This easy creamy carrot soup recipe is so quick to cook that it can be on the table in under 30 minutes. Just add a loaf of crusty bread for a simple mid-week meal.
TOTAL TIME INVESTMENT: 25 MINUTES
We have an ongoing soup war in our house. Mr Grumpy and The Princess like chunks in their soup, and refer to soups without bits as “pappy”. I prefer my soup silky smooth, with a large dollop of sour cream and a slab of soda bread on the side. Most of the time I bend to their preference, mainly as there is less moaning from The Princess when I do. Sometimes though, I am in the mood to torture them both, and that is when something like this creamy carrot soup appears for dinner.
Soup is so easy to make, and requires nothing more than a chunk of bread to become a complete meal. It is also extremely nourishing, particularly if made with a good homemade bone stock. In the winter months, I find soup an ideal meal for those busy days. Most soups can be readily made in advance and rewarmed just prior to serving, and are also delicious reheated and served as individual portions.
As most soups freeze well, I find them to be the perfect emergency meal. I have written a whole post on how to freeze soup the easy way. And make sure you grab the cheatsheet from my Resource Library on the best way to freeze soup so you too can stock your freezer with a range of delicious soups. Simply click the link below or request the password at the end of this post.
Despite The Princess’s dislike of soup, it usually makes an appearance on our dinner table at least once a week through the winter months. This creamy carrot soup recipe is an old family favourite straight out of Nana’s cookbook. I hope you like it as much as I do.
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Ingredient Substitutions for Creamy Carrot Soup
The simplicity of this creamy carrot soup recipe makes it difficult to substitute ingredients, although there are a few tweaks you can try to make this soup your own:
- Use olive oil or coconut oil in place of the butter, although if doing this then I would recommend you reduce the amount of olive oil in the recipe to 2 Tablespoons.
- Replace the homemade chicken stock with a good quality commercial chicken stock.
- Any chili powder will work in place of the cayenne pepper.
- Try sour cream, creme fraiche or even full-fat milk in place of the pouring cream.
- To make the creamy carrot soup vegan, replace the butter with olive oil, the chicken stock with vegetable stock, and the pouring cream with coconut cream.
Pimp Your Creamy Carrot Soup Recipe
As this carrot soup recipe is so simple, it is easy to change the flavour just with a few small tweaks. In addition to the substitutions above, why not try:
- Adding a huge spoonful of your favourite curry powder to the cooking onion to give the soup an Indian spin.
- Stirring a teaspoon of ground cumin and ground coriander into the sliced onions, replace the cream with coconut cream and fold through a handful of chopped fresh coriander (cilantro) just before serving.
- Just before adding the liquid, briefly fry a Tablespoon of grated fresh ginger with the carrots and onions. Or use a teaspoon of ground ginger instead of the fresh ginger.
- Replace some of the chicken stock with orange juice, and stir in a little grated orange zest, to create a delicious creamy carrot orange soup.
Easy Carrot Soup – Frequently Asked Questions
What spices go well with carrot soup? Carrots go well with bay leaves, coriander, cumin, curry powder, fennel, mustard and pepper. Choose one or two spices to add to your carrot soup. Don’t add them all at the same time or risk overwhelming your soup.
How do you make carrot soup from scratch? Just follow the simple recipe below for an easy carrot soup recipe.
Can you make carrot soup with coconut milk? Yes. Saute the vegetables in coconut oil, then replace the cream with coconut milk. For an Indian twist, add some curry powder to the soup when sauteing the vegetables.
How do you make spicy carrot soup? If you like a spicy soup, just increase the amount of cayenne pepper in the recipe, or add some chili flakes when you fry off the vegetables.
Is carrot soup good for you? Carrots are rich in nutrients, and carrot soup is the perfect way to feed this nutritious vegetable to fussy eaters.
