Vegetarian Peanut Soup
This West African peanut soup recipe is made with pantry staples and collard greens. It's a creamy, spicy vegan soup that's easy to make on busy weeknights.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 5, 2024
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 recipe was originally inspired by a friend’s 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
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. Recipe yields 6 bowls.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium red onion, chopped
- 1 medium jalapeño (optional, for heat), seeded, ribs removed, and finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon fine salt, to taste
- 2 tablespoons finely grated or minced fresh ginger
- 4 medium cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- 4 cups (32 ounces) vegetable broth
- 2 cups water
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter*
- 6 ounces tomato paste
- 1 medium bunch collard greens or kale (about 8 ounces), tough ribs removed and leaves chopped into bite-size pieces
- Hot sauce, preferably Sriracha
- For serving (optional): 1 batch of cooked brown rice
- For garnish (optional): ¼ cup roughly chopped roasted peanuts and a handful of chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
- In a Dutch oven or soup pot, warm the olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion, jalapeño (if using), and a dash of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent, about 5 to 8 minutes. Add the ginger, garlic, and salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Pour in the vegetable broth and water, increase the heat to medium-high, and bring the mixture to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally and reducing the heat as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer.
- Meanwhile, in a heatproof medium bowl, combine the peanut butter and tomato paste. Transfer 1 to 2 cups of hot broth from the pot to the bowl. Whisk the mixture until smooth, then pour the peanut mixture into the soup and mix well.
- Stir the collard greens into the soup and continue cooking until the soup is nice and thick, with sufficiently softened greens, 15 to 25 minutes longer. Season the soup with hot sauce to taste (I usually add over 1 tablespoon Sriracha, but I like spicy soups). Remove the pot from the heat and add more salt to taste, if necessary (I often add up to ½ teaspoon more).
- Serve the soup in bowls as desired—perhaps over cooked rice, with a sprinkle of chopped peanuts and cilantro on top. Serve with additional hot sauce on the side.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Local Bounty: Vegan Seasonal Recipes by Devra Gartenstein and my cookbook, Love Real Food.
Change it up: Add 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into ¼-inch dice, with the onion. You can also stir 1 can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained, into the soup with the collard greens.
*Peanut butter options: I use unsweetened natural peanut butter in this recipe (salted or unsalted both work). If you’re allergic to peanuts, substitute almond butter or sunflower butter and skip the peanut garnish.
Recipe edits: In 2025, I retested this recipe and matched it to my cookbook’s cooking method, which yields superior flavor and texture. The ingredients are the same, besides adding some olive oil to sauté the onion and an optional jalapeño, for heat.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Hey Kate! I recently found your blog and have been making many of your recipes. This soup however is probably one of my MOST favorite! I was a little skeptical at first as to whether collard greens, peanuts, and rooster sauce would be good, but I am so glad I trusted your recipe. Plus, my dog was exceptionally happy to find out that he was allowed to munch on some of the collard green ribs :-)
Thank you, Alicia! I’m delighted to hear that you are enjoying my recipes and this soup. It’s so good, right?! I think I shared some collard greens with Cookie, too. She loves kale, too!
Sounds just crazy enough that I know it must be delicious!
I just made this soup – amazing! I didn’t have collard greens, and couldn’t quite muster up the courage to trudge through the accumulating snow to the store in my puffy coat, so substituted a cauliflower I had in the fridge. I’ll definitely try the collard greens next time, but for now, the cauliflower is a tasty alternate!
Well, I certainly can’t blame you for not wanting to trudge through the snow for greens. Glad to hear that cauliflower is good in this soup! I love a good substitution.
A friend made this for me tonight and it was fabulous, thus turning me on to a new recipe AND site! I’ve already bookmarked a bunch of other recipes to try. As a lifetime vegetarian, I’m always inspired to find out-of-the-box recipes. This one was really delicious and I can’t wait to make it myself!
