Crockpot Peanut Butter Soup
This African Inspired Crockpot Peanut Butter Soup would be delicious for a plant-based meal, or make it any time you want an interesting soup! This soup is so tasty, no one will guess it’s actually vegan!
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In Utah the spring weather can change in a minute, and I always like to have soup in the freezer for those days when the weather suddenly gets cold. And this Crockpot Peanut Butter Soup is one of the most interesting meatless soup recipes I’ve made and stashed away in the freezer! This African-inspired soup uses a whole cup of peanut butter in a soup with peppers, tomatoes, chiles, brown rice, and lentils! Does that sound good to you?
The inspiration came from an interesting soup recipe I saw online, and I upped the spices and added lentils. With brown rice, lentils, and peanut butter, this soup is loaded with protein and flavor, and a crockpot with this simmering away would be great to come home to after a hard day at work.
What ingredients do you need?
- onion
- green onion
- red bell peppers
- Minced Garlic (affiliate link)
- canned diced tomatoes
- vegetable broth
- ground Cumin (affiliate link)
- ground Ancho chile (affiliate link) powder
- New Mexico chile powder
- Aleppo Pepper (affiliate link) (or red pepper flakes)
- uncooked brown lentils
- uncooked Uncle Ben’s Brown Rice (affiliate link)
- Adams 100% Natural Peanut Butter (affiliate link), or other natural peanut butter
What inspired people to put peanut butter in soup?
Besides the fact that it’s such a flavor boost, the idea of using peanut butter in soup and stew was inspired by peanut stew (also called groundnut stew) that’s common in West African countries such as Mali, Gambia, and Senegal. You can read more about variations for Peanut Stew and how it became popular in North America.
Can this Peanut Butter Soup cook all day?
If you have a slow cooker that cooks at a low setting, this soup can cook for eight hours while you’re at work. Just add the peanut butter and cook for another hour and dinner is ready. You can also cook for a shorter time on high if you want it done more quickly.
What size Slow Cooker did I use?
I used my favorite Crock-Pot 3.5 Quart Slow Cooker (affiliate link) for this recipe, but a slightly larger size will also be fine.
Want more Slow Cooker Soup Recipes?
If you love making soup in the slow cooker, there’s a great collection of Cook-All-Day Slow Cooker Soups on my Slow Cooker or Pressure Cooker site.
How to Make Crockpot Peanut Butter Soup:
(Scroll down for complete recipe with nutritional information.)
- Chop up the onions, red bell pepper, and green onions, and mince the garlic.
- Add those ingredients to the slow cooker with the lentils, brown rice, stock, canned tomatoes and spices. (Oops; not all those ingredients were added yet when we took this photo.)
- Cook on high for about 4 hours or on low for about 8 hours, or until the lentils and rice are well done.
- Reduce the heat to low and stir in the cup of peanut butter.
- Cook on low for about one more hour (or you can do 30 minutes on high if you’re in a rush, but the peanut butter will stay smooth better if you cook it on low.)
- Serve hot, with sliced green onions for garnish if desired.
More Delicious Soups:
Peanut butter Tofu with Sriracha
Slow Cooker Ground Turkey Soup
Keto Recipes with Peanut Butter
Crockpot Peanut Butter Soup
African Inspired Crockpot Peanut Butter Soup would be delicious for Meatless Monday, or just make it any time you want an interesting soup!
Ingredients
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped in small pieces
- 1/4 cup sliced green onion
- 2 red bell peppers, seeds removed and chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1 T minced garlic
- 2 14 oz. cans diced tomatoes with juice
- 8 cups vegetable stock
- 1 tsp. ground cumin
- 1 T Ancho chile powder
- 1 tsp. New Mexico chile powder
- 1 tsp. Aleppo pepper (see notes)
- 1/2 cup uncooked brown lentils
- 1/4 cup uncooked brown rice
- 1 cup natural peanut butter (see notes)
Instructions
- Chop onions, green onion, bell peppers, and garlic and place in crockpot.
- Add canned tomatoes with juice, stock, ground cumin, Ancho chile powder (affiliate link), New Mexico chile powder, Aleppo Pepper (affiliate link), lentils, and brown rice.
- Cook on high for about 4 hours or on low for about 8 hours, or until the lentils and rice are well done
- After 4 hours (for high) or 8 hours (for low), stir in peanut butter. Reduce heat to low if you were cooking on high
- Cook about one more hour. Serve hot
- This soup freezes well, and it’s great to have on hand for those spring days that suddenly feel like winter.
