Adding more meatless meals to your diet gives you a fresh appreciation for other ingredients. Once you break free from relying on meat for protein and other vitamins and minerals you open your culinary world to surprisingly tasty and healthy options.

This sweet potato chowder is a hearty dish that fuels, fills, and satisfies. And, what we love most about it is that it gives your hair a boost, so you get the long, lush locks you crave.

Sweet potatoes are a hair superfood, bringing a powerful combination of fiber, iron, calcium, selenium, and B and C vitamins. All of these are important for hair health, growth, strength, and shine.

Selenium is one of our favorite minerals to see in foods. It’s great for your hair, working with your body’s immune system to prevent damage to cells and tissues, building hair from the inside out.

Sweet potatoes are also rich in folate, which is also known as vitamin B9. B vitamins are essential for overall health and a deficiency in B is known to lead to hair loss. Loading up on healthy foods that contain B vitamins is a great way to keep your hair on track and prevent hair loss.

There are even more reasons to love sweet potatoes, but we think it’s the taste of this meal that will win you over.

Sweet potato chowder

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, diced

2 medium celery stalks, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 pounds sweet potatoes, about 2-3 medium-sized ones, peeled and diced

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

½ teaspoon dried sage

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

4 cups vegetable stock

Directions:

Heat oil in a Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat. Once the oil shimmers, add the onion and celery and cook until the vegetables are soft and fragrant. This will take somewhere between 6 and 8 minutes. Then add the garlic and cook for another minute.

Incorporate the potatoes, coriander, paprika, sage, salt, and pepper. Stir gently to combine and cook for a minute.

Pour in the vegetable stock and bring the entire mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer covered until the potatoes are tender. This will take about 10 to 15 minutes.

Transfer 2 cups of the soup, including broth and vegetables, to a blender and puree until smooth. Stir this back into the soup and serve immediately. This thickens the soup. If you wish to puree all of it to create a smooth soup rather than a chowder, go right ahead.