15 Minute Spiced Carrot Soup

Deliciously warming and smooth, this 15 minute spiced carrot soup makes a brilliantly quick lunch or a light supper.

Winter Warmer

This time of year, as winter tightens its icy grip, my thoughts turn to comfort foods.

Root vegetables have played a crucial role in winter meals for thousands of years, and long may this tradition continue! Root veg are healthy, inexpensive, and perhaps above all, create the most fantastically comforting meals you could ever hope for when the weather is cold.

I absolutely love carrots! They tick so many boxes when it comes to quick recipes. They cook in very little time (or of course can be eaten entirely raw). They also happen to be packed full of fantastic nutrients including vitamins A and C, and all-important fibre.

I also really love soup. It’s such a filling and inexpensive way to feed your family. Just add hunks of gorgeous fresh bread and you’ve got yourself a lovely meal. Check out some of my other quick soups, including this 10 Minute Creamy Vegan Mushroom Soup, this 5 Minute Tomato Soup and finally – one of my all-time favourites, this 15 Minute Beef Ramen. So warming and so tasty!

Spectacular Spice

The classic spice to pair with carrots in soup is coriander. Smoky and rich, this spice pairs gorgeously with sweet and juicy carrots. It’s no surprise that many recipes include it.

However, to really bring out the warming flavours of the carrots, I find adding in a few extra spices is really helpful in addition to coriander. This is why both cumin and ginger also feature in this 15 minute spiced carrot soup. The final flavour is slightly curry-like yet mild and soothing. Perfect in my opinion!

Garlic is also a key ingredient in this quick carrot soup recipe. I used garlic a LOT in my quick recipes. This is because- well, it’s absolutely delicious! It’s difficult for me to think of a savoury recipe that isn’t improved with one or two cloves of garlic chucked in.

Garlic combines wonderfully with onion of course, which I’ve included in this quick soup recipe. I suggest using red onion – this is slightly sweeter than many other types of onion and also, the rich purple helps to bring out the deep orange hue of the soup. However, if you don’t have red onions available to you, any type of onion will be fine.

One of my secret ingredients in this quick recipe is sugar – just a teaspoonful that you pop in to help soften and caramelise the onions. This gives the final soup a slightly sweeter overall taste so it’s definitely a welcome addition.

Plant Power

One bonus of the super quick 15 minute spiced carrot soup recipe is that it’s entirely plant-based. I love vegan-friendly recipes because, although we do eat meat in our house, my son has a dairy allergy. This means I’m always looking to branch out my dairy-free cooking and this recipe really fits the bill.

In so many of my recipes, simplicity is key. Why use tons of extra ingredients if you don’t need to? Keeping things simple so often produces the most pleasing results, and of course helps to keep things nice a quick.

This 15 minute spiced carrot soup uses very few ingredients. It’s quick to make and also means that the humble carrot can be the star! Why drown out the flavour of this delicious, naturally sweet vegetable?

STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO MAKING THE PERFECT 15 MINUTE SPICED CARROT SOUP

Here’s a helpful step-by-step guide to creating the perfect 15 minute spiced carrot soup, including some useful photos to illustrate the process;

Makes 2 Portions

Step 1;

Heat a medium sized saucepan over medium heat with 1 tablespoon of light olive or vegetable oil.

Step 2;

Whilst the pan heats up, peel one medium sized onion (I like using a red onion but a regular white onion will do just as well). Also peel 2 cloves of garlic. Roughly chop both the garlic and the onion.

Note that you don’t need to spend precious time chopping them into little pieces – they’ll be blitzed in the blender / food processor later on – so fairly rough and large chunks is perfectly fine here.

Pop the roughly chopped onion and garlic into the pre-heated pan and fry off for 2-3 minutes until softening nicely and turning a little golden. Stir this frequently to ensure it cooks evenly.

After this time, add 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin and 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger and also a pinch of salt to the pan. Fry everything off for a further 1 minute, stirring frequently as the aromas release.

Step 3;

Boil a half-filled kettle.

While that heats up, it’s time to prep the carrots. Take 3 medium sized carrots and chop the tops and tails off, then peel them if you would like to.

You actually don’t need to peel them if they are clean! Carrot skins have the highest concentration of nutrients in the entire vegetable so you’re doing yourself a favour by not peeling them. Its also quicker to leave the skin intact and I’m all about the quick cooking!

Chop the carrots into rounds that are about 1/2 cm thick (0.2 inch). They need to be sliced fairly thinly so they cook quickly enough and this size seems to be perfect. Throw the chopped carrots into the pan with the onions and garlic and give it all a stir to combine everything.

Step 4;

Next, crumble 1 vegetable stock cube into a heatproof jug and pour over 500mls (1 pint) of boiling water. Stir it until the stock cube is dissolved. Pour the stock into the pan with all the vegetables and give it a good stir.

Simmer the soup on medium heat for about 8-10 minutes until the carrots are soft. Remove the pan from the heat when done.

Step 5;

Pour the cooked soup into a blender or food processor. Give it a good blitz for around 20-30 seconds until the lumps are all gone and you’re left with a smooth and silky soup.

Pour the soup into two separate serving bowls. All done! Serve with some deliciously fresh and crusty bread.