Carrot Ginger Soup

Carrot ginger soup combines the natural sweetness of carrots with fresh and zesty ginger into a creamy and comforting soup you can serve as an appetizer or a light main meal.

You can make carrot soup in one pot with simple, wholesome ingredients. It’s a nourishing, invigorating recipe, excellent for cold fall, winter, and early spring days.

Carrot ginger soup is an excellent recipe to turn humble carrots left in the bottom drawer of your fridge into soup superstars.

This simple yet elegant and tasty recipe is easy to put together and is the perfect appetizer for holiday meals and family dinners alike.

Or serve it with rosemary focaccia, pita bread, naan, or homemade croutons to turn it into a light yet nourishing meal.

To make it, you’ll need to follow three simple steps:

1. Make a tasty flavor base with onion, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, and cumin.
2. Simmer the carrots until tender.
3. Blend with an immersion or standing blender.

You can enrich the soup with two or three potatoes or opt for heavy cream, coconut cream, or a dollop of yogurt.

As a final touch, don’t forget to add a splash of vinegar or lime (acidity boosts the flavors of the carrots) and some fresh parsley or cilantro.

Quantities are in the recipe box at the bottom of the page.

Carrots

You can use any carrots to make our carrot soup recipe. We use regular orange carrots.

Extra Virgin Olive oil

Try to get extra virgin olive oil. It has a better, nuttier, and fruitier taste and is healthier than refined oils and butter.

In addition, it can withstand high temperatures thanks to its high antioxidant content.

Substitute avocado oil, butter, or non-dairy butter for olive oil.

Ginger

Fresh ginger adds a zesty flavor and warmth to this carrot ginger soup. We like to grate the ginger with a grater or zester and add it to the flavor base with onion and garlic.

Onion

Onion is essential in carrot soup. Pick a big one, yellow or white.

We use onion to make a tasty flavor base, to which we then add the carrots.

Garlic

Fresh garlic adds depth of flavor and a mild garlic aroma. It’s delicious with carrots and with the other ingredients in this soup.

With the onion, garlic is an essential component of the flavor base.

Cumin (optional)

Cumin is delicious with carrots and ginger, so we recommend adding some to this carrot-ginger soup.

Start with a small amount, stir, taste, and add more if you like it.

Cumin is a strong spice that might overpower the other ingredients, but in the right amount, it makes this soup incredible.

Of course, like ginger, cumin is optional; you can leave it out.

You can substitute curry powder or turmeric for cumin. Start with small amounts, taste, and add more if desired.

Vegetable Broth

We use reduced-sodium vegetable broth as the liquid component for the soup. It adds a richer flavor than plain water.

You could use chicken broth if you wanted to. We like to keep this recipe meat-free so anyone can enjoy it.

Salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes

We recommend using sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add a pinch of red pepper flakes for some heat.

Vinegar

Vinegar adds a touch of acidity to the soup, which makes the other flavors pop in your mouth.

So, if you like poppy and slightly acidic flavors, add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar to the carrot soup.

Substitute lime juice or lemon juice for vinegar.

Cream

There are different ways to make carrot ginger soup creamier, and they are all optional.

You can use some coconut cream, heavy cream, non-dairy cooking cream, and even a dollop of Greek yogurt or dairy-free yogurt.

US cups + grams measurements in the recipe box at the bottom of the page.

In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the extra virgin olive oil.

Add chopped onion and garlic, grated ginger, ground cumin, and red pepper flakes, and cook gently for 5 to 10 minutes or until the onions are soft. Stir often.

Now add the carrots, peeled and chopped into small chunks. Season with salt and black pepper and sauté (cook) the carrots with the onions for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Tip: the smaller the carrot pieces, the faster the cooking time.

Add the vegetable broth, cover with a lid, bring to a boil, then crack the top open and simmer on medium heat for about 20 to 30 minutes or until the carrots are fork tender.

Blend with an immersion or standing blender until you reach your desired texture.

Add more broth if the soup is too thick. Taste and adjust for salt, pepper, and spices.

Optionally, stir in the vinegar and coconut milk and simmer for a few more minutes until hot.

Immersion blender: you can do so directly in the pot. It produces a soup with more texture and less velvety but delicious and wholesome, with a more rustic feel. If you have an enameled Dutch oven, be careful because the immersion blender can scratch your pot.

Regular or high-speed blender: let the soup cool down slightly (you don’t want piping hot liquid touching the plastic of your blender jug), then add it to your blender and blend until you reach your desired texture. You might have to work in batches if your blender is not big enough.

You can serve carrot ginger soup in small portions as an appetizer or in larger portions as a main. Or you can have it next to a chickpea tuna sandwich for lunch.

Serve in a bowl and garnish with fresh parsley or cilantro and a drizzle of coconut cream or extra virgin olive oil.

To turn this carrot soup into a meal, try serving it with:

• Crostini: super crusty and easy to make in 10 minutes.
• Focaccia bread with rosemary and an easy no-knead method.
• Croutons or air fryer croutons: ready in about 20 minutes, a lighter alternative to store-bought croutons.
• Roasted chickpeas or crispy air fryer chickpeas: a crispy and nutty addition to soups and salads.
• Pita bread: a delicious homemade Middle-Eastern flatbread.
• Naan: a soft and delicious Indian-inspired bread.

Breads

Homemade Croutons

Breads

Pita Bread

Mains

Focaccia

Sauces

Roasted Chickpeas

Roasted carrot soup

Preheat the oven to 400°F or 200°C.

Peel and chop the carrots, add them to the baking sheet, and season them with olive oil and salt. Toss and arrange them on a single layer with as little overlap as possible.

Roast them for about 30 minutes or until fork-tender and slightly caramelized on the surface.

Dark-brown color is equivalent to flavor, so you want to give them a good roasting.

Add the roasted carrots to the same olive oil and onion carrot base as above, add broth, and simmer for 5 minutes before blending.