This quick, comforting carrot and coriander soup is ready within 25 minutes. It’s healthy, easy, low carb and loaded with lots of lovely warming spices. Adding crispy halloumi croutons take the soup to another level of delicious flavour!
This is one of my favourite quick soups for busy weeknights, and to meal prep for lunches throughout the week. All you have to do is cook down onion, garlic and ginger with some cupboard staple spices, add chopped carrots and stock, simmer then blitz until smooth. It’ll be ready in less than 30 minutes and needs hardly any hands-on time.
There’s not much golden, pan-fried halloumi nuggets don’t improve and I LOVE them here. They add a lovely hit of saltiness and texture to the sweet, fragrant soup and I’d really urge you to give them a go.
Ingredients
You only need a handful of easy-to-find ingredients for this soup.
- Carrots. The best part of this recipe is that you don’t need to peel the carrots! This saves SO much time.
- Spices. We’ll use a mixture of ground coriander, cumin, smoked paprika and turmeric for a lovely warm depth of flavour and a little spice in the soup. If you’re not a coriander fan, switch it out for more cumin.
- Ginger. I love adding a little ginger to this soup as it pairs so wonderfully with the sweet carrots, but you could leave it out, or use 1 teaspoon of ground ginger instead.
- Stock. I’m using vegetable stock, but you could also use chicken stock.
OPTIONAL: I LOVE adding tamarind paste to this soup. It provides a wonderful sour, tangy note that helps to cut through the sweetness of the carrots. If you can find it, give it a try. I add 1 tablespoon when I’m adding the stock. You can also add some fresh coriander as a garnish for the soup at the end.
How to make it
Start by cooking the onion for a couple of minutes in olive oil, just to soften it a bit. Then go in with the spices, garlic and ginger. Once the spices are smelling fragrant and lovely, add your chopped carrots and stock. Bring the soup to a simmer for about 20 minutes.
You’re looking for the carrots to be super tender – you should be able to easily pierce them with a fork. Once they’re at this point, the soup is ready to blend. You can do this two ways: with a stick blender straight in the pot, or by transferring the soup to a stand blender. I prefer a stand blender because I find you get a much smoother and silkier result that way. If you are going to transfer it, make sure you let it cool a little before doing it (5 minutes is fine). Hot liquid in a blender is a recipe for an explosion disaster.
Once your soup is blended, make the halloumi croutons by cooking diced halloumi in a little olive oil until golden on both sides. Divide the warm soup between bowls, top with the halloumi and serve with fresh bread.
Got a question?
Yes! This soup is perfect for freezing, and I do it all the time. I like to freeze individual portions of soup in zip-lock bags for easy storage. You can defrost the soup right in a pot on the stove, or in the microwave. It’ll last at least 6 months in the freezer.
If you store it in an airtight container, it will be absolutely fine for 5 days – I’d just store the halloumi separately.
You can just increase the amount of ground cumin (use 1 extra teaspoon).
Nope! You of course can if you like, but I’ve found you really don’t need to here. I don’t think it impacts the flavour or texture and it will save you a lot of time. Just make sure the carrots are clean, so you’ll want to give them a scrub and a rinse if they look a bit dirty.
If you leave out the halloumi croutons then yes it is!
It really is a good meal in itself – but the best added extra is, of course, fresh bread. I love this soup with toasted sourdough or my no-knead chilli cheese focaccia.
Like this recipe? Here are some more quick ideas you might like
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear about it! You can leave a comment below and let me know how you get on.
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Quick Carrot and Coriander Soup Recipe
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
This quick, comforting carrot and coriander soup is ready within 25 minutes. It’s healthy, easy, low carb and loaded with lots of lovely warming spices. Adding crispy halloumi croutons take the soup to another level of delicious flavour!
Remember, if you’re looking for measurements in cups, use the ‘Units’ button below this section and click ‘US’.
Ingredients
For the soup –
- 800g carrots
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1.2 litres vegetable stock (or chicken)
For the croutons –
- 1 block halloumi (normally 225g)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
To serve –
- 2 spring onions, sliced lengthways and popped into a glass of water (this will make them curl up)
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- Prepare the carrots. Start by chopping your carrots into rough chunks, about 3cm long. There’s no need to peel your carrots for this, just make sure they’re clean (you can give them a scrub/rinse) and chop off the heads.
- Cook the onion, garlic and spices. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil into a large saucepan, then add the diced onion and 1 teaspoon of salt. Cook, stirring with a large wooden spoon or spatula for a couple of minutes, until the onions start to soften and change colour (they’ll start looking more transparent). Add the crushed garlic cloves, 2 teaspoons of ground coriander, 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika, ½ teaspoon of ground turmeric and 1 teaspoon of ground cumin. Stir the garlic and spices through the onion and oil for another minute, until the spices start smelling super fragrant.
- Simmer the soup. At this point, add all the chopped carrots and the stock. You want the carrots to be just covered by the stock, so add a little water (or more stock if you have it) if they’re not submerged. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. You’re looking for the carrots to be tender enough to be easily pierced with a fork.
- Blend the soup. Once the carrots are tender, it’s time to blitz the soup to make it smooth and creamy. You can either do this with a stick blender, right in the pot or transfer the soup to a stand blender and blitz it that way. I prefer transferring it because I find a stand blender gives a smoother result. But, it’s fewer dishes to just blitz the soup directly in the pot, so do whatever you prefer. If you are transferring to a blender, let the soup cool for about 5 minutes before adding it (you don’t want to add super hot liquid to a blender as it could explode on you). Blend the soup until super smooth and creamy – this will take a few minutes. This is a thick soup, so you can add a little water if you want to thin it out a bit. Transfer the blended soup back into the pot (if you’ve used your stand blender) and keep warm while you make the halloumi croutons.
- Make the halloumi croutons. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a small frying pan over medium heat, then add the diced halloumi. Cook for a couple of minutes on each side, until the halloumi is looking lovely and golden. Remove the pan from the heat.
- Garnish and serve. Divide the soup between bowls, then top with the halloumi croutons. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil, the curly spring onions and a sprinkling of sesame seeds. Serve with soft, warm fresh bread (my easy no-knead chilli cheese focaccia is a great choice).
Notes
The soup freezes really well. I like to store individual portions in zip-lock bags to maximise freezer space. You can easily defrost it on the stove or in the microwave quickly, whenever you need a fast meal.
It’ll also keep well for 5 days in the fridge – just store it in an airtight container. You can reheat it on the stovetop or in the microwave for a few minutes.
If you’re not a big coriander fan (or cooking for someone who isn’t!) you can leave out the ground coriander and just use an extra 1 teaspoon of ground cumin.
The halloumi croutons are DELICIOUS and provide a great salty, textural bite to the soup, but you can leave them out if you like (and it’s completely vegan without them too).
Add a little fresh coriander at the end to up the coriander factor more if you’re a fan!
Tamarind paste is a lovely optional extra I’ll sometimes add to this soup – 1 tablespoon is more than enough. It just provides a lovely, sour, tangy element that cuts through the sweetness of the carrot and is utterly delicious.
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 20
- Category: soup
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: american
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bowl
Keywords: carrot soup, easy carrot soup
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