Notes
Use any combination of chile powders or spicy red pepper that you have if you don’t have Ancho chile powder or Aleppo pepper
Recipe adapted by Kalyn from Crockpot African Peanut Soup; recipe originally found at AllRecipes.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 284Total Fat: 18gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 920mgCarbohydrates: 25gFiber: 7gSugar: 11gProtein: 12g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
It’s important to use natural peanut butter if you’re making Crockpot Peanut Butter Soup for the original South Beach Diet, since many brands of peanut butter have a lot of added sugar. The use of brown rice would make this a phase two or three choice, but you could leave out the rice if you wanted to eat it for phase one. All the ingredients here are good choices for a low-glycemic eating plan but soup with lentils and brown rice is too high in carbs for a low-carb diet plan.
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Slow Cooker Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index photo index pages to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest or on Facebook to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.
62 Comments on “Crockpot Peanut Butter Soup”
“cook on high for about low for about 8 hours”?
Yes, that was a typo of course. I’m sorry if you weren’t able to figure it out. I have fixed it in the recipe now.
It did say “Cook on high for about 4 hours or on low for about 8 hours, or until the lentils and rice are well done” earlier in the post, in the section about “How to Make . . .” But I am guessing you didn’t see that.
This sounds lovely, but i’m a little confused as to why a Vegetarian Recipe would include a Chicken and Beef stock. Obviously common sense dictates that i would use veg or vegan stock – it just looks odd on a vegetarian recipe. Other than that i’m looking forward to making it!
The recipe says “8 cups vegetable stock” so I guess I am confused about why you are concerned about the option to use chicken or beef stock. Obviously that option is intended for people who aren’t vegetarians. Hope you enjoy the recipe.
I just made this yesterday! Found it while browsing for lentil crock pot recipes. I halved most of the ingredients – half onion, 1 red bell pepper, 1 can diced tomatoes, 4 cups vegetable stock – kept it vegetarian. 1/2 c peanut butter. I also threw in a little Sriracha! I doubled the lentils and rice. it came out very tasty. I would compare the consistency of it to more of a hearty chili than a soup. The peanut butter really stands out which gives it an interesting flavor but somehow brings it all together. I could definitely see me eating this on a snow day. Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed it!
I make this soup so often that I don't even have to look at the recipe anymore! I got a new slow cooker for Christmas since the old one broke late last year, and I finally took it out of the box this morning so I could make this! The only thing I do differently is add a big chunk of fresh ginger. I mince it in my food processor and then add the peppers and onions to chop them quickly. Oh, and I also use red lentils because I usually have those in my pantry. I love this recipe because of the super quick prep and the deliciousness!
So glad you have enjoyed it! I love the addition of fresh ginger!
Yes, I think this will work well in a pressure cooker and I like the sound of sweet potatoes in it.
This would take under an hour start to finish in a pressure cooker, and electric one would make it be automatic. I'm adapting this soon. Thanks! I also like sweet potatoes in mine. Learned it from a friend from Kenya.
So I'm trying this recipe tonight, using my 3 1/2 quart slow cooker- and I could only fit 4 cups of broth in with all the other ingredients. I'm confused. Should I halve the peanut butter?
Jill I just got home, so sorry if this answer is too late. I am surprised to hear that, can't figure out why it won't fit. But I'd still use nearly a cup of peanut butter if it was me.
My daughter made this for dinner tonight, and it was really delicious! We will make this often. Thank you for the delicious, easy recipe!
My pleasure; so glad you enjoyed it.
Yes I freeze with the peanut butter added but you could do it either way.
I made this tonight but had to wing it on the stove since I didn't buy the ingredients early enough in the day to use my crockpot. It came out pretty good, and I'll definitely make it again. I will add more rice though since I felt it got a little lost. I plan to freeze some next time. Do you freeze it with the peanut butter already added?
I would use creamy, but if you only have crunchy I don't think it would be bad.
Creamy or crunchy peanut butter?
Made it tonight. Was Awesome, Robust and full of flavour. thanx for the great Recipe!!
Jeanette, it was so frustrating because the cooler had all my things like curry paste, soup base, etc., as well as some homemade food. Oh well, onward!
I hate that when you "lose" food and end up having to throw it out, especially if it's homemade. Hope your move went smoothly. I just made African Peanut Stew last year for the first time, and couldn't believe how good it was. Love the idea of a hearty soup with similar flavors, easily vegetarian and meatless.
I have been making this for years, both with the original chicken/beef stock combination or with all vegetable stock. When I edited with the new photos, I probably should have edited the recipe to reflect that I usually use vegetable stock now. Sorry I missed that, but I have fixed it now.
It says in the recipe commentary that you can replace the stock with veggie stock to make this a vegan recipe.
Anyone have any ideas on how to make this vegetarian-friendly? I would usually just replace chicken/beef broth with veggie broth, but open to ideas!
I just wanted to point out a recipe that contains chicken stock and beef stock vegetarian, should not be classified as vegetarian.
I love this! Glad you updated it and reposted. yES, Utah weather is all kinds of crazy in the spring.
