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Carrot Soup

Felix Intelegando Updated All recipes

This carrot soup is a smooth purée of carrots and onion, warmed with a cinnamon stick and chili flakes and finished with freshly squeezed orange juice. It serves 4 and takes about 35 minutes: 10 to prepare, 25 to cook. The sunny colour comes from the carrots and the orange alone — there is no turmeric, saffron or curry in it.

Bowl of smooth orange carrot soup with a swirl of thick white cream and chopped parsley, a chunk of crusty bread beside it
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Bowl of smooth orange carrot soup with a swirl of thick white cream and chopped parsley, a chunk of crusty bread beside it

Recipe

Carrot Soup

Prep
10 mins
Cook
25 mins
Total
35 mins
Serves
4

Ingredients

Method

  1. Peel the carrots and cut them into coarse, roughly equal pieces.
  2. Peel and diced the onions.
  3. Heat the oil in a saucepan and season the onion and carrots with the cinnamon stick for a couple of minutes.
  4. Add chili flakes, water, broth and some salt and pepper.
  5. Put the lid on the pan and let the carrot juice simmer on low heat until the carrots is absolutely tender – it takes approx. 20 minutes depending on size.
  6. Remove the cinnamon stick from the soup and blend the soup.
  7. Add orange juice. Add more orange juice, chili, salt and pepper according to taste.

Step by step, in pictures

The six moves of the method, from cutting the carrots to blending in the orange juice.

  1. Line drawing of a chef's knife, a vegetable peeler and a strip of peel beside a cutting board of sliced carrot piecesPeel the carrots and cut even chunks
  2. Line drawing of a hand dicing half an onion into small cubes on a cutting boardPeel and dice the onion
  3. Line drawing from above of diced vegetables and a cinnamon stick in a saucepan, a wooden spoon stirringFry onion and carrots with the cinnamon stick
  4. Line drawing of water poured from a jug into a pot of carrots while a hand sprinkles in chili flakesAdd water, stock, chili, salt and pepper
  5. Line drawing of a lidded pot on a gas burner with steam risingSimmer with the lid on, about 20 minutes
  6. Line drawing of juice poured from a jug into a pot while a stick blender purées the soup, a halved citrus fruit beside itBlend, then stir in the orange juice

What goes in this carrot and orange soup

Carrots, onion, water and vegetable stock make the base; a cinnamon stick, chili flakes and orange juice give it its character. The vegetable list is short — the soup relies on a generous weight of carrots rather than a mix of vegetables.

  • The cinnamon stick goes into the pan with the onion and carrots and fries with them for a couple of minutes, then comes out before the soup is blended. It flavours the soup without leaving ground spice in it.
  • Chili flakes go in with the water and stock; more can be added at the end, to taste.
  • The orange juice is added after blending, not during the simmer. Squeeze it fresh: the card estimates about 3 oranges, depending on their size and how juicy they are.

How to make carrot soup taste better — and the mistakes to avoid

Season it at the end. Once the soup is blended and the orange juice is in, taste it and add more juice, chili, salt and pepper until it suits you. The rest comes down to a few points in the method:

  • Cut the carrots into roughly equal pieces, so they all turn tender at the same time.
  • Simmer on low heat until the carrots are completely tender before you blend — about 20 minutes with the lid on, depending on the size of the pieces.
  • Take the cinnamon stick out before you blend.

Carrot ginger soup: the garlic and ginger variation

For carrot soup with ginger and garlic, chop 2 cloves of garlic and about 25 g of fresh ginger finely and fry them with the onion and carrots in step 3. Then carry on with the recipe as written.

It is a variant I personally like, and in it I usually leave out the chili — there is plenty of ginger and garlic. Some like it extra strong, though, so keep the chili if that is you.

How to serve carrot soup

Serve each bowl with a spoonful of the thick soured dairy from the ingredient list, a little parsley or watercress on top and a piece of coarse bread on the side.

More soups from the site: asparagus soup, minestrone or corn soup with potatoes and squash. For carrots as a side dish instead, try hot honey carrots.

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