Creamy ginger-scented carrot soup topped with a swirl of cream and fresh chives makes a cozy vegetarian lunch or dinner. You’ll love this soup!
Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: This soup is so creamy and delicious, and you’ll be glad to know that it’s nutritious, too.
How long it takes: 55 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: soup pan, immersion blender
Servings: makes 7 cups
Carrot soup is a nice change from tomato soup. We love tomato soup and have it often. One of our favorites is this smoky roasted tomato soup with smoked paprika and our Instant Pot tomato soup is so creamy and easy to make, too.
But enough about tomato soup! We’re here to sing the praises of this creamy carrot soup. It isn’t difficult to make, and isn’t it beautiful?
Delicious Creamy Carrot Soup
Great tasting and good for you, too! This beautifully hued creamy carrot soup is so satisfying, nutritious, and absolutely delicious. With a pound and a half of carrots, it’s bursting with goodness and lots of Vitamin A (16,488 IU per serving!). You may think a creamy soup like this would be high in calories but a one cup serving is only 137 calories. (And it’s gluten-free.)
A satisfying vegetarian entrée. Serve this creamy carrot soup with a thick slice of whole grain bread or homemade corn muffins. I often serve it with crackers and protein-rich edamame dip. It also goes really well with air fryer grilled cheese sandwiches.
Easy to make. Even though this soup looks a little fancy, it isn’t at all difficult. The carrots do have to simmer for about a half hour so they get nice and soft but that’s all hands off time. The rest is super easy and the soup is ready to eat in less than an hour with only one pan to wash.
Ingredients
- Carrots: Lots and lots of carrots! Buy regular carrots. I like the big ones so I don’t have to peel as much (that’s my lazy tip!). Canned carrots are a possible shortcut and I’ve included instructions for those in the recipe card.
- Onion: Use a medium-sized onion. Any type of onion is fine but regular yellow cooking onions are economical and perfect for soups.
- Garlic: There’s just a hint of garlic in the soup, only one clove.
- Olive Oil and a Pinch of Salt: The carrots and onions are sautéed lightly in oil before a longer simmer to tenderize them.
- Vegetable Broth: Choose low-sodium if you can find it. If you’re not vegetarian, chicken stock or broth is fine too.
- Dark Brown Sugar: The molasses-like flavor of dark brown sugar enhances the natural sweetness of the carrots.
- Ground Ginger: To keep things easier, we use ground ginger. Fresh ginger is a good option too. If you love curry, substitute a teaspoon of curry powder.
- Heavy Cream: A half cup of cream makes this soup wow-worthy.
- Fresh Chives, for optional garnish.
How to Make Creamy Carrot Soup
You’ll need a large soup pan and an immersion blender.
Sauté the vegetables. Begin by prepping the carrots, onion, and garlic. The carrots should be peeled and chopped into fairly uniform slices. Warm up a little oil in the soup pan and add the carrots and onion, sautéing them about ten minutes or until they are beginning to soften. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for one more minute.
Simmer until tender. Add the broth and a cup of water. Bring the pot to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer the veggies for about thirty minutes, or until the carrots are soft. Test the tenderness by forking a carrot out of the pot. You should be able to mash it pretty easily with the fork.
Blend the soup until smooth. Stir in the brown sugar and ground ginger. Carefully use an immersion blender to blend the soup until it’s very smooth. A regular blender works but you will have to do it in batches. Be very careful while pouring the hot soup.
Blending Tip
Take the pan off the burner and set it on a hot pad on the counter or in the sink. Tip the pan slightly with one hand while you use the immersion blender in the other hand. Tipping the pan reduces spatters and circulates the soup so that it blends evenly.Stir in cream. Return the pan to the stove with the heat turned very low. Stir in the heavy cream and serve topped with chopped fresh chives or parsley, if desired.
This soup goes well with a sandwich or wrap, too. Try curry chicken salad, roasted vegetable wrap, or turkey salad on croissants for a hearty soup and sandwich meal.
Add carrots to soup. I pretty much add a carrot or two to almost every soup I make, such as minestrone soup or vegetable soup. They add sweetness, color, nutrition, and flavor.
Add carrots to pasta sauce. Add a finely shredded carrot to spaghetti sauce for extra (invisible) nutrition and to tone down the acidity of tomatoes and add natural sweetness. You can make a creamy carrot pasta sauce, too, without tomatoes.
