Coconut Ginger Carrot Soup (Vegan)

Introduction

If you love flavours like coconut and ginger, you’re going to love this delicious, nourishing carrot ginger soup soup. It’s easy to make with just a few simple ingredients, easy to customize and ready to enjoy in 30 minutes.

This soup is lovely year round, served as a light meal, starter, or side paired with a salad or sandwich. It also makes a beautiful addition to holiday meals like Thanksgiving or Easter.

If you have allergies or other dietary restrictions the soup is vegan (no dairy), gluten-free, nut-free and can easily be made oil-free. It can also be customized by swapping the carrot for sweet potato or squash, adding veggies like cauliflower and celery or using different spices like curry powder or cayenne pepper.

For more simple soups, this lemon lentil soup, chickpea chowder, black bean soup and cauliflower sweet potato soup are all crowd favourites.

Ingredient Notes

Please see the recipe card at the end of the post for the complete ingredient list with measurements and detailed instructions.

• Olive Oil: Optional. You can use oil to saute the onion or a bit of water or broth for an easy oil-free option. Butter would also work here.
• Onion: You can use white or yellow onion. Shallot would also work!
• Garlic: Fresh garlic is best. The recipe calls for 3 cloves but feel free to use a bit more if you love garlic.
• Ginger: The recipe calls for fresh ginger but you can substitute 1 tsp ground ginger in a pinch.
• Spices: You’ll need cumin and coriander. Other spices that could work in this recipe are curry powder, turmeric or even a pinch of cinnamon or cloves.
• Carrot: This recipe is for fresh carrots. You should be able to use frozen carrots but I haven’t tried it.
• Broth: Any good homemade or store-bought broth or stock works. You can use carton, canned or cubed broth. I like Better than Boullion.
• Coconut Milk: You can use canned full-fat coconut milk or for a lower-fat option, light coconut milk.

Variations

• This recipe also works well with sweet potato, squash or a mix of sweet potato, squash and carrot.
• Add 2 tsp curry powder for curried ginger carrot soup.
• Add heat with up to 1 tsp red chili flakes or cayenne pepper.
• Add 1 tbsp red curry paste for a Thai ginger carrot soup soup.
• Add 2-3 diced stalks of celery with the onion for extra depth of flavour.
• Add up to 1 cup of white beans when you add the coconut milk for more creaminess and protein.

Serving

• Serve on its own for a light meal.
• Top with a drizzle of coconut milk, dollop of sour cream, squeeze of fresh lime, fresh cracked black pepper and/or finely chopped fresh cilantro.
• Crispy chickpeas, roasted cauliflower, toasted cashews or pumpkin seeds, coconut bacon or tempeh bacon are also yummy toppings.
• Serve as a starter for a holiday or any fall or winter meal.
• Delicious with a piece of toasted sourdough or any crusty bread.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Prepare to Cook: Chop the onion, garlic, ginger and carrot. Once you get the onion and garlic in the pan, you can continue preparing the carrot and ginger and gather the spices.

Step 1: Cook the Onion & Garlic

Heat 2 tsp olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic with a pinch of salt and pepper and cook for 3-4 minutes until nice and soft.

Quick Tip: If you want an oil-free recipe, use a bit of water or broth to cook the onion and garlic instead of oil.

Step 2: Add Carrot & Ginger

Add the carrots, ginger and spices with another little pinch of salt and pepper, and cook for another minute, stirring constantly.

Quick Tip: If you want the soup to have some heat, add up 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper or chili flakes along with the other spices.

For curried soup, add 1-2 tsp mild curry powder. For red curried soup, add 1-2 tbsp red curry paste.

Step 3: Simmer Soup

Add the coconut milk and broth and simmer uncovered until the carrots are nice and tender. This should take about 20-25 minutes.

Step 4: Blend Soup

Now it’s time to blend! You can use an immersion blender in the pot which works fine, but for the smoothest soup, I suggest using a Vitamix or other high-speed blender.

Carefully transfer the soup to a blender and blend until smooth. Just be sure to allow the steam to escape as you blend!

FAQs

Storing

• Fridge: Let cool then store in a sealed container for up to 4 days.
• Freezer: Let cool then store in a sealed container for up to 3 months.
• Reheating: Reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave, adding a bit of water or broth to thin if needed. If frozen, thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.

What to Make Next

Check out some favourite soup recipes below or browse all my soup recipes here:

• Lemon Lentil Soup: Zesty, easy and healthy!
• Chickpea Vegetable Chowder: A popular dairy-free chowder recipe.
• Cauliflower Sweet Potato Soup: Curried cauliflower and sweet potato soup with turmeric.
• Kabocha Squash Soup: Creamy curried squash soup.
• Mulligatawny Soup: A flavourful soup with apple, lentil and rice.
• Vegan Cashew Carrot Soup: Ultra-creamy carrot soup made with cashews.