Smooth carrot soup with ginger, orange and chicken stock. So easy and healthy too!
Years ago I went on a carrot kick. Someone had given me a champion juicer and I set off to consume my weight in carrot juice over the next month.
Remember when your biology teacher told you that your skin would turn orange if you ate a lot of carrots? He was right!
When I went in for my physical my doctor looked at me with alarm; she thought I was jaundiced. Fortunately, it was just all that beta carotene from the carrots. No harm, no foul.
Sometimes the most nourishing foods are also the most simple and easy to make. This carrot ginger soup is just that. All you need are carrots, onions, butter, a little ginger, a few strips of orange peel, some stock, water, and salt. The soup comes together in less than an hour, prep included. Lovely.
Look how easy it is to make carrot ginger soup!
Carrot Ginger Soup Recipe
- Prep time: 15 minutes
- Cook time: 30 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4-5
I think this soup works best when it is puréed until perfectly smooth. This is best achieved using an upright blender. If you use an immersion blender, just keep working at it until the soup is as smooth as you can make it.
We use chicken stock in this recipe, but you can easily use vegetable stock for a vegetarian option.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 1/2 pounds carrots (6-7 large carrots), peeled and sliced thin
- 2 cups chopped white or yellow onion
- Salt
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- 2 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock
- 2 cups water
- 3 large strips of zest from an orange
- Chopped chives, parsley, dill or fennel for garnish
Method
1 Sauté onions and carrots: Melt the butter in a soup pot over medium heat and cook the onions and carrots, stirring occasionally, until the onions soften, about 5 to 8 minutes. Do not let the onions or carrots brown. Sprinkle a teaspoon of salt over the carrots and onions as they cook.
2 Add stock and water, ginger, and strips of orange zest. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook until the carrots soften, about 20 minutes.
3 Remove the strips of orange zest! It’s easy to forget this step, and if you forget and purée the soup with the strips of zest still in it, the soup may be too bitter for your taste.
4 Purée soup: Purée the soup with a stick blender, or working in small batches, pour the soup into a blender and purée until completely smooth. Only fill the blender bowl a third full with the hot liquid and keep one hand pressing down on the cap of the blender to keep it from popping off.
Add more salt to taste. (You will need more salt if you are using homemade unsalted stock or unsalted butter.)
Garnish with chopped chives, parsley, or fennel fronds.
Links:
Carrot, Apple, Ginger Soup, from Joy the Baker
Curried Coconut Carrot Soup, from The Kitchn
Carrot Soup with Miso and Sesame, from Smitten Kitchen
Carrot Soup, from 101 Cookbooks
