Celebrate soup season in style with this delicious, creamy carrot soup! With roasted carrots, zesty ginger, an indulgent splash of cream, and a velvety texture, ginger carrot soup pairs perfectly with crusty bread and salad. This family-friendly recipe is perfect for dinner or lunch, but it also makes a fantastic appetizer for dinner parties and holiday meals.
Make this soup with carrots and a handful of pantry staples in just a few easy steps. It’s excellent for meal prep too! Simply reheat it to serve on busy evenings. For more vegetarian soup recipes, check out my Asparagus Soup, Cauliflower Soup, and Pumpkin Soup recipes.
Ingredients
Carrots — choose firm, dense carrots with a deep orange color. Peel the carrots and chop them into similarly-sized pieces before roasting.
Garlic — when sautéed and simmered, this aromatic ingredient adds nutty notes to the recipe. You will need four gloves of fresh garlic.
Ginger — fresh ginger is warm and spicy, making it a perfect complement to sweet carrots. Peel off the skin with a vegetable peeler or scrape it off with a spoon, then grate it on a microplane zester or fine grater. You can also finely mince it.
Vegetable Broth — the perfect savory base for the soup. You can also use vegetable stock if you have it on hand. If you do not need this recipe to be vegetarian, chicken broth or chicken stock can also be substituted.
Heavy Cream — this ingredient adds rich flavor, creaminess, and a velvety texture to the creamy carrot soup. You can swap in half-and-half if necessary, but full-fat or heavy whipping cream makes the creamiest soup.
How To Make Carrot Soup
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. Place the carrots on the prepared baking sheet and toss with the olive oil until evenly coated. Roast the carrots for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring once halfway through, until they are caramelized and tender.
2. Melt the butter in a Dutch oven or large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for about 5 minutes until slightly softened. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for about 30 seconds until fragrant.
3. Add the roasted carrots, broth, salt, and pepper, and bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes until the carrots are very tender.
4. Working in two batches, carefully ladle the soup into the canister of a blender.
5. Place the lid on the canister, but remove the center insert to leave an opening. Cover the opening loosely with a clean dish towel or paper towel to allow steam to vent. Puree on medium-high speed for about 1 minute or until very smooth. Transfer this mixture to a clean bowl. Repeat with the remaining soup.
6. Return all of the pureed soup to the pot. Stir in the cream. Heat over medium-low heat for 1 to 2 minutes to warm the soup. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.
Ways To Serve Creamy Carrot Soup
My favorite way to garnish hot bowls of this creamy soup is simply with a swirl of sour cream or high-quality olive oil, a sprinkle of sea salt, freshly cracked pepper, and crunchy croutons. You can also serve it with sliced warm Artisan Bread or Sourdough Bread and a smear of salted butter. For a heartier serving, top it with steamed rice or coconut rice or chopped leftover roasted chicken.
Recipe Variations
- Use different seasonings: Try seasoning combinations to make this soup suit your taste. For an enhanced umami flavor, sauté one tablespoon of white miso paste with the garlic and ginger. For a zesty, lightly spicy dimension, stir in a teaspoon or two of curry powder or a tablespoon of your favorite curry paste with the garlic and ginger. You can also stir in 1-2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice before serving to give the soup a bright, citrus flavor.
- Switch up the toppings: Elevate the presentation while layering on additional flavor or texture by topping the soup with a swirl of pesto, a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, roasted veggies, crispy roasted chickpeas, or chopped fresh herbs.
- Make it thinner: After blending, add more broth to adjust the soup’s consistency to your liking.
- Use rainbow carrots: To add more color to this recipe, substitute a mixture of red, yellow, or white rainbow carrots for their classic orange counterparts. If using purple carrots, the soup may have a brownish tinge after blending, but it will still be delicious.
How To Store
- Refrigerated: Cool the soup to room temperature and store the leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- Freezing: The cooled soup can also be frozen in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Defrost it overnight in the refrigerator, or warm it from frozen.
- Reheating: Warm the soup in a saucepan over low heat on the stovetop, stirring it frequently until hot, 5 to 10 minutes. You can also reheat individual portions of the soup in the microwave in 1-minute bursts, stirring between intervals, until warm. If reheating it from frozen, the soup may need an extra 5 minutes on the stovetop or 1-2 minutes in the microwave.