A Few Tips & Tricks for a Delicious Carrot Soup
This easy creamy carrot soup appears regularly on our dinner table in winter. It is quick and easy to make, and as it is ready in less than 30 minutes I can easily whip it up at the end of a tiring day. I leave you with a few tips I have developed over the years that will help you master this dish:
- This soup freezes extremely well, but will freeze better without the cream in it. When freezing the soup, omit the cream from the recipe initially and simply add the cream to the soup when reheating.
- If you like a spicier soup, simply increase the amount of cayenne pepper in the recipe.
- Catering for chili wimps? Omit the cayenne pepper from the recipe, and serve it on the side so people can spice up their own bowl of soup.
- I use a hand held stick blender placed directly into the soup pot to blend the soup. If you do not own a hand held stick blender, carefully transfer the soup to a food processor or blender and, following the manufacturer’s instructions for hot liquids, process until smooth. Return the blended soup to the soup pot and continue with the recipe.
- Take care not to allow the soup to boil once the cream is added. Boiling may cause the soup to split or separate. It is not the end of the world if this does happen though. Give the soup a quick zap with the stick blender to try and bring it back together. Or eat it as is. The soup will still taste fine, it just won’t be as pretty.
Other Soup Recipes you may like
Soup appears weekly on my meal plan during the winter months. If you are as much of a fan of soup as I am, you may also like
- Easy Minestrone Soup
- Creamy Cauliflower Soup
- Hearty Winter Vegetable Soup
- Red Lentil & Smoky Bacon Soup
- Slow Cooker Vegetable Soup with soup mix
Enjoy!
Made this recipe? Tell me how it went in the comments below.
And if you loved it, please don’t forget to rate it.
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Creamy Carrot Soup
Ingredients
- 60 g (1/4 cup) butter
- 1 large onion sliced
- 4 large (approx. 1kg) carrots sliced
- 1 L (4 cups) chicken stock
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 180 ml (3/4 cup) whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ground black pepper
Instructions
- Place a large pot over a medium heat and melt the butter.
- Stir the onion into the butter, and saute for 3 minutes or until the onions have softened and have started to brown.
- Add the sliced carrots, chicken stock, cayenne pepper and salt to the pot.
- Bring the contents of the pot to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.
- Simmer the soup for 15 minutes, or until the carrots have softened.
- Puree the soup. I use a hand held stick blender placed directly in the soup pot to complete this step (see Note 1). Blend the soup until it is uniformly smooth, and no pieces of carrot or onion are visible in the soup.
- Stir in the cream and gently reheat the soup. Do not allow the liquid to boil at this point as this will cause the soup to split (see Note 2).
- Season the soup with a little black pepper, and additional salt if required.
- Serve piping hot with crusty bread.
Notes
- If you do not own a hand held stick blender, carefully transfer the soup to a food processor or blender and, following the manufacturer’s instructions for hot liquids, process until smooth. Return the blended soup to the soup pot and continue with the recipe.
- If the soup boils once the cream is added, it may split and separate. You can try to bring the soup back together by giving it a quick zap with a hand held blender, or you can eat it as is. The soup will still taste fine, it just won’t be as pretty.
Nutrition
Update Notes: This post was originally published on 28th June 2014. It was substantially updated on 19th September 2018 to include ingredient substitutions, frequently asked questions, nutritional analysis, tips for making the recipe and new pictures. Additional text tweaks were made on 22nd May 2019.
A beautiful soup! And so simple!
Thank you very much Mimi 🙂
Sounds delicious and it so quick! Thank you!
It’s one of my favourites Shelly 😉
I like how you refer to time as “investment” 🙂 I’m investing in my belly’s happiness! Thanks for the recipe Tania, spot on with the olive oil replacement tip, Although adding a dash of coconut flavour to the soup would make for a very interesting variation!
I invest in my belly’s happiness on a daily basis Edward 😀 Butter is what my Nan used, and so it is what I’ve used, but I have also made this with olive oil and it’s fine. If I was going the coconut oil route, I would probably add some curry spices to it at the same time just to mix it up a bit.
Good point about the curry spices Tania ! 🙂
Let me know if you try it Edward. It’s good, I promise you 😉