Creamy Peanut Soup with Peanut Crunch Herb Pistou

This Creamy Peanut Soup with Peanut Crunch Herb Pistou is an easy vegan African soup with an intense peanut flavor, a delicate peanut crunch and a wonderful herbal note from the homemade pistou! Your rainy days need this easy, comforting soup!

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by the Peanut Bureau of Canada — a non-profit trade association dedicated to promoting the great taste and health benefits of quality USA-grown peanuts.

If you’ve never tasted or heard of Peanut Soup, you’re in for a treat! It’s a very popular soup in Africa with simple flavors that allow the peanuts to fully shine.

My family came across this African Peanut Soup recipe a long time ago when I was just a baby and my dad was posted to Africa (Congo and Kenya). Obviously, I don’t remember anything about those places, but my mom picked up this divine Peanut Soup recipe from locals and has been making it for us ever since!

Why this recipe works:

This Creamy Peanut Soup with Peanut Crunch Herb Pistou is an easy and simple soup with a burst of peanut flavor, a delicate peanut crunch and herb freshness from the pistou! Your rainy days need this soup, it’s delicious and pure comfort 🙂 Trust me.

So let’s talk about this Creamy Peanut Soup. If you’ve never heard about peanut soup before, you’ll probably be wondering what on earth it tastes like. So, let me tell you: it tastes like pure peanut butter minus the sweetness.

In contrast to Asian peanut sauces, this African Peanut Soup doesn’t have any strong soy sauces, vinegar, brown sugars or any distinctive flavor other than the peanut butter itself. So it’s a peanut lovers dream!! I promise you, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by this simple yet delicious soup recipe!

How to make this Creamy African Peanut Soup:

Here’s basically how this delicious peanut soup comes together: You’ll sauté some onions, sweet peppers (preferably yellow so the soup retains a gorgeous golden tone) and garlic.

When making any soup, this step is probably the one that everybody tends to rush, and I always stress not to. Because when you give onions and garlic a chance to fully sauté until soft, you get that sweet note of onion in your soup, not a harsh strong onion flavor that can take over your soup!

To boost the freshness of this Peanut Soup, I prefer adding fresh cilantro and parsley—which is certainly optional, but really good! And then you’ll go right in with plenty of peanut butter (smooth preferably) and veggie stock.

The peanut soup needs to simmer on medium low heat for about 30 minutes before you’ll add in the creamy dreamy finale.

Again to keep this soup entirely vegan, use coconut cream. Otherwise, heavy cream or nice thick Greek yogurt are great. Simply add in a half cup of that and then puree the peanut soup into a creamy dreamy divine peanut goodness!!

Now we certainly can’t skip mentioning the Peanut Crunch Herb Pistou! A classic French version of the Italian pesto, except it’s not smooth, but rather chunky and crunchy.

To perfectly compliment the peanut soup, I love making a peanut pistou to get a smooth peanut-y soup with a crunchy peanut-y herb topping. Perfection! The peanut pistou also has lime juice and olive oil which both compliment the peanut soup wonderfully 🙂

Can I just finally say, please make this Creamy African Peanut Soup—you’ll be making it more often than you think—I promise!! And don’t forget to tag me so I can follow up on your deliciousness too! Happy soup season!! Enjoy 🙂

Tips for success: 

• While this peanut soup is not necessarily a vegan soup, I prefer keeping it that way so everyone can enjoy it! But feel free to swap the veggie broth with chicken or beef for more flavor if you prefer!
• The secret thickener I use in this Peanut Soup is quick cooking oats. They add a nice nutty taste to the soup and enhance the texture.
• Store leftover soup in the fridge for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for nearly a month.

5 from 1 vote

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Creamy Peanut Soup with Peanut Crunch Herb Pistou:

This Creamy Peanut Soup with Peanut Crunch Herb Pistou is an easy and simple African soup with an intense peanut flavor, a delicate peanut crunch and a wonderful herbal note from the pistou! Your rainy days need this easy, comforting soup!

Course Appetizer, Main Course

Cuisine African, Vegan

Keyword African peanut soup, soup with pistou, vegan peanut soup

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Calories 825 kcal

Author Mahy

Ingredients

Peanut Soup:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil use butter if you prefer
• 1 yellow onion finely minced
• 1 yellow bell pepper finely minced
• 3 cloves garlic finely minced
• 1/4 cup quick cooking oats
• 3 tablespoons finely minced herbs a mix of parsley and cilantro
• 1 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter
• 1 cup veggie stock or your stock of choice
• 1/2 cup cream heavy cream, table cream, Greek Yogurt or coconut cream if Vegan
• 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper more or less to taste

Pistou:

• 1/4 cup crushed peanuts toasted or not, salted or not—your preference
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
• juice of half a lemon
• pinch salt
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

1. For the pistou: Mix all ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

2. For the peanut soup: Preheat a soup pot over medium-high heat and add in the olive oil or butter if using.

3. Add in the onion, bell peppers and sauté over medium high heat, then drop the heat to medium and continue to sauté the veggies until very soft and golden (about 8-10 minutes).
4. At that point add in the garlic, herbs and sauté for a couple more minutes until translucent, and add in the oats.
5. Sautee the oats with the veggies for a minute more until the oats are slightly toasted and add in the peanut butter and stock.
6. bring this mixture to boil and use a whisk to blend the soup ingredients together. Season the soup with salt and pepper to your taste.
7. When the soup starts to boil, cover the pot and lower the heat to medium-low allowing the soup flavors to simmer and infuse for 30 minutes at least. The soup will also thicken beautifully. 

8. Then use an immersion blender (or blender) to puree the soup till smooth. At that point, add in your cream (any type or yogurt) and blend some more. Taste for seasoning and adjust salt if needed.

9. Serve the peanut soup right away topped with a swirl of pistou. Enjoy! 🙂

Recipe Notes

Leftover soup can be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days and in the freezer for nearly a month.

• While this peanut soup is not necessarily a vegan soup, I prefer keeping it that way so everyone can enjoy it! But feel free to swap the veggie broth with chicken or beef for more flavor if you prefer!
• The secret thickener I use in this Peanut Soup is quick cooking oats. They add a nice nutty taste to the soup and enhance the texture.

Nutrition Facts

Creamy Peanut Soup with Peanut Crunch Herb Pistou:

Amount Per Serving

Calories 825 Calories from Fat 558

% Daily Value*

Fat 62g95%

Saturated Fat 15g94%

Cholesterol 40mg13%

Sodium 1063mg46%

Potassium 867mg25%

Carbohydrates 46g15%

Fiber 7g29%

Sugar 10g11%

Protein 29g58%

Vitamin A 620IU12%

Vitamin C 57.3mg69%

Calcium 77mg8%

Iron 2.6mg14%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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