If our creamy vegan carrot soup and Thai-inspired butternut squash soup had a baby, this carrot ginger soup would be her! And she’s got both her parents’ best features. Creamy and luxurious, a little spicy and gingery, and not too complicated. Oh, and her sweet and spicy seedy topping? Highly recommended!
Just 1 pot and 8 simple ingredients required for this vibrant, warming chilly weather staple. Let us show you how it’s done!
How to Make Creamy Vegan Carrot Ginger Soup
This simple, 1-POT, 8-ingredient carrot ginger soup starts with a savory-sweet, gingery base of sautéed onion, garlic, ginger, and a whole lot of CARROTS! Two whole pounds to be precise.
The remaining ingredients are all pantry staples, meaning you may be able to make this soup…right now! Recipes that don’t require running to the store are our JAM!
Do you have salt (of course!), vegetable broth (we think so!), and canned coconut milk (probably!)? What about red pepper flakes? We always do, but they’re optional if you don’t want a spicy kick!
Throw it all in (minus the coconut milk) and let that thing simmer!
While the soup is simmering, we strongly recommend making the optional sweet and spicy seed topping! It’s as simple as mixing together pepitas, sunflower seeds, maple syrup, and spices and baking until lightly golden.
When the carrots are super tender and the flavors have developed, add the coconut milk and purée into a super creamy, luxurious texture. The sweet and spicy seeds are the perfect textural contrast!
We hope you LOVE this carrot ginger soup! It’s:
Creamy
Spicy
Vibrant
Gingery
Warming
& SO delicious!
It freezes well and comes together with mostly pantry staples, making it a great dish to prepare any time you have an abundance of carrots. For serving, we love a swirl of sriracha and pairing with dishes like our Baked Crispy Peanut Tofu, Crispy Brussels Sprouts with Sriracha Aioli, Pad Thai Spring Rolls, or Vegan Ginger Sesame Noodles with Crispy Tofu.
More Carrot Recipes
- Fluffy Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Carrots
- Curry Roasted Carrots with Peanut Sauce
- Perfect Roasted Carrots (Quick & Easy)
- Quick Pickled Carrots
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo @minimalistbaker on Instagram. Cheers, friends!
Creamy Carrot Ginger Soup (Instant Pot Friendly!)
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp olive, coconut, or avocado oil (if oil-free, sub water and add more as needed)
- 2 pounds carrots, scrubbed clean, peeling optional, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (2 pounds carrots yield ~6 cups or ~15 medium (7-inch / 18-cm) carrots)
- 1 medium-large white or yellow onion, diced (1 onion yields ~2 cups or 275 g)
- 1 Tbsp minced fresh ginger
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3/4-1 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
- 3 cups vegetable broth (or store-bought)
- 1 (14-oz.) can light coconut milk (or sub cashew cream)
SWEET & SPICY SEEDS optional
- 1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds (also called pepitas)
- 2 Tbsp raw sunflower seeds
- 2 tsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp DIY curry powder (or store-bought)
- 1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
FOR SERVING optional
Instructions
STOVETOP
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Once hot, add the carrots and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent and the carrots are starting to soften, about 5-7 minutes.
- Add the ginger, garlic, sea salt, and optional red pepper flakes. Cook for another 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until fragrant.
- Add the broth and bring the soup to a simmer. Once simmering, cover the pot and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the carrots are super tender.
- Optional: Meanwhile, prepare the sweet and spicy seed topping (find instructions below the Instant Pot recipe).
- Turn off the heat and stir in the coconut milk.
- Using an immersion blender, blend the soup until super smooth and thickened. Alternatively, let the soup cool for a few minutes, then blend it in a traditional blender, working in batches as needed.
- Season to taste with more salt for overall flavor. Serve warm with seedy topping and sriracha (both optional but highly recommended!).
- Store leftover soup in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month. Reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop until warm.
INSTANT POT
- Turn on the sauté function on your Instant Pot (to the default “Normal” — not high or low). Once hot, add oil (or water), carrot, and onion and sauté for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent and the carrots are starting to soften.
- Add the ginger, garlic, sea salt, and optional red pepper flakes. Cook for another 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until fragrant. Turn off the sauté function by pressing “Cancel.”
- Add the broth. Then put on the Instant Pot lid and turn to seal. Pressure cook on HIGH for 5 minutes.
- Optional: Meanwhile, prepare the seed topping (see below).
- Once the timer goes off, let the steam release naturally (~25 minutes).