Kate, thank you so much for your kind comment! I’m glad your friend introduced you to my blog. I always love to hear feedback, so please let me know how my other recipes turn out for you. Happy cooking. :)
Couples post!! So cute. This soup looks perfect and there are hardly any ingredients. I would try it but I’m only making blendtec recipes now. ;)
Haha, thanks Heather. Glad you are putting your new blender to good use! :)
I am one of those weird people who really aren’t bothered about soup. But I think this might be the recipe that can sway me – so easy, and seems to pack a lot of flavours. I’ll be trying this one very soon! :)
I made a big pot of this soup last night and it is absolutely delicious!! As soon as this post popped up, I knew it would be a winner. Collards, ginger, and peanut butter are some of my all time favorite ingredients – I added a sweet potato to the pot and served it over farro instead of brown rice. Both delicious! Thanks for the awesome recipe.
Thanks for commmenting, Katie! I’m so glad to hear that you enjoyed the soup. Sweet potato and farro sound like terrific additions. Yum.
This looks amazing! I am especially drawn to the gorgeous color of the soup. The textures look thick, creamy and hearty. Sounds like a great meal!
This looks fantastic. I love African peanut soup, but I haven’t had it with collard greens, so I’m definitely giving this one a try.
I’va always wanted to try African Peanut Soup!! We LOVE love African food,especially Ethiopian (probably because you can eat with your hands!) but somehow I’ve missed out on this soup. I’ll have to try it soon!
Ooh, you just reminded me to visit the local Ethiopian restaurant! I’ve been wanting to go. I’ve never tried Ethiopian food but I have no doubt I’d love it. I think you would love this soup, Becky, especially while it’s so cold outside. Please let me know if you try it.
A friend of mine has lived/traveled through West Africa and always raves about the peanut butter dishes. I need to vet this through her and give it a try!
Loved this soup. I did though,find, the ginger and garlic not strong enough for my tastes, so doubled up on both. When I make it next time would like to try it with crunchy almond butter as I find it healthier, for me plus think a tasty garnish in addition to the chopped nuts would be chopped fresh cilantro . Love all your recipes.
Thank you for your feedback, Merelyn. We were generous with the garlic and ginger, too, and didn’t find the results to be too spicy. I’ll make a note of that in the recipe. Please let me know if you try the soup with almond butter, I’d love to learn how it turns out.
Just came across your beautiful blog. This sounds fantastic. I eat way too much peanut butter as is, but adding collards seems like a good excuse to consume a little more.
I’d say! They really do go great together. Hope you get a chance to try this soup before it gets too warm outside.
I cooked this recipe TWICE this week, once for family and once for friends. Everybody loved it! I would recommend using crunchy peanut butter and not put the peanuts in at the end..saves a step!
Victory! I’m so glad you and your loved ones enjoyed the recipe, Emilie. Thanks for letting me know!
peanut butter, tomatoes, and collard greens are actually 3 of my favorites foods! why the heck not combine them together? I’m sold!
mark bittman has a version of this that i have always wanted to try, but i love the look of this version too! i will definitely try it!
This looks delicious! I’m always looking for soups to pair with my rice and this seems perfect, especially with the cold weather. And I’m glad sriacha works well with this (my fave hot sauce!)
-Sally
look delicious :) I so wanted to try at home
This looks like our local dish, Kare-Kare. Very popular here in my country, the Philippines. :) Main difference is that Kare-Kare is meat-based. :)
my husband and i made this last night– it’s amazing! my goal for the year is to be more adventurous with my cooking and your blog is a fantastic hit for that! thank you for the amazing tips. keep them coming!
Thank you, Melissa! I’m glad you both enjoyed the soup, and I will keep the recipes and tips coming.
This soup was outstanding! I’ve never left a comment on a recipe ever and had to for this soup. The next day I mixed the left overs with some rancho Gordo heirloom beans and that was delicious as well! Thanks for the great recipe.
Thank you, Molly! I’m flattered. Glad you enjoyed the soup, I bet it is great with beans.
Handsome and a good cook…? Looks like you found a winner, missy!!!
:D he’s a winner, alright!
Josh is allergic to nuts, so how about I come over for dinner and you make this for me? :) Love it!
Yes! Come to Kansas City and I will make soup for you, Maria. :)
I just made this for dinner tonight and it was AH-mazing! Such a great change of pace than the traditional dinners I usually make. Thanks for the great recipe Kate!
Thanks, Caroline! I’m so glad you enjoyed the soup.
Hi Kate!
I just went through all 105 comments but couldn’t find whether anyone used natural PB with success…could you let me know your thoughts? Thanks!
