Say Goodbye To Basic Potato Soup — Make A Cozy Fall-Forward Chowder Instead

Fall often returns to our kitchen through a simmering pot of hot soup. Year after year, it's potato soup that arrives first, answering that seasonal call for warmth and comfort. Little do we know, there's something better we could have been making all along, something much more fall-forward and just as delicious – sweet potato chowder.

With Tasting Table's version, recipe developer Hayley MacLean utilizes some of fall's most beloved harvests, such as sweet potatoes and carrots, to give this chowder an earthy-sweet flavor base. Then you've also got spinach offering a different tone of earthiness, one that leans more crisp and fresh. Everything is improved by fresh sage and ground nutmeg, adding some bite to the heart-warming essence. With toasted pumpkin seeds as a finishing touch, this sweet potato chowder is fall encapsulated in a bowl.

On your stove, the chowder starts with sizzling bacon bits. Once they are done cooking and removed from the pot, the leftover drippings can be used to imbue an extra savory undertone into the veggies as you simmer them in chicken broth. Heavy cream follows along when you have taken the pot off the heat, enriching the base with its tangy creaminess. Last comes the spinach, and just a few stirs later, the soup is ready to serve with bacon and toasted pumpkin seeds as garnish.

This sweet potato chowder only gets better and better with every new ingredient tweak. Elevating the taste profile from its rustic depth, you can try the spicy route with minced habanero chili or canned chipotle peppers, stirred straight into the chowder base. For more buttery richness and herbaceous aroma, nothing beats sage-laced brown butter. If a piney fragrance to cut through all that sweet potato richness is what you want, a pinch of freshly chopped rosemary will do, or perhaps opt for dried thyme leaves for a woody aroma. If you don't mind taking some of the spotlight away from the sweet potatoes' earthy sweetness, tomato sauce (or paste) might be excellent for lacing a tangy coziness into the dish.

No less important than the flavorings are the accompanying toppings. Other produce from your fall garden, such as squash, celery, and leeks, are always welcome. The same goes for leafy greens, which can be kale, Swiss chard, arugula, and many more. Still, there's always room for summer to linger when you bring corn and its pops of sweetness around. As for the protein, you might also like pancetta as a bacon substitute, or ham for a salty spin. Upgrading the dish to main course status, pieces of pan-seared chicken will do the trick. Since this is still a chowder we're talking about, it wouldn't be such a bad idea to complement it with seafood like white fish, shrimp, and scallops either. Serve it with a few slices of homemade garlic bread, and you've got a restaurant-worthy dinner.