This 7-ingredient carrot ginger soup is one of our favorite recipes for brightening up cold days. Creamy & refreshing, it's a satisfying, cozy meal.
If you went to your farmers market over the weekend and came home with a beautiful bunch of carrots, then this carrot soup recipe is for you. They’re the main ingredient in this easy recipe, along with a few staples that you likely already have in your kitchen.
Carrot Soup Recipe Ingredients
This easy soup recipe is just 7 ingredients, and it’s so simple and delicious with no cream, no cashew cream, and no coconut cream (ok just a tad for garnish, but it’s really not necessary). The creamy base of the soup comes purely from the pureed carrots. Here’s what else makes it so darn good:
- Ginger adds a lovely freshness and plays well with the carrots’ sweetness.
- Onion and garlic give it depth of flavor.
- Extra-virgin olive oil adds richness.
- Apple cider vinegar makes it bright & tangy.
- And veggie broth gets the blender moving and ties it all together.
Season to taste with salt and pepper, and add a bit of maple to sweeten it up, if you wish. That’s it!
Carrot Ginger Soup Serving Suggestions
I made this carrot soup a full meal by serving it with a simple massaged kale salad made of leftover brown rice, a few carrot curls, dried cranberries, a drizzle of olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. I also smashed some avocado on toast and topped it with dollops of pesto. It would be excellent with herbed farro as well. For more salad inspiration, check out this post.
The soup is great on its own, but it’s extra tasty with scoops of pesto that I made out of the carrot tops. I’ve made carrot top pesto before, but this is the first time I’ve made it with only the carrot greens and no other herbs. Because who has basil this time of year?
Like most soups, this carrot soup keeps well in the fridge for a few days, so it would be a great make-ahead Thanksgiving starter or weekday lunch. See this post for my best meal prep tips and this one for more lunch ideas.
If you love this carrot ginger soup recipe…
Make sure to try this butternut squash soup, vegetable soup tomato soup, potato soup, curried lentil soup or any of these 25 favorite soups next!
Carrot Soup Recipe with Ginger
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 3 garlic cloves, smashed
- 1 pound carrots, roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup, optional
- coconut milk for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions, salt and pepper and cook until softened, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Add the smashed garlic cloves (they’ll get blended later) and carrots to the pot and cook 8 minutes more, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in the ginger, apple cider vinegar, and broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Let cool slightly and transfer to a blender. Blend until smooth. If your soup is too thick, add a little water. If you would like your soup a little sweeter, add the maple syrup.
- Serve with a drizzle of coconut milk, if desired.
This soup came out really good and spicy- the ginger had quite a kick. I added some cayenne at the end plus a little coconut milk, lemon and lime juice when blending.
I don’t have a food processor and I didn’t want to wash the blender twice so I made a pseudo pesto with the immersion blender. Carrots didn’t have tops so parsley stepped in with garlic, olive oil, lemon and lime juice. Then I strained most of the bright green liquid from the pesto and used it for drizzling. It made a bright, zesty topping!
This soup would be great if you’re sick!
Thanks Jeanine!
Looks and sounds wonderful…just curious about the nutrition, especially the protein.
Is this information available? Thanks!
This carrot soup has real depth and is incredibly delicious. I did not have any carrot tops to hand – but love the idea from nutritional point of view. The pesto sauce still worked beautifully. Thank you! Looking forward to making, and eating again.
I made this soup today. It is amazing! I didn’t have carrot tops either, but I garnished with coconut milk. I am so glad I discovered this blog. Every recipe I have made is phenomenal. Thank you!
Thanks Lynda! I’m so glad you liked the soup 🙂
Your website is amazing and so is the food. Would have struggled to become vegan, and stay vegan, without Love and Lemons. Beautifully photographed, fantastic tasting food – with light, bright and sparkling commentary! Thank you.
Thanks Fiona 🙂
It looks so delicious that I am even thinking of making this soup tonight. I will just add some more garlic in it to make my husband even happier :). Creamy soups, consumed with some rusk have always been my weak spot, thank you for this lovely recipe.
Looks amazing! Beautiful color and taste must have been great too.
This looks beautiful. Do you mind if I ask what kind of photo equipment you’re using? I’m just starting to get serious about a blog I’m working on.
I’m sorry to admit it, but I’ve never eaten carrot tops. I imagine they’re a little bitter?
they are a little bitter (and a bit grassy), but once you mix them up with the other ingredients you can make them delicious :). (You can always start with half basil, half carrot tops if you’re worried about the flavor!)
This sounds delightful! I’ve been fighting a bug all week and would love to cuddle up with a bowl of this soup!
What a beautiful and vibrant soup! And the pesto sounds delicious. I can’t wait to give this one a try – thanks for sharing.
Grace | http://www.eatwriteexplore.com
Sounds and looks absolutely amazing!
/Ulrica
I love the sound of that pesto!! Such a delicious topping for this soup 🙂
I just made the carrot pesto this year for the first time after going to Stone Barns and they had it there. It came out delicious and now I have a great carrot recipe to use with it, thanks!!!
Carrot top pesto…now that’s something I’ve never heard of! It looks absolutely delicious though! Beautiful styling as well.
This looks delicious! I’ve never made carrot soup before.
Kari
http://www.sweetteasweetie.com
Everything looks amazing, love the idea of using everything from the carrots.
Can’t wait to try it, pinning! 🙂
Diana
I’ve never made carrot top pesto but I love the idea. This looks so vibrant and elegant- I’m dreaming about making this for lunch today.
this looks like the perfect soup for colder nights 🙂 We recently launched the world’s first online platform called visit.org, where you can book tours&activities with nonprofits, and at the moment we are giving away our cookbook with recipes from nonprofits for free to everyone who signs up here http://bit.ly/1WESVQ1 ! We would be honored if you could check our recipes! 🙂
I’m actually slightly gutted that there is not a market near me that does not take the tops off of carrots now.
Keeping the ‘tops’ draws stored nutrients from the root to keep the leaves alive and most people throw them out or compost them anyways. It makes sense for the carrot, but if you have rabbits or like to juice them/ make pesto then good excuse to pop some seeds in the ground! Low maintenance and you get that fresh garden carrot experience. Worth it in my opinion