Spiced Carrot & Sweet Potato Soup

This spiced carrot and sweet potato soup is silky-smooth and full of bright flavours, fragrant with zesty lemon and warming ginger and chilli. Perfect for winter lunches and suppers, it is naturally vegan and gluten free, and absolutely delicious. 

Golden Yellow Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup! 

Soup can be absolutely glorious. Warming and soothing, at its best, every bowl is also a feast for the eyes and senses.       

This spiced carrot & sweet potato soup is perfect for a winter lunch. It is packed with flavour.

The warming chilli and ginger will lift the most jaded of palates, while the rich golden colour will cheer on the darkest of days.   

Soup is a lunchtime staple for us. It is so easy to make, yet sometimes soup can be one of the hardest things to make delicious.

There is always that temptation to have a fridge forage and throw everything in, producing a mediocre bowl of “fridge bottomy” soup. There’s nothing really wrong with it, but it can lack any focus, shine or spark.

I find that a generous squeeze of lemon often lifts the most lacklustre of soups into something much more appealing.  

Happily this soup is delicious, zingy and bright with a silky texture from the sweet potato, a subtle heat from the spices and a vibrant lift from the lemon.   

Why You Will Love this Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup

• My spiced carrot and sweet potato soup tastes wonderful, with bright warming flavours.
• It is a glorious golden colour.
• The soup is vegan and gluten free. 
• It is suitable for batch cooking and can be frozen. 
• Despite the big flavours, it is light on calories at 250 cal a bowl.
• It is adaptable.

How to Make Spiced Carrot & Sweet Potato Soup

Step One – Grab your ingredients.   

Step Two – Prepare the vegetables. Peel and roughly chop the onion, chop the chilli (discard the membranes and seeds). 

Peel and chop the sweet potato and carrots. If you are using organic, you can give them a good scrub and keep the skin, to maximise nutrition.  

Step Three – Heat the oil in a medium saucepan. Then fry the onion until translucent.  

Step Four – Add the chilli, sweet potato, carrots and ginger.

(Beware of adding too much chilli, as its heat grows with cooking.) Fry for another minute. 

Cooking with Fresh Ginger  

Store leftover ginger root in the freezer in an air tight box.

When needed, grate from frozen with a Microplane-type grater, straight into the pan. No need to peel!

Step Five – Add the stock, coconut milk and lemon zest and juice. Cover and allow to cook on a low heat until the vegetables are soft. 

Step Six – Blitz with a stick blender until smooth. Season to taste and serve with a garnish of coriander.

Hints, Tips & Variations  

• Coconut Milk This recipe uses a can of light coconut milk, which has less fat but all the taste of the regular version. You can also use one of the small cans of coconut cream, made up to 440 ml with water.Alternatively, you can use powdered coconut milk/cream. Some people prefer this because it is cheaper, and you can make as much or as little as you like. If you avoid dairy, read the label when using powdered coconut milk. Some versions contain whey or other milk protein.

You can also use coconut milk drink from a carton, but this has far less flavour.

• Spare ginger root can be stored in a box in the freezer and then grated straight into other dishes from frozen. 
• Pack leftover soup into plastic boxes and freeze to make sure you always have a healthy lunch on hand. 
• Make this soup more substantial by adding a handful of red lentils. Alternatively, try a can of rinsed cannellini, or other soft white beans. Add extra stock if needed. 
• I love coriander, but once picked it doesn’t keep. If you are worried about presentation, use fresh. Otherwise, freeze any leftovers and then snip it up from frozen. Stir through your spiced carrot and sweet potato soup for the flavour. 

More Easy Soup Recipes

• Good soup often starts with a soffritto recipe.   Make a big batch, freeze and use every time you make soup.
• Carrot and lentil soup
• Pumpkin and sweet potato soup 
• Swede Soup
• Slow cooker vegetable soup
• Butternut squash soup
• Tomato and lentil soup
• More easy soup recipes

Summer Soup Recipes

• Gazpacho with canned tomatoes
• Pea and lettuce soup
• Salad soup
• Pappa al pomodoro

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Print Recipe

5 from 3 votes

Spiced Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup

A silky-smooth sweet potato and carrot soup, with zesty lemon and warming ginger and chilli.

Servings: 4 servings

Author: Helen Best-Shaw

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time25 mins

Total Time25 mins

Ingredients

• 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 onion (peeled & roughly chopped)
• 600 g carrots ((8-9 medium, peeled and cut into chunks))
• 200 g sweet potato ((two medium sized, peeled and cut into chunks))
• 1 red chilli ((chopped, discard seeds and membranes))
• 1 cm grated ginger root ((1tsp preserved grated ginger))
• 1000 ml vegetable stock
• 1 lemon (juice and zest)
• 1 tin light coconut milk (or 4 tbs powdered and 400ml water)
• Salt & pepper to taste
• coriander ((to garnish))

Instructions

• Heat the oil in a medium saucepan and fry the onion for a few minutes until softened.
• Add the carrots, sweet potato, chilli and ginger and cook for another minute.
• Add stock, lemon and coconut milk. Cover, turn the heat down and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes until the vegetables are softened.
• Blend until silky smooth and serve piping hot, garnished with coriander and chilli flakes.

Notes

• Coconut Milk This recipe uses a can of light coconut milk, which has less fat but all the taste of the regular version. You can also use one of the small cans of coconut cream, made up to 440 ml with water. Alternatively, you can use powdered coconut milk/cream. Some people prefer this because it is cheaper, and you can make as much or as little as you like. If you avoid dairy, read the label when using powdered coconut milk. Some versions contain whey or other milk protein.

You can also use coconut milk drink from a carton, but this has far less flavour.

• Spare ginger root can be stored in a box in the freezer and then grated straight into other dishes from frozen. 
• Pack leftover soup into plastic boxes and freeze to make sure you always have a healthy lunch on hand. 
• Make this soup more substantial by adding a handful of red lentils. Alternatively, try a can of rinsed cannellini, or other soft white beans. Add extra stock if needed. 
• I love coriander, but once picked it doesn't keep. If you are worried about presentation, use fresh. Otherwise, freeze any leftovers and then snip it up from frozen. Stir through your spiced carrot and sweet potato soup for the flavour. 

• Please note that the nutrition information provided below is approximate and meant as a guideline only.

• Unless stated otherwise cup conversions have been made with an online tool. For accuracy please check with your favoured conversion tool. We recommend buying inexpensive digital kitchen scales.

Nutrition Facts

Spiced Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup

Amount Per Serving

Calories 249 Calories from Fat 90

% Daily Value*

Fat 10g15%

Saturated Fat 9g56%

Sodium 1225mg53%

Potassium 762mg22%

Carbohydrates 37g12%

Fiber 7g29%

Sugar 14g16%

Protein 3g6%

Vitamin A 32792IU656%

Vitamin C 43mg52%

Calcium 78mg8%

Iron 1mg6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Course: Soup

Cuisine: Vegan

Keyword: Zesty Carrot & Sweet Potato Coconut Soup

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Update Notes: This recipe was originally posted in February 2013, but was rewritten and republished with step by step instructions and hints & tips in January 2020.