I know that peanut butter, tomatoes and collard greens may seem like an unlikely combination, but I hope you’ll trust me on this one. This homely soup is good—so good that I’m almost tempted to:
- Put on my big puffy coat.
- Shovel my car out from under 10 inches of snow.
- Drive to the store for collard greens so I can make more soup.
Almost.
This recipe is courtesy of my most handsome fellow. He’s a good cook (jackpot!), one who is more apt to follow his instincts than consult a cookbook. This recipe is from one of his two cookbooks, a random, photo-less vegan cookbook called Local Bounty. With the author’s headnote, “Of all the soups we serve in my restaurant, this one is by far the most popular,” and his endorsement, I trusted that this soup was a safe bet.
If you love this recipe, be sure to check out the revamped peanut soup with sweet potatoes and chickpeas in my cookbook!
We taste tested the soup with a few different hot sauces (none of them African) and decided that we liked sriracha was the best. It provides just the right punch of heat.
The end result is a creamy, nourishing soup made of basic pantry ingredients, herbs and greens. It doesn’t require much prep and the hot sauce cuts down on the total number of ingredients, so it’s perfect for cold days and lazy weeknights.
I originally titled this soup “West African Peanut Soup.” While it’s inspired by West African peanut soups, it’s not authentic by any stretch. I’m told that authentic recipes do not contain collard greens, and I believe they often contain meat, among other details.
As a vegetarian, this recipe may be the closest I’ll ever taste to the authentic dish, and I love it for all of the aforementioned qualities. Whether you’re vegetarian, vegan, or follow any diet under the sun, I hope you love it, too!
Vegetarian Peanut Soup
- Author:
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 35 mins
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: African
This West African-inspired peanut soup recipe is a creamy and comforting, spicy vegan soup. Made with a simple combination of peanut butter, tomato paste and collard greens, this soup comes together quickly and would be a great weeknight meal. If you love spicy flavors like me, don’t hesitate to use liberal amounts of ginger and garlic.
Ingredients
- 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
- 2 cups water
- 1 medium red onion, chopped
- 2 tablespoons peeled and minced fresh ginger
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 bunch collard greens (or kale), ribs removed and leaves chopped into 1-inch strips
- ¾ cup unsalted peanut butter (chunky or smooth)
- ½ cup tomato paste*
- Hot sauce, like sriracha (AKA rooster sauce)
- ¼ cup roughly chopped peanuts, for garnish
- Cooked brown rice, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Combine the broth and water in a medium Dutch oven or stock pot. Bring the mixture to a boil, then add the onion, ginger, garlic and salt. Cook on medium-low heat for 20 minutes.
- In a medium-sized, heat-safe mixing bowl, combine the peanut butter and tomato paste, then transfer 1 to 2 cups of the hot stock to the bowl. Whisk the mixture together until smooth, then pour the peanut mixture back into the soup and mix well. Stir in the collard greens and season the soup with hot sauce to taste.
- Simmer for about 15 more minutes on medium-low heat, stirring often. Season with additional salt or hot sauce if desired. Serve over cooked brown rice if you’d like, and top with a sprinkle of chopped peanuts.
Notes
- Adapted from Local Bounty: Vegan Seasonal Recipes by Devra Gartenstein.
- *The cookbook author suggested that 1 cup canned crushed tomatoes is a suitable substitution for the tomato paste, but commenters report that the crushed tomatoes produce a runny soup (unlike the thick soup shown here). I highly recommend using tomato paste if you can find it. I also recommend Muir Glen‘s organic tomato products—they come in BPA-free cans and seem to be readily available.
- Most African peanut soup recipes include sweet potatoes. I suppose you could toss in a chopped sweet potato when you bring the stock to a boil, but I liked the soup as is.
Vegetable enthusiast. Dog lover. I'm probably making a big mess in my Kansas City kitchen right now. 
Jesper
The recipe looks lovely, but just a question.. 0.5 cup of tomato paste, does that really equal 8 tablespoons? And 0.75 cup peanut butter equals 12 tablespoons? It does sound like a lot to me.
Kate
Hi Jesper! You will want to use measuring cups here. You can always find a conversion online if you don’t have cups available.
Maha
Delicious! 10/10
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you, Maha.
Allison
Wowwww this recipe is so good. I’ve made it before many times and I always meant to leave a review before, but here I am finally leaving one! I’ve previously made it ‘as written,’ but this last time I did put some small cubed sweet potato in along with the onions and garlic at the beginning. It turned out perfectly and added that little extra I wanted! This soup is perfect over rice or eaten just on its own.