Hey Steph, good question. I used MaraNatha’s no-stir organic/natural peanut butter in this recipe and it worked great. I would imagine that several of the others have been using natural peanut butter, too. As long as it’s really ground up well (not gritty) I think it will be fine!
Thanks for the reply! I used Trader Joe’s natural chunky PB and a bag of their southern greens blend and they worked perfectly.
The soup is delicious…It sort of reminds me of the Thai peanut dipping sauce for chicken satay skewers, but in soup form, if that makes sense :) Thanks for the recipe!
That totally makes sense! I’m glad the recipe worked out well for you, Steph.
Hi Kate! Do you know if this recipe freezes well? I’m just unsure because of the collard greens- probably gonna give it a shot! :)
Hey Olivia, I haven’t tried freezing the soup but I bet it would hold up well! Please let me know if you try.
This is one of the easiest soups I’ve ever made. It’s very tasty. I didn’t have veggie broth so I used organic chicken broth. I also couldn’t change my ways and I sauteed the onions, garlic, and ginger first (sorry). I’m putting the roasted & chopped peanuts and rice on the side for now (I just had all four wisdom teeth removed…thank you for your sympathy) since I cannot eat anything with tiny pieces, but won’t deny my friends the opportunity to enjoy the soup “blinged” out. Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks, Lisa! I’d probably sauté the aromatics next time, too—that certainly couldn’t hurt! I hope your mouth heals soon, I remember the balloon head feeling well. No fun.
I never thought that peanuts and tomatoes would be a good mix but after trying it I am very impressed! I am making this again!
Success! Made this tonight and it was a hit. Went heavy with garlic, ginger, and sriracha. Subbed kale for collards (since I made your Lemony Collard Greens last night!). I’m thankful for your recipes that use ingredients I tend to have handy!
Wonderful! Glad to hear that you’re enjoying my recipes, Kate. That makes me happy.
Sounds lovely, but haven’t seen collards in Warsaw in the 6 months we’ve been here. Can I substitute the collards for something else?
Hi Raquel, you could definitely substitute kale, or if you can’t find that, I think spinach would do as well. It won’t retain its texture like collards/kale, but I think it will be delicious nonetheless.
I made this with sweet potatoes and it came out perfectly. The flavors blend together so well, and I like that that it’s thick enough to be eaten with brown rice. This is a new favorite!
Glad to hear it, Yemi! Thanks for commenting.
I LOVED this. Seriously delicious. Adding this to the list of recipes that make me happy to be vegan. Thank you!
Hooray! Thanks, Jen.
This looks and sounds strange but is DELISH! I was also hesitant about boiling the garlic and ginger before sautéing but mmmmmm….
Thanks, Rosa! So glad you enjoyed the soup.
I love savory uses of peanuts! They are not used often enough in everyday cooking. Thanks for posting this!
Kate, thank you very much for this recipe. Followed the basic version but used frozen marrows and green beans I had and made whole wheat bread to go with. I got some wierd looks when I told people what I was making, but unanimously they loved it and polished the bowl! (Stuck on a sub-Antarctic Island with no fresh supplies, only dried onions and frozen veg, and even just with that it was super and easy cooking for 20 poeple). Thanks again. Most inspired. C
So glad you all enjoyed the recipe, Christelle! I never would’ve guessed that my recipe would be made so far south! Amazing.
This was a great recipe. I used kale instead of collard greens, pickapeppa sauce instead of hot sauce and I added a tablespoon of honey, squeezed in a lemon and went a bit heavy on the tomato paste (heaping 1/2 cup). It was absolutely divine and my boyfriend said this is his new favorite.
I came across this recipe on Pinterest and made it last night. I too, was a bit skeptical about not sautéing the onions and garlic, but I also made it exactly as written, and it was delicious! And so easy. Served with rice and a bit of sliced avocado. Perfect! Thanks for posting.
Wonderful! Glad you enjoyed the soup, Beth. Thanks for trusting me on this one. :)
I made this soup last month and I loved it. Making it again tonight. My new comfort food!
Forgot to mention, I made it with wild rice or wild rice blend and some avocado slices. Delicious.
Glad you enjoyed the soup, Damaris! Wild rice and avocado sound like great additions.
I loved this recipe and everybody I served it to did as well! I added cilantro, garbanzos and a purple sweet potato with shredded rotisserie chicken on the side for the meat eaters to add. We loved a dollop of sour cream/plain yogurt on top too! Yummy!
