A Bisque in Name Only: Sweet Potato Corn Ancho Chili Bisque

If you lurk in food forums, you’ll find the strangest topics get people fired up. Did you know that bisque, vegetable bisque, is actually a controversial subject?

Vegetables bisques should be called Cream of vegetable soups. Not bisques. A bisque is traditionally a crustacean soup, made from shells of lobster, shrimps, or crabs. Smooth, creamy vegetable soups should be called cream of vegetable soups, regardless of how artery-clogging, totally 80s, retro in an unhip way that may sound.

But I don’t want a cream of sweet potato soup. Just reading those words makes me feel like I should jump on the treadmill for 45 minutes. The word bisque on the other hand makes my mouth water. Just hearing it and I crave spoonful after spoonful of creamy savory goodness.

But what about when a bisque is creamless? How do you convey a velvety, perfect fall vegetable soup? You just have to use the word bisque and tell all the technical snobs to just eat their bisque and pipe down.

I love cream and butter like most good French girls, but I like my soups to be guilt free. What’s the point of having a big salad and dousing it with a 750 calorie dressing? Same with a bowl of soup. A big bowl of soup on a crisp fall day should not only taste great, it should also make you feel like you’re treating your body like a temple and doing something really healthy and good.

Sweet Potato SoupThis bisque gets its creamy, mouth-pleasing feeling from homemade chicken stock and the last of this summer’s sweet corn. It’s a decadent soup with none of the guilt to go with it. So go on, indulge, you can have a second bowl and have a few cheddar biscuits alongside without feeling a second of guilt. Then indulge your rebel side, and repeat after me:



Sweet Potato Corn Ancho Chili Bisque
  • 3 sweet potatoes, roasted
  • 3 ears of corn, shucked and squeezed for juice
  • 4 cups of chicken stock, prefererably homemade
  • 1 onion, minced
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 2 tablespoons of butter
  • 1 teaspoon of ancho chili powder
  • ½ teaspoon of cinnamon
  • salt and pepper to taste
  1. Roast the sweet potatoes in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes, until soft.
  2. Mince the onion and the garlic.
  3. In a large stockpot, melt the butter. Add the onion, garlic, and spices (cinnamon, ancho chili powder, salt, and pepper). Saute until soft and clear, 5 minutes. Turn off the flame.
  4. Cut the corn kernels into the onion mixture. Scoop the sweet potato flesh in as well. Give a good stir with the wooden spoon to blend all together.
  5. Pour in 3 cups of the chicken stock and bring to a boil on high heat. Lower heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes.
  6. With a hand blender, puree until smooth. Add the remaining cup of chicken stock if the soup is not smooth enough.
  7. Serve warm, with a dollop of greek yogurt topped with a little more ancho chili powder if you like some spice.

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