5-Ingredient Roasted Carrot Ginger Soup

I created this roasted carrot soup recipe nearly four years ago, and still make it constantly in fall and winter months. It’s so utterly simple yet so rich and full of flavor. Roasting the carrots brings out the nuances, and the ginger adds a nice little punch. A finish of cream or coconut milk seals the deal. I recently took new photos and added a video to this recipe post and thought it was high time to share it again.

Make this soup! You won’t regret it.

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We celebrated our daughter’s second (!!!) (?!!) birthday with a party recently, and I have a confession to make. I bought the cake at Costco.

I also bought the cookies, the hummus, and the crackers from Costco. And a huge bag of baby carrots. So easy.

See, I’m discovering a weird side effect of being a food blogger. The busier I get at this blogging job of mine – the job that is the result of my passion for making home-cooked meals, photographing them, and sharing the recipes – the less homemade actual food I have time to make for my family. Or, yeah, for birthday parties.

That’s one of the reasons I’m vowing to keep it simpler in the new year – both here and in life.

This recipe is a direct result of both my resolution and the birthday party: we had a ton of leftover baby carrots. So I put ’em to work in a recipe for a super-simple, slightly sweet, wonderfully creamy roasted carrot soup. (No need to feel restricted to baby carrots for this one, of course. Feel free to use any kind of carrots you have on hand!)

I had a hunch that this roasted carrot soup wouldn’t need anything other than just a handful of the simplest ingredients: onions, vegetable stock, ginger, cream (or coconut milk), and, of course, carrots.

Happily, my hunch paid off in the form of a richly hued, zingy little soup that I truly think would hold its own among those with twice the ingredients, or more.

Roasting the carrots in olive oil, kosher salt, and black pepper; cooking the onions just to the point of browning; simmering the ginger – each step helps to maximize the flavor of each ingredient. And then, of course, the ingredients all work together. I mean, carrot + ginger = a match made in heaven right there.

And our busy lives + this (homemade!) soup = another match made in heaven.

P.S.: If you count the ingredients, you’ll actually find eight – but I don’t include the salt, pepper, or oil in the official tally. Convenient for me! 😉

Like recipe videos? Hit “play” for the, er, play-by-play! Or scroll right on past for the recipe. Or both! The world is your roasted carrot soup.

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Yield: 4 servings

5-Ingredient Roasted Carrot Ginger Soup

Prep: 15 minutes

Cook: 40 minutes

Total: 55 minutes

Roasting the carrots brings a nice boost of flavor to this super-simple, scrumptious vegetarian soup. Just substitute coconut milk for the heavy whipped cream to make it vegan.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups baby carrots or approx. 6 large carrots peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces (about 1 1/2 pounds of carrots)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 2 medium yellow onions, diced (about 4 cups)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt + more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper + more to taste
• 1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced (about 2 tablespoons)
• 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (for vegan version, use full-fat canned coconut milk)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Place carrots in a large bowl and drizzle one tablespoon of the olive oil over the top. Toss to coat and add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Toss again. Spread in a single layer on a rimmed cookie sheet and bake, stirring/flipping every 15 minutes or so, until tender and browned in spots, about 40 minutes total. Remove from oven and let cool a bit.
3. While the carrots are cooking, heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook until just beginning to brown, about 8 – 10 minutes. Add the ginger and the vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and let simmer for five minutes until ginger is tender. Remove from heat.
4. When both the roasted carrots and the broth have cooled somewhat, add the carrots to the broth. Working with a blender in batches, puree the soup and return it to the pot; or use an immersion blender directly in the pot. Please make sure your soup has cooled enough to safely puree!
5. Place pureed soup over medium heat and return to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and stir in the heavy whipping cream. Taste and add additional salt and pepper if desired. Serve.

Vegan option:

Use canned coconut milk in place of the heavy whipping cream (I actually like this version better than the original!)

Nutrition Information

Yield: 4 servings, Serving Size: 1/4 of recipe

• Amount Per Serving:
• Calories: 268 Calories
• Total Fat: 21g
• Saturated Fat: 8g
• Cholesterol: 41mg
• Sodium: 825mg
• Carbohydrates: 26g
• Fiber: 5g
• Sugar: 11g
• Protein: 2g

All images and text ©Kare for Kitchen Treaty.

Originally published January 30, 2014. Updated September 28, 2017.

Kare

Kare is a vegetarian home cook living among carnivores. She loves creating irresistible and flexible recipes that help multi-vore families like hers keep the peace - deliciously.