Pro Tips For Making This Recipe
- Roast the carrots thoroughly or until caramelized and tender. This allows the carrots to cook through and also helps to caramelize the sugars, resulting in a naturally sweet, full flavor.
- Remove the vent from the blender lid. The hot soup will let off steam as it blends. To prevent splattering and burns, remove the vent from the lid and place a clean dish towel over the top to catch splatters. If you don’t have a vented lid, leave one side of the lid ajar about ½ inch. Carefully place a clean dish towel over the side to prevent splattering and blend on low speed.
- Notes on immersion blending. I like to blend the carrot ginger soup in a high-powered blender for the smoothest consistency. Though an immersion blender can be used in a pinch, it doesn’t blend the caramelized edges of the carrots as smoothly. When immersion blending, puree the soup in the pot, carefully moving the blender around it as needed until it is completely pureed.
- Do not simmer or boil the cream. Doing so can cause it to curdle, affecting the soup’s texture. After stirring in the cream, warm the soup until just heated through, 1-2 minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste. Properly seasoning with salt and pepper is essential to delicious soup, as the salt accentuates the vegetable’s flavor. After stirring in the cream, taste the soup and add additional salt or pepper as needed, or garnish individual bowls with flaky sea salt!
Frequently Asked Questions
A high-speed blender is best, as it creates the smoothest and creamiest finish, but a food processor can substitute if necessary. To prevent the processor from leaking, add the soup to it in small increments, never exceeding the height of the blade. Blend the soup thoroughly until smooth, repeating this with the remaining batches.
This recipe can be served cold. The soup will be slightly thicker when chilled, so add extra vegetable broth or heavy cream if you anticipate serving it this way.
Yes! To make this recipe dairy-free, substitute full-fat coconut milk for the heavy cream. This substitution can also make this recipe vegan, if you also replace the butter with more olive oil.
If you love this recipe try these out!
If you’ve tried this Roasted Carrot Soup recipe, then don’t forget to rate it and let me know how you got on in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
Carrot Soup Recipe
Equipment
- Large Dutch oven or pot
- Blender or immersion blender
- Large, rimmed sheet pan
Ingredients
- 2 pounds carrots peeled and chopped (908g)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 onion chopped (266g)
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
- 4 cups vegetable broth (960mL)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ cup heavy cream (120mL)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or foil.
- Place the carrots on the prepared baking sheet and toss with the oil until they are evenly coated. Roast the carrots for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring once halfway through, until they are caramelized and tender.
- In a large dutch oven or pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for about 5 minutes, until slightly softened. Add garlic and ginger and cook for about 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the roasted carrots, broth, salt, and pepper and bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes until the carrots are very tender.
- Working in two batches, carefully ladle the soup into the canister of a blender. Place the lid on the canister but remove the center insert to leave an opening. Cover the opening loosely with a clean dish towel or paper towel to allow steam to vent. Puree on medium-high speed for about 1 minute or until very smooth. Transfer this mixture to a clean bowl. Repeat with the remaining soup. (Alternatively, use an immersion blender to puree the soup in one batch right in the pot.)
- Return all of the pureed soup to the pot and stir in cream. Heat over medium-low heat for 1 to 2 minutes to warm the soup through. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.
Notes
- Roast the carrots thoroughly or until caramelized and tender. This allows the carrots to cook through and also helps to caramelize the sugars, resulting in a naturally sweet, full flavor.
- Remove the vent from the blender lid. The hot soup will let off steam as it blends. To prevent splattering and burns, remove the vent from the lid and place a clean dish towel over the top to catch splatters. If you don’t have a vented lid, leave one side of the lid ajar about ½ inch. Carefully place a clean dish towel over the side to prevent splattering and blend on low speed.
- Notes on immersion blending. I like to blend the carrot ginger soup in a high-powered blender for the smoothest consistency. Though an immersion blender can be used in a pinch, it doesn’t blend the caramelized edges of the carrots as smoothly. When immersion blending, puree the soup in the pot, carefully moving the blender around it as needed until it is completely pureed.
- Do not simmer or boil the cream. Doing so can cause it to curdle, affecting the soup’s texture. After stirring in the cream, warm the soup until just heated through, 1-2 minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste. Properly seasoning with salt and pepper is essential to delicious soup, as the salt accentuates the vegetable’s flavor. After stirring in the cream, taste the soup and add additional salt or pepper as needed, or garnish individual bowls with flaky sea salt!
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