- When the pressure valve drops, remove the lid and stir in the coconut milk. Using an immersion blender, blend the soup until super smooth and thickened. Alternatively, let the soup cool for a few minutes, then blend it in a traditional blender, working in batches as needed.
- Season to taste with more salt for overall flavor. Serve warm with seedy topping and sriracha (both optional but highly recommended!).
- Store leftover soup in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month. Reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop until warm.
SWEET & SPICY SEEDS optional
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (176 C) and line a small baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add all the ingredients for the sweet and spicy seeds (pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, maple syrup, curry powder, cayenne pepper, and sea salt) to a small bowl and stir to fully combine. Taste and adjust, adding more cayenne to taste (we added the full amount).
- Spread the seeds out over the parchment-lined baking sheet so they are in an even layer and touching. Bake for 10-12 minutes, tossing halfway through, until lightly golden brown. Let cool slightly on the baking sheet until they begin to stick together, about 5-10 minutes, then break into clumps.
- Let seeds cool fully before storing in a sealed container at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the refrigerator for 1 week.
Megan says
This is a fantastic, flavorful, warming soup, perfect for the colder months. I added extra garlic and ginger to mine, plus a little dried recipe, and swapped about a cup of soaked walnuts & cashews for the coconut milk. Your house will smell AMAZING while this cooks!
We’re so glad you enjoy the soup, Megan! Your modifications sound lovely. Thank you for sharing! xo
Bernd Salla says
We made the soup and it is definitely a keeper, turning humble carrots into an astoundingly delicious and comforting soup.
We garnished with toasted pumkin seeds + fresh tarragon
but did not use the red pepper flakes as we prefer it not too hot.
Well, that is it. The recipe goes into our collection, which is an honor to be honest. :)
Thank you for this recipe!!
Bernd
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Bernd! Thanks so much for sharing!
Julie says
I have a question: I have a friend who can’t eat onions of any kind, but can eat garlic. In this soup recipe and others, I was thinking to add a bit more garlic for flavor. I can’t find any vegetable broths at the store that don’t have onions, but I have found some mushroom broths without onion. Do you think that would work? Maybe the color wouldn’t be as bright, but I think it would still be okay.
Hi Julie, we’d suggest adding more carrots since onions add sweetness and bulk up the texture. Mushroom broth might be okay, but as you stated, may change the color. If you’re up for making a homemade broth, you could use leeks or leek greens if your friend can have those! Or if not vegan, chicken broth may work better than mushroom broth. We hope one of those suggestions helps!
susan hanson says
Can this soup be served cold?
It could, but it’s best warm!
mimi says
Great soup. Unique as well.
Thank you for the lovely review, Mimi! xo
Peter Wiggins says
Really pleased with this carrot and ginger soup, so easy in the Instant Pot and super tasty! 😋
I didn’t have fresh ginger so used 1/4 tsp homemade dried, worked really well. Made up coconut milk using 100g Creamed and 300g hot water. Highly recommend the swirl of sriracha too!
Definitely having this again 😊
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Peter. Thank you for the lovely review and for sharing your modifications!
ELIZABETH J says
This is pretty easy and quite good: I got a bit carried away with the ginger, to be honest, so although I followed the rest of the recipe pretty exactly, I’ll be adding just a bit of sweetness (maple syrup, probably) to counteract it a bit. Definitely was a great way to use up the carrots I had!
We’re so glad you enjoyed it overall, Elizabeth! Thanks so much for sharing. xo
Nancy says
Hi
Kinda crazy cause I have been able to print easily before just the last few weeks. As indicated by the PILE of recipes I riffle thru haha.
Using Safari from both my Mac and iPhone. When I click the Print button it brings up the print menu looks like it’s working fine but printer just spits out a blank piece of paper. Tried saving to a pdf and it also is blank no content at all! Might e something on website that converts web page to pdf? to enable printing?
I finally ended up selecting the recipe copying and pasting to Pages where I had to edit it quite a bit…
Hope this helps.
This is super helpful, Nancy! We really appreciate you providing these additional details. We’re looking into it and hope to have it resolved soon! Apologies for the inconvenience!
Susan says
What a great soup! Everyone loved it! So easy to prepare in the IP too!
Yay! We’re so glad it was a hit, Susan. Thank you for sharing! xo
kirsten says
Delicious! Served this with the seeds, as well as a sprinkling of aleppo pepper flakes and a swirl of coconut yogurt. Will make again!
