Easy Jerusalem Artichoke Recipe – Sunchoke Soup

Easy jerusalem artichoke recipe - Sunchoke Soup
Jerusalem Artichokes — also known as sunchokes — is the star of our show in this vegan sunchoke soup. I was first introduced to Sunchokes when I had a vegetarian sunchoke soup at Per Ser by Thomas Keller in NYC and then years later I saw this recipe in NY magazine.

Recently, I have been seeing these beauties everywhere so I come up with a healthy plant-based version of the soup with no dairy and cream or meat. Sunchokes are a versatile root vegetable that can be cooked in many different ways: roasted, fried, broiled, grilled, or just eaten raw in a salad. Cook and add them wherever you would use other root vegetables. In this recipe, we cook them before blending the soup into a creamy concoction, which adds a nutty and filling flavor to the soup. Peeling them for this recipe requires a little bit of patience and time. However, it’s so worth it; the result is a creamy, hearty, and flavorful soup with a kick from the curry paste or curry powder. This gluten-free sunchoke soup recipe is so comforting during the fall/winter season and can be ready in under 30 minutes if you’re just making the soup!

Easy Jerusalem Artichoke Recipe - Sunchoke Soup

Jerusalem Artichoke — also known as sunchokes — is the star of our show in this vegan and gluten-free sunchoke soup.

  • Course: Soup

Ingredients

Soup

  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 cup yellow onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 3 tbsp red curry paste or 3 teaspoons curry powder
  • 4 cups sunchokes peeled and diced
  • 1 can chickpeas or white beans, rinsed and drained
  • 4 cups vegetable stock
  • 1 can (13.5oz) coconut milk
  • salt and pepper

Roasted chickpeas

  • 1 can  (15oz) chickpeas, rinsed, drained, and dried well
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/8 tsp of garlic powder 
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt or more to taste

Sunchoke Chips (optional)

  • 1 tbsp  extra virgin olive oil
  • 1-2 sunchokes scrubbed and thinly sliced (I used a mandolin)

Garnishes

  • Fresh cilantro
  • Lime wedges

Instructions

Soup

  1. Preheat a large pot over medium-high heat.

  2. Add olive oil and onion and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes.

  3. Stir in the garlic, and curry paste or powder and stir well. Cook for about 30 seconds.

  4. Add in the sunchokes, beans, and vegetable stock.

  5. Cover and simmer on medium heat for about 20-25 minutes until the sunchokes are very soft.

  6. Add in the coconut milk and using a hand blender, puree until very smooth. If you are using a regular blender, let the soup cool down and blend well.

  7. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Crispy Chickpeas

  1. Place the chickpeas onto a clean kitchen towel and rub gently to take the outer skin off. Dry well.

  2. Transfer the dried chickpeas to a large baking sheet. Mix well with a tablespoon of olive oil, garlic powder, and sea salt. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and crispy. Turn the oven off, and allow them to cool.

  3. If using an Air Fryer In a medium bowl mix chickpeas, oil, garlic powder, and salt. Place chickpeas in the Air Fryer basket. Set the temperature to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and the timer to 20 minutes. Open the basket and shake the basket every 5 minutes.

  4. Note - Crispy Chickpeas can be made up to a week in advance and stored in an airtight container on your kitchen counter.

Sunchoke Chips

  1. Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add in sunchoke slices. Pan-fry until golden brown on both sides, about 30 seconds to a minute. Drain on a few sheets of paper towel and set aside.  Season with salt and pepper. 

  2. Garnish with the chickpeas, sunchoke chips, cilantro, and lime.

Bon appétit!

Recipe Notes

Meal Prep Tip - You can make Chickpeas ahead of time and store them in an airtight container, on the kitchen countertop for up to a week.  

You can make the soup ahead of time and store it in an airtight container for up to 5 days in the fridge.  Or you can freeze soup for up to 3 months.  Defrost soup in the refrigerator or countertop before reheating.  

WHAT ARE JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES (AKA SUNCHOKES)?

Contrary to their name, Jerusalem artichokes are not artichokes; although both of them are related to the daisy family, which gives them a slight artichoke taste. They’re also not from Jerusalem, but rather native to central regions of North America. These tubers resemble knobs of ginger and are crunchy like a water chestnut or radish but when consumed baked, they take on a starchy taste similar to a potato. Look for them at your local farmer’s market or a health food store, as they may be difficult to find in regular grocery stores. That being said, I have been seeing sunchokes pop up on restaurant menus more and more.

 

In addition to being tasty and providing a filling starch to our soup, sunchokes are also pretty impressive from a nutritional perspective. They’re a great source of potassium and iron, which is so vital to eating a plant-based diet. In contrast to potatoes, which are high in carbohydrates, sunchokes contain inulin, a type of dietary fiber that feeds the friendly bacteria in your gut. This complex carbohydrate has little to no effect on blood sugar and is beneficial to those with diabetes.

Easy jerusalem artichoke recipe - Sunchoke Soup

What other ways can you use Jerusalem Artichokes or sunchokes?

  • Raw- slice or grate them raw with their skins intact and add them to a green salad for an added crunch.
  • Boiled or steamed- boil them in hot water for 15 minutes until they’re fork-tender. Chop them up into smaller pieces so that they cook faster.
  • In our recipe, we cook them down in the soup until they’re tender and we also fry thin slices of them for garnish. Slice them really thin and lightly salt them before adding to the pan and they’ll taste even better than a potato chip.

 

Hint: You don’t have to peel sunchokes for any of the methods listed above. In fact, leaving the skin maximizes the nutritional benefit you get from sunchokes. I like to peel them for this soup recipe so that it’s not a slight brown color. If you’re peeling them, be sure to keep them in a bowl of water with a drop of lemon to prevent them from discoloring (just as you would with potatoes).

DIFFERENT WAYS TO PLAY AROUND WITH Jerusalem Artichoke SOUP

  • Crispy roasted chickpeas are delicious as a garnish in this soup. Use cannellini (aka white beans) instead for a creamier alternative.
  • Experiment with using yellow or green curry paste instead of red. Yellow is mild and green is going to be the hottest out of the 3 colors.
  • If you can’t find curry paste, use curry powder. For every tablespoon of curry paste use 1 teaspoon of curry powder. In our recipe that would equate to 3 teaspoons of curry powder.
  • Leave curry paste out altogether and add some truffle oil or fresh or dried rosemary.
  • If you’re in a rush, leave out the sunchoke chips and roasted chickpeas and just make the soup and serve with rosemary croutons instead.

 


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Comments? Questions? Please share!

  • Priti

    This soup is delightful, nutritious and satisfying. I have never cooked with sunchokes before. The soup and the chips were a really easy and delicious first recipes to try. Looking forward to diversifying more with your recipes.

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