Carrot Soup

$4.91 recipe / $1.23 serving

published Sep 17, 2022updated Jan 11, 2024

4.63 from 16 votes

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Fresh carrots are one of the most budget-friendly and versatile ingredients at the grocery store. So when money is tight, grab a bag of carrots and make this truly outstanding, rich and creamy, warm and cozy roasted Carrot Soup. I used brown butter for nuttiness, cream to add body, and ginger and thyme to elevate the flavors and make it truly extraordinary! The incredible flavor in this carrot soup will blow you away!

Overhead shot of three bowls of carrot soup with sour cream swirled in them.

This luscious and creamy carrot soup is deceptively simple. Here’s all you’ll need to make your own homemade carrot soup:

Carrots: These budget superstars become deliciously sweet and caramelized when roasted, which adds a unique and complex flavor to the soup that you won’t get from just boiling carrots.
Olive Oil: Olive oil coats the carrots as they roast so they slowly caramelize instead of drying out.
Butter: A generous amount of browned butter is used to sauté the onions, making this carrot soup extra rich and adding even more nutty flavor.
Onion: Onion provides a nice savory base to the soup.
Ginger: Ginger adds a subtle warm heat to the soup that balances the sweetness and creamy texture perfectly.
Thyme: A little bit of thyme adds earthiness and dimension to the flavor profile.
Chicken Broth: Chicken broth adds volume to the soup and provides plenty of savory flavor.
Heavy Cream & Sour Cream: Heavy cream makes the soup rich and luscious and, if you choose to use sour cream, the acidity from the sour cream adds a bright richness. You can use only heavy cream if preferred.

How to Store and Reheat carrot soup

Carrot soup will stay good in the refrigerator for about five days, or frozen for up to three months. Freeze the soup in individual portions so you can thaw as much as needed at one time. Frozen carrot soup can be thawed in the refrigerator overnight and reheated in a pot over low heat, or pop the individual portion into a microwave straight from the freezer—cover to avoid splatter, and cook until it’s steaming.

This carrot soup is deliciously simple, but if you want to add even more flare to your carrot soup, try adding some of these ingredients:

Add curry powder when sautéing the onions
Replace heavy cream with full-fat coconut milk
Drizzle chili crisp over each bowl
Add a heaping spoonful of red Thai curry paste
Drizzle a little pesto on top
Add homemade croutons
Freshly cracked black pepper for even more of a peppery bite!

What to Serve with Carrot Soup

Carrot soup is very filling on its own, but it also pairs well with these fantastic recipes:

Carrot Soup

4.63 from 16 votes

This rich and creamy carrot soup recipe features sweet roasted carrots, warm ginger, and nutty brown butter for an out-of-this-world flavor!

Author: Monti – Budget Bytes

Overhead shot of carrot soup in three white bowls with sour cream swirled in it

Servings 4 2 cups each

Prep 10

Cook 1

Total 1 10

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Ingredients

2 lbs. carrots ($1.49)
2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.12)
1/2 tsp salt ($0.03)
4 Tbsp salted butter ($0.50)
1 yellow onion ($0.65)
1 tsp thyme ($0.10)
3 cups water ($0.00)
3 cups chicken broth ($0.36)
1 cup heavy cream ($1.12)
2 tsp fresh ginger ($0.21)
2 sprigs Italian parsley (optional) ($0.05)
4 Tbsp sour cream (optional) ($0.08)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Clean the carrots and cut them into 1/4 inch rounds. Add them to a sheet pan, then drizzle with olive oil and salt. Roast the carrots at 400°F for about 35 minutes until they have softened and begun to caramelize.
While the carrots roast, dice the onions. Add the butter to a large Dutch oven and cook over medium heat until it foams and the milk solids start to brown. Turn off the heat, add the thyme and cook for one minute, to infuse the butter.
Turn the heat to medium and cook the onions in the browned butter until the onions are translucent, about two minutes.
Add the chicken broth, heavy cream, ginger, and water. Cover and leave the lid slightly ajar. Simmer until carrots are done. Do not boil, as the cream will curdle.
When the carrots have begun to caramelize, take them out of the oven.
Add the carrots to the chicken broth. Cook uncovered until carrots easily fall apart when pressed by a fork. There is no exact time for this, but it will be anywhere from 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the age of the carrots, how thick you cut them, how long you roasted them, and the cook temp of your soup.
Add soup to a blender, Take the center cap off of your blender lid and cover with a towel. Blend in two batches and puree.
Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve. Garnish with a dollop of sour cream and a few leaves of Italian parsley

See how we calculate recipe costs here.

Equipment

Nutrition

Serving: 2cupsCalories: 504kcalCarbohydrates: 28gProtein: 6gFat: 43gSodium: 1221mgFiber: 7g

Read our full nutrition disclaimer here.

How to Make Carrot Soup – Step by Step Photos

Overhead shot of sliced raw carrots in a sheet pan.

Preheat your oven to 400°F. Peel the 2 pounds of carrots and cut them into 1/4 inch rounds. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Roast the carrots at 400°F for about 35 minutes until they have softened and caramelized.

While the carrots roast, dice the onion. Add 4 tablespoons of salted butter to a Dutch oven and cook over medium heat until it foams and the milk solids start to brown. Add 1 teaspoon of thyme and let it cook for a minute.

Add the diced onion to the browned butter and thyme. Cook the onion until they are translucent, about two minutes.

Overhead shot of chicken stock being poured into soup base.

Add 3 cups of chicken broth, 1 cup of heavy cream, 2 teaspoons of ginger and 3 cups of water. Scrape up any brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. Add the ginger. Cover and simmer with the lid on until the carrots are ready. It’s important that you not boil the soup, as the cream will curdle.

Overhead shot of sheet pan with roasted carrots.

Once the carrots have started to caramelize, take them out of the oven.

Overhead shot of carrots cooking in cream mixture.

Add the roasted carrots to the chicken broth mixture. Simmer until they soften so much they fall apart easily when pressed by a fork. There is no exact time for this, but it will be anywhere from 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the age of the carrots, how thick you cut them, how long you roasted them, and whether you simmer or boil your soup.

Before blending the soup, remove the center cap off of your lid and cover the hole with a kitchen towel. This prevents steam from building up and blowing the lid off your blender. Add half of the soup to the blender and puree. Repeat.

Overhead shot of carrot soup in a white bowl with sour cream swirled in it.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. If you’d like to garnish your soup, try it with a dollop of sour cream, some Italian parsley, and black pepper.

Try These Other Great Creamy Soups

Posted in: Cost Per Recipe, Cost Per Serving, Egg Free Recipes, Gluten free Recipes, Main Dish Recipes, Recipes, Recipes under $5, Soup Recipes, Soy Free Recipes, Under $1.50 per serving, Vegetable Recipes, Vegetarian Soup Recipes

Monti CarloMonti Carlo is a Puerto Rican food TV personality, food writer, and special events chef. Catch our Senior Food Editor doing her best not to talk with her mouth full on Good Morning America, The Today Show, Netflix, Food Network, Cooking Channel, and PBS. Her first full-length cookbook, Spanglish, will be published in Spring '25 by Simon and Schuster's Simon Element.More About Monti

Carrot Soup

Ingredients for Carrot Soup

How to Store and Reheat carrot soup

Carrot Soup Add-Ins

What to Serve with Carrot Soup