Zerrin, glad you like it. We are having very warm weather right now, but I know we'll have snow a few more times.
This soup sounds so flavorful! I love lentils in such soups, it makes any soup so satisfying!
We are enjoying Spring here, but the weather changes a lot here too. It was like a summer day yesterday, but it's rainy today. A perfect day to make this soup!
I made this soup a few days ago. It is delicious!! The peanut butter is such an unexpected addition. When reheating the next day, I added diced cooked chicken. My mother thought it would be good with some added ground beef. Thanks Kalyn. I’ll be adding this to my fall soup faves!!
this sounds like the soup someone made for national soup swap day last year. i accidentally grabbed the wrong one and never got to try it. now is my chance!
this soup looks absolutely deicious – I love a peanut butter style stew but love your addition of lentils and rice – if only I had a crockpot I’d love to come home to this of an evening
Merrill, I do think you could add a bit more rice or lentils (or maybe both if you didn’t use too much more) and maybe some chicken without needing more liquid.
I tried this last night and it was great. We did think that doubling the lentils and/or rice might make it a little heartier or maybe adding some shredded chicken. Would additional liquid be needed?
I love peanut butter but in soup…? But from all the comments, it seems like lotsa people use peanut butter in savoury dishes 🙂
I like using peanut butter in savoury dishes and this sound tasty!
nice recipes. its nice to learn some new soups that i can prepare for the upcoming cold weather 🙂
-mariah
that looks great.will try it
vivari
Your site looks great, Kalyn, and actually makes me excited about this cooler weather and the food that comes with it. Thank you!
Arfi, I haven’t made peanut butter, but I hear it’s not that hard. I buy the natural unsweetened type.
BTW everyone, I made this with creamy peanut butter but next time I might try chunky!
wow, peanut butter in soup? that must be rich! do you make your own peanut butter? that must be flavoursome!
Oh wow, I would never have thought about using peanut butter in soup, but this looks really good. Usually a make a Greek style lentils soup, called fakes. Lentils are so high in iron, I should really try to make it more often. I’m definitely going to try this recipe.
I do believe we’ll be making this soon.
Hi Kalyn,
Thanks for the comment. You can get Fenugreek seeds in any Indian stores also. Check out any nearby Indian stores. These seeds sprout within 2 days and are great in salads.
Wow, this sounds so good!
Would you believe the first time I made an African peanut soup, I was inspired from teaching a world literature class! I love, love, love this kind of hearty, warm soup. It looks perfect.
peanut butter in my stew? i’ve got to try this!!!
Man this looks good.
I love your recipes and I’d like to print some of them out and try them. I read your printing instructions, but they only print the text, not the photo. How can I print the photo with the text? I’ve tried selecting everything and using copy/paste, but it doesn’t work. Help!
This looks so knock your socks off different it begs to be cooked!
Beautiful!
Beautiful soup — and Rand has come through with another stunning banner! Now it really feels like winter is coming.
I’ve been dreaming of making an african peanut soup and am so glad I found this recipe. I look forward to making this.
I love lentil soup and would never think to add peanut butter! I bet this is very filling.
All those ingredients sound fabulous!! I love anything with lentils and the crockpot makes it even better.
I loved this soup, so I”m glad it sounds good to people.
Caroline, I wondered that myself. I think the brown rice might start to fall apart with longer cooking time, but it would probably be okay. Don’t add more liquid though. Let me know if you try it.
Ricki, yes you could make it on the stove. I would add at least a cup more water, since some will evaporate while you simmer it on low, and don’t pre-cook the lentils. I’m guessing it would take a little over an hour simmered on the stove at a low temperature, then maybe another 15 minutes after you add the peanut butter.
Sounds fantastic! Silly question, but one could make this without the crockpot as well, right? (I’m assuming you’d pre-cook the lentils/rice?)
I bet this soup has amazing flavor going on! Can’t wait to try it!
I’ve recently become a little obsessed with my crockpot, and I’m always looking for new yummy African recipes. This one is going to the top of the list:)
I’ve been bookmarking a lot of lentil soups lately, but the peanut butter in this one makes it unique among the others. I wonder, could it cook for a couple more hours (on low) if I add more liquid? I hate how crockpot recipes only require 8-9 hours of cook time; on weekdays, I am always gone for longer than that!
Hi Kalyn! I’m glad that you liked this—and I love the addition of lentils. I am a lentil novice, and am just discovering their magical (and frugal!) powers.
xoxo
steph
What amazing flavors! I love the use of lentils, and the use of peanut butter as a “secret” ingredient.
I just made a really delicious autumn lentil soup (with nutmeg and cinnamon). However, peanut butter is one of my favorite things in the world (as are chiles), so I have a feeling another lentil soup is in my future!
Sues
That looks great! Love the protein/fiber boost of rice and lentils.