Cook carrots as a side. Roasted carrots with cumin seeds are so good! You can’t beat the convenience of these crockpot carrots with cinnamon glaze. And brown sugar glazed carrots with bourbon are outstanding!
Make sweet treats. Try carrot muffins with raisins, or these extra special carrot muffins with a cream cheese filling (they taste just like carrot cake!). This carrot soufflé is pretty amazing, too.
Make It Your Own
- Shortcut: Use canned carrots. They’re pretty soft already so you won’t have to cook the soup as long, and they’re already peeled. See recipe notes for details.
- This creamy carrot soup can be topped in a variety of ways. Homemade croutons are always a good topper for soup. Try roasted pepitas, candied pecans, or sliced almonds. This homemade savory granola is really unique and is nut-free. Fried sage leaves, crispy shallots, or crumbled bacon are good toppers, too.
- Substitute yogurt for the cream. Instead of heavy cream, use Greek yogurt thinned with a bit of milk. Take the soup off the heat before adding yogurt or it may curdle.
- Omit the cream for a vegan or dairy free soup. I’ve made this soup both with and without cream and it’s good both ways. Omit the extra cup of water which is added with the broth. If you would like it to be thicker, stir in a couple tablespoons of potato flakes. Or try this carrot ginger soup made with coconut milk.
Prep veggies ahead. To get a head start on making this soup, prep the carrots and onion a day or two ahead of time. Put them in a covered bowl or resealable bag in the fridge. You’ll save 10 minutes or so of prep time.
Make the soup ahead. This soup can easily be made up to three days in advance and refrigerated. Reheat it when you want to serve it.
Refrigerate: Carrot soup will keep in the refrigerator in covered bowl for up to three days. Reheat slowly over low heat until the soup is warmed through.
Freeze:If you’d like to make soup to freeze, omit the cream. The soup can be frozen for up to 6 months. To serve, thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Reheat over low heat until the soup is hot, then turn down the heat and slowly stir in the cream.
Free Meal Plan
Interested in a weekly meal plan that includes this recipe? Take a look at my Meal Plan #3 or Meal Plan #63 (Vegetarian). You’ll find a wholesome recipe for each weekday plus a categorized grocery list. Let me do the planning for you this week! We add a new meal plan weekly.
More Vegetarian Soups
Creamy Carrot Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 ½ pounds carrots, peeled and chopped (see note)
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 carton reduced sodium vegetable broth (32 oz.)
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar (or regular brown sugar)
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger (see note)
- ½ cup heavy cream, more for garnish if desired
- Chopped chives, for garnish if desired
Instructions
- In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add carrots, onion, garlic, and salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions become translucent and carrots are beginning to soften, about 10 minutes.
- Add broth and water, bring to boil, reduce to simmer. Simmer until carrots are very tender, about 30 minutes.
- Stir in brown sugar and ginger. Using an immersion blender, purée until very smooth. You can use a regular blender too, but be careful, and do it in batches.
- Stir in heavy cream, taste and check seasoning, and keep warm over very low heat until ready to serve.
- If desired, garnish with a swirl of heavy cream and a sprinkle of fresh chives. Makes about 7 cups.
Notes
- A quickie shortcut is to use canned carrots. You’ll need 3 (14 oz.) cans, drained. Add them to the soup with the broth and shorten the simmering time to ten minutes before puréeing.
- If you prefer, fresh ginger root can be substituted for ground ginger. Chop finely or grate peeled ginger root. You’ll need a rounded tablespoon. Add it to the soup with the garlic.
- Omit cream for vegan or non-dairy soup. Omit the water, and stir in a couple tablespoons of potato flakes if desired, to thicken.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did You Make This?Share a comment and rating below! I love hearing what you think!
My daughter left me 3 bags of carrots in my frig before leaving for Hungary, so I was hunting a carrot soup recipe, found yours by Googling, and I have to say that, after making it, it is FABULOUS! I grated ginger root and went exactly by your recipe. Made it extra creamy by ending my immersion blender phase on high speed for a while. My wife is a dietitian, just got home from work tonight, we sat down and ate it…and she said it was DELICIOUS! It’s tough to get her seal of approval, so I definitely give this 5 stars. Thank you Rachel and God Bless You!
Oh I’m so glad you liked it! Your comment made my day.
Trying your carrot soup recipe soon. It looks great! Plus another use for one of my favorite kitchen tools, the wand blender!
I hope you love it!