★★★★★
Alyssa
Absolutely loved this! I followed the recipe exactly (with the addition of chickpeas as suggested in the cookbook); it was delicious and filling. I seriously can’t wait to make this again, and will double it next time!
★★★★★
Jade
This is one of my favorites!! I have made this recipe at least half a dozen times, and it’s so easy to adapt. I always do it a little different, and it always turns out well. I’ve used fresh and frozen collards as well as chard. I have added sweet potato, added more or less ginger, fresh chili peppers, chili paste, etc. Perfect vegan recipe!
★★★★★
Kate
Wonderful, Jade! Thank you for taking the time to review.
Sara
Wow, this is delicious (and an incredibly versatile recipe)!
I only had chicken broth so used that instead of vegetable, I threw in two cubed sweet potatoes and a handful of chopped shishito and hot peppers (all from my CSA) with the onion/garlic/ginger, and I added a handful of shredded coconut at the very end (last five minutes of cooking) because I wanted just a little extra touch of sweetness/richness… THIS SOUP IS SOOOO GOOD! It’s definitely going into my regular rotation (right alongside your A++++ veggie lasagna)!
★★★★★
Em
I have made many of your recipes, but ooh boy. This is the best by far! Thank you so much!
★★★★★
Kate
Yay! Thank you, Em. :)
Anne
Hello. About to try this delicious sounding soup. I want to double it and freeze for the holidays. Do you think it will freeze well?
Thanks.
Kate
Hi! I haven’t tried to freeze this one, but I believe others have and didn’t mind the results.
Michelle
I love this recipe! It’s referred to as simply “the SOUP” by my friends who I make it for. It’s on regular rotation in my dinners. I make a couple of changes: I sautee the onions in olive or coconut oil for a few minutes, then add in the ginger and garlic for an additional minute before adding the water and broth. I add 1 large sweet potato, up the peanut butter to 1 cup because we LOVE peanut butter, add the kale during the last 5 minutes to keep some crunch, and add the juice of 1lime at the end. It’s such a good balance of flavor!
kelly
I love this soup. I make it regularly and never get tired of it! Big comfort food for me.
★★★★★
JoDaSoj
What is the reason to mix the peanut butter and tomato paste separately? It seems like an unnecessary step.
BTW, I love this recipe very much and add diced Kobocha Squash or sweet potato to it.
★★★★
Kate
Hi! It helps to incorporate it to make it creamy in the soup. I hope that helps!
Thekla
This soup is awesome. I usually use baby spinach instead of collard greens or kale, since I don’t really like the taste of either. The soup is great without any additional greens, too.
Even my daughter, who doesn’t like peanuts all that much, likes this soup. Thank you for this great (and fast, easy to make) recipe.
★★★★★
Michelle
Wow, this was delicious! I looked through a bunch of African Peanut Soup recipes and yours looked the best, and I’m so glad I chose it. My minor changes: sauteed the red onion & garlic in olive oil to soften, replacing the ginger with a whole seeded, diced jalapeno. Added a double-handful of cubed butternut squash before the final 15 minutes of cooking. Instead of the greens I added fresh baby spinach right before serving. So delicious over hot brown rice, with a drizzle of sriracha! Thanks for a great recipe.
★★★★★
Tj
Dying to make this. Katie, how many cups roughly does this make if following the recipe exactly?
I’m hoping that each serving gives me at least 1.5 cups to smother over some chopped veges. Also, has anyone tried this with ground turkey?
Kate
Hi! A serving is roughly 1.5-2 cups.
TJ
Thank you! I made it and yup came up to about that much per serving. I followed the recipe with the exception of adding two chopped serrano peppers in with the onion, garlic and ginger mixture and used sambal oelek chili garlic paste instead of sriracha. Turned out yummy, thank you for the recipe! Next time I’ll up the PB to 1 cup because I love that stuff.
★★★★
Lois
We all loved it! Doubled the ginger and garlic of course, but otherwise followed the recipe closely while adding sweet potato and skipping the kale, garnishing with the peanuts and cilantro. Yummm!
★★★★★
Kate
Sounds delicious, Lois! Thank you for sharing.
lc
It was so delicious! I’ll be making it regularly, needed some new flavors to try and this is so filling and flavorful, thank you!
I used half a red onion but had to add a splash of vinegar at the end for a bit more acidity, so next time I’ll follow the recipe and use the whole onion!
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome! Thank you for sharing, Lc.
Tina
This was so good! Thank you for sharing
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome, Tina!