Amazing! Love your modifications, Kirsten. Thank you for the lovely review! xo
Sara says
We’re traveling in Peru, and this dish was easy and quick to prepare. I had to eyeball everything (because I don’t have measuring cups or spoons), I didn’t have the ingredients (or oven) to make the seed topping, and I had to use regular cream. It turned out really well! As long as you like carrots, onion, ginger, and garlic, you can’t go wrong with this soup. Thank you! Definitely adding this recipe to my collection, and I’ll have to try it with the seed topping one day!
Amazing! We’re so glad you were able to make it work with some modifications. Thank you for sharing, Sara! xo
Nik says
This recipe is so easy and delicious, thank you! I made mine in the InstantPot and added a little extra ginger. I also made a double batch of the Sweet & Spicy Seeds, they are so good. They add a nice taste and texture to compliment the creamy soup. This is going into regular rotation at my house. 🥰
Whoop! We’re so glad you enjoy the recipe, Nik. Thank you for the lovely review!
Marge in NH says
I made this soup! Delicious! I peeled the carrots and used low sodium chicken broth and added 1 tsp dried rosemary and 1 tbsp of turmeric then added about 2 tbsp of unsalted butter at end with full fat coconut milk. I cooked on stovetop and pureed in blender. My family loved it! Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Lovely! Thank you for sharing, Marge! xo
Kelly K says
I’ve made it twice now. Delicious! Everyone that had it, loved it.
Amazing! We’re so glad it’s been a hit, Kelly. Thank you for sharing! xo
Joanne says
This recipe is delicious! And the topping is a stroke of genius.
Aw, thank you so much for the lovely review, Joanne! xoxo
The Vegan Goddess says
I made this today and enjoyed it! I forgot to add coconut milk to it and it was still creamy without it. It’s a healthy comforting meal. I’ll enjoy the leftovers (and might add coconut milk then but might not and skip the calories).
I made the recommended seed topping and am glad that I did. I already had the ingredients and it was a winning combination.
We’re so glad you enjoyed it! The seed topping really does make it special :) Thank you for sharing your experience!
Tanya Raghu says
This was the most comforting, creamy soup I’ve ever made and perfect for autumn. I also added some extra spices like ginger powder, garlic powder, and oregano during the simmering process which added some extra flavor. For the topping, I didn’t have sunflower seeds, just pumpkin seeds, which turned out amazing. The most tedious part of the process was cutting carrots, but the rest of the recipe is very straight forward. I will definitely be making this soup again and again!
We’re so glad you enjoyed, Tanya! Thank you for the lovely review and for sharing your modifications! xo
Mimi says
Definitely a keeper. Soups are part of my diet. This one adds to my variety! Yum
We’re so glad you enjoy it, Mimi! Thank you for sharing! xo
Dick Szeliga says
Prepared this on the stove top, super easy with fabulous results!
We’re so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for sharing! xo
Patty Eilers says
This was yummy! My husband’s feedback was, “I wish carrots had tasted this good when I was a kid.” :O) I did add 1 Tbs of cumin, 1 Tbs of turmeric and 1 tsp smoked paprika…along with the red pepper flakes. I also did not have the light coconut milk so I used the whole fat version and added an extra cup of veggie broth. The soup is rich and creamy and tasty.
This soup will definitely go into my regular rotation of recipes.
Ha, love that! Thank you so much for sharing, Patty! xo
Diane says
This looks wonderful and can’t wait to try it! I love all if your recipes.
Some recipe ideas I would love to see are meals that you can slow cook in a pot in the oven. I plan on doing a lot of cross country skiing this winter. The idea of putting something in the oven before leaving, and coming back to a delicious meal on a cold winter’s day, really appeals to me. If you have any ideas on these kinds of meatless dinners that could simmer at least for 2 to 3 hours in the oven, would be amazing. Thank you for all that you do.
Hi Diane, thank you for your kind words and suggestion! Most of our chilis and many of our soups would work that way, we think!
Amalia says
AMAZING!!!!! Wow! I am not a soup person but this recipe caught my eye. I absolutely LOVED IT!!! Incredible.
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Amalia! Thank you for the lovely review! xo
Marci Nelson Villanueva says
I had several bunches of carrots that were getting soft. I was thinking about tossing them as it is no fun to eat soft carrots raw. I saw this recipe and tried it with the still good but soft carrots. The soup came out fantastic! It was so tasty. I will be bookmarking this to make it again!
Yay! We’re so glad you made the recipe and enjoyed it, Marci. Thank you for sharing! xo