor and only a handful of ingredients! (Can be low carb too).
Instant Pot Easy Posole
An easy, dump and go recipe for chicken and hominy soup that you can make in the Instant Pot or slow cooker.
Instant Pot Oprah’s Tomato Soup
Healthy and flavorful tomato soup recipe (can be vegetarian and dairy free). It tastes amazing with grilled cheese sandwiches!
Instant Pot Fat Burning Soup
A flavorful soup with lots of veggies including cabbage, carrots and cauliflower. With only 87 calories per cup of soup you can eat this with no guilt!
Notre Dame Soup
Instant Pot roasted cauliflower soup with just a handful of ingredients but lots of flavor!
Did you know you can filter the recipes on my website to search by meat type, IP or Crockpot, low carb, gluten free, etc.? Use the filter to find exactly what you are looking for.
Hocking Hills Soup
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 minutes (plus 5 minute npr)
- Total Time: 28 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
Instant Pot (or Crockpot) pumpkin-sweet potato spiced soup with chicken and cream. It’s cozy and warm and absolutely delicious.
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1/2 tsp curry powder
- 1/4 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 3 1/2 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
- 1 pound (16 ounces) sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
- 1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 Tbsp lime juice
- 2 cups chopped, cooked chicken (optional, but really good!)
Instructions
Instant Pot Instructions:
- Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When display says HOT add in the butter and swirl around to melt. Add in the onion and saute for 3 minutes. Stir in the curry powder, cumin, nutmeg, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
- Pour in the broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking.
- Add in the sweet potatoes and pumpkin (don’t stir).
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure the valve is set to sealing. Set the SOUP button to 8 minutes. When time is up let pot sit 5 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Use an immersion blender to blend the soup until mostly smooth (a few chunks will remain).
- Stir a half cup of the hot soup into the cream to temper it. Then stir the cream into the pot. Stir in the lime juice and chicken.
- Ladle into bowls and serve topped with croutons.
Slow Cooker Instructions:
- Heat a pan over medium high heat. Add in the butter and swirl around to melt. Add in the onion and saute for 3 minutes. Stir in the curry powder, cumin, nutmeg, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Transfer to the slow cooker.
- Stir in the broth, sweet potatoes and pumpkin.
- Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 3 hours.
- Use an immersion blender to blend the soup until mostly smooth (a few chunks will remain).
- Stir a half cup of the hot soup into the cream to temper it. Then stir the cream into the pot. Stir in the lime juice and chicken.
- Ladle into bowls and serve topped with croutons.
- Category: Soup
- Method: Instant Pot or Slow Cooker
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
I used frozen sweet potatoes and replaced the heavy cream with 1/4 cup Greek yogurt and 1/4 cup 2% milk. Both my spouse and I loved this soup so much. Definitely going into the regular meal plan roster!
good substitution idea!
This soup is fabulous! I substituted butternut squash for sweet potatoes otherwise no changes. I didn’t have any sweet potatoes but will try that version next.
Thanks for the fabulous recipe!
So glad you enjoyed it! It really is so tasty.
Can you use canned sweet potatoes?
Yes you can
How fun to see “Hocking Hills” in the title. I grew up in Ohio, and although I live many miles away these days, I’ll always remember Hocking Hills with fondness.
It is a fun area!