Carrot ginger soup. You may think it’s nothing innovative, not in any of its million iterations. But try this simple and slightly spicy iteration and get back to us. It’s creamy and easy and healthy and vegan and scrumptious and certain to draw compliments. And unlike many carrot soups, it’s not overly sweet, which we quite like. To fancy it up a touch, dribble a little coconut milk over the soup just before serving.–Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Paltrow’s Carrot Ginger Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 large onion, cut in half and thinly sliced
- Salt
- 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 pound carrots, scrubbed and cut into 1-inch (2.5-centimeter) pieces (2 1/2 to 3 cups)
- 3 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Coconut milk (optional)
Instructions
- In a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat, warm the oil until shimmering. Add the onion and a pinch of salt, cover the pot, and sauté over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is very soft, about 20 minutes.
- Add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Stir in the cumin, coriander, and garam masala and continue to cook, stirring, for another minute.
- Toss in the carrots, stock, and another big pinch of salt. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil. Turn down the heat and simmer gently until the carrots are very tender, 20 to 30 minutes.
- Blend the soup in the pot with an immersion blender or, if using a blender, let the soup cool for at least 10 minutes and then carefully pour it into the blender and purée until creamy and smooth, working in batches if necessary.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls. If desired, add a dribble of coconut milk. Serve warm.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe Testers’ Reviews
This carrot ginger soup really is lovely. The sweet onion and carrots were nicely balanced by the ginger and spices, and though I often find the spices get lost in a soup like this, they really shone here. The soup smelled and tasted wonderful.
After puréeing, it was incredibly thick. I’d used all my broth, so I added 1/2 cup water to thin it a bit, but ideally, I think I would start with 4 cups broth. Serves 4. No more.
This is a lovely carrot ginger soup. There’s a gentle heat from the ginger and a lovely floral note from the coriander. It’s super easy to make, so it’s perfect for a weeknight.
I used a mandoline to cut both the onion and garlic. I’ll use it to cut the carrots as well next time. I was concerned that the onions might scorch, but they didn’t. While the onions were cooking, I scrubbed and cut up the carrots.
It only took 20 minutes of gentle simmering after the addition of the other ingredients for the carrots to be soft enough to purée with the stick blender. This recipe is definitely a keeper.
This tasty carrot ginger soup was easy to put together, taking about 15 minutes to prep and 20 minutes to cook.
I recommend using organic carrots and just scrubbing them to cut down on peeling time. I also used an immersion blender to blend the cooked ingredients, leaving a few pieces of carrot in the pot for texture. The result was a sweet carrot soup with a tangy hint of ginger. Perfect with a loaf of crusty bread.
We enjoy vegetable soups, but somehow the single-vegetable soup gets relegated to second place. This was a nicely textured, slightly spiced soup with a little heat from the ginger.
Next time, I might add a little brown sugar to emphasize the sweetness of the carrots and the ginger.
Creamy, bright, and tasty, this satisfying carrot ginger soup is the best kind of healthy. That is, you won’t remember it’s healthy until after you’ve licked your bowl. Add a sandwich or salad, and you’ve got a perfect lunch. Prep is simple: sweat an onion till sweet and soft. Meanwhile, you’ve got plenty of time to gather the spices and carrots. Cover with simple stock (boxed was fine; I’d bet even water would work), and when supple enough, stick-blend the bejesus out of it.
Start to finish, without peeling the carrots and using a stick blender, this can be pulled off in half an hour. Otherwise, it’s still a less-than-1-hour recipe. The pace is nice, though, allowing the cook time between steps.
Caution: Without enough salt, this could taste like health food, so season till she sings! Leftovers were lovely the next day, no special treatment, just nuked.
I personally prefer to roast my vegetables before I make them into a soup, but this is delicious anyway.
Not peeling the carrots really speeds up the process. It took me longer to get everything assembled together on the counter than it did to get the soup in the pot. It uses more onion than I normally would, but the addition of the sautéed onions and garam masala make up for the lack of roasting, and you don’t lose the moisture that you normally would through the roasting process. The coconut oil also adds a nice hint of sweetness. I used my own homemade vegetable stock that I made using all of my leftover vegetable scraps. This was a great stock for this recipe because it had just a touch of sweetness and enough umami to make it flavorful.
I’ll make this again.
This evaluation comes in the form of a confession coupled with a pleasant surprise. I’ve had 2 weeks to make a testing recipe and turn in an evaluation. Time passes and I finally decide to find the quickest recipe and toss it together at the last moment even if the recipe didn’t appeal to me. I fully expected the final product to be less than stellar. I prepped my ingredients, followed the carrot ginger soup recipe as written, and in a little under an hour, created a fabulous pot of soup with just the right mixture and quantity of spice and flavor.
I know instinctively that this soup will be better tomorrow. My only question—how will it be cold?
It’s always a pleasant surprise to find a recipe that delivers a ton of flavour from just a few pantry ingredients and minimal effort. This soup is delicious! The spices are well balanced and the ginger adds a bit of heat. It’s lovely and smooth. I changed the prep slightly and caramelized the onions and carrots, adding the garlic and spices and cooking for a minute or two, before adding the broth. I also added a splash of vinegar. It took almost an hour at a low simmer for the carrots to cook. Instead of coconut milk I added a swirl of yogurt. A definite keeper!
Wonderful, Sadie! Your soup sounds delightful and we’re thrilled that it turned out so well. Thank you for taking the time to comment.
Absolutely delicious, and couldn’t be easier. I did end up using 4 cups of stock as the soup was quite thick, and instead of drizzling coconut milk on top of the soup I added 1/2 the can directly to the soup and then pureed it. Perfect for lunch with a small sandwich.
Linda, superb! So glad you enjoyed it.