Thanks, Kate! I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe. Your additions sound great.
This was so good! I made it last night and posted about it on my blog today. Thanks for the fantastic recipe!
http://jennaloublog.blogspot.com/2013/03/cooking-west-african-peanut-soup.html
Made this last night for some friends, and it was delicious!!! A favorite for me now, thanks!
Thank you for commenting, Gayla! I’m glad you and your friends enjoyed the soup.
I’m so lad other people refer to sriracha as rooster sauce! Everyone is like “Why do you call it rooster sauce?”…umm because there is a big rooster on the bottle! Can’t wait to try this!
I just made this tonight. Followed the recipe as it is – and YUMMMMM!!! wow. i never would have guessed peanut butter + tomato was a good combo! very delicious dish. I’ll definitely be making this again. It’s quite simple to make, really. You could make it even quicker by doing some of the prep work the night before too. Also: i wonder how kale would taste instead of collard greens… hmmm…. :)
I’m not sure what sort of collard greens you’re using, but 15 minutes is not even close to enough time to cook them sufficiently. Also, a “bunch” of collard greens must vary greatly. No matter how much longer I let them cook, they continued to protrude from the broth. I added a bit of water to the broth and let it simmer on medium low, but it still tasted like undercooked collard greens in peanut water. It was a disaster.
Late to the game but finally made a batch and it was lovely. The soup is very forgiving. In the dinner rush, I started sauteing my garlic/onions/ginger in olive oil on auto-pilot before actually reading the recipe. Simmered the greens a bit and then just dissolved the peanut butter and tomato paste right in the stock out of laziness. Garnished with some dukkah spice I had left over from trying Food Loves Writing’s roasted carrot onion soup. Smash hit!
Thanks for commenting, Molly! I’m so glad you enjoyed the soup. I bet it’s fantastic with dukkah spice, I’ve been wanting to try some.
Yum-amazing! Although a tip in case others find theirs is also more watery than they’d like: I added about a cup of pureed chickpeas. Upped the iron+protein factor and got to the thicker consistency I was looking for. Devoured it!
Great tip, Annika! Thanks for sharing. Did you use tomato paste or crushed tomatoes? I’ve been confused about the reports of watery soup because my version with tomato paste was incredibly creamy as is.
This soup, had the honor of being my birthday dinner this year! It is a perfect reflection of my recently committed healthy, clean-eating lifestyle and was full of flavor. I did add garbanzo beans for some extra texture/flavor and I served it over brown & wild rice pilaf along with a green salad (and some vegan brownies…cuz, you know birthday!)
Thank you so much, I look forward to more recipes from your site.
Happy belated birthday, Rachel! I’m so glad you enjoyed the peanut soup. Vegan brownies sound like a great ending.
Just gotten to making this as a family dinner, possibly the greatest thing for novice student to whip up living away from home in a show of ‘I’m totally eating right and not living off of failed cooking attempts’ I’ve found yet! Everyone loved it – though did try it with the kale (first time ever eating it, and used a left over amount to make some delicious kale chips for midnight snack), threw in some frozen peas to pump it out some, and over white rice instead of brown (budget cut backs, I swear).
Everyone loved it – even my spice averting father and my spice loving mother (did have to give her a bottle of the chilli sauce to add extra though)
That’s so awesome, Jesse! Thank you for commenting. I’m so glad you and your family enjoyed the recipe, and your addition of peas sounds like a great idea.
I have made this twice now!! Absolutely amazing. I used diced tomatoes instead of crushed/paste and added broccoli, swiss chard and spinach to make it extra green. It is just amazing.
I love all the vegan options on your site! Thank you!
Thank you, Anjali! I never would have thought to add broccoli, yum. Glad you’re enjoying my vegan recipes. I’ll try to post more for you soon.
Making this again tonight but with a Thai flair. I’m still going to saute the ginger, garlic, and onion first. In addition, I’m going to add the tomato paste directly to the saute to concentrate the sweetness of the paste even more because I plan on adding a healthy does of sambal oelek, which should complement the sweetness nicely. I’m omitting the greens and opting for cilantro. I’m serving it with tofu lettuce wraps. Yay!
All great ideas, Lisa! I love sambal oelek (thanks for reminding me to add it to my grocery list, I’m out).