Thai Coconut Curry Carrot Soup

$6.69 recipe / $1.12 serving
by Beth - Budget Bytes
4.79 from 74 votes
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You guyyyyysssssss. This Thai Coconut Curry Carrot Soup is everything. I seriously wanted to slurp up the entire pot! It’s light, creamy, just a little spicy, and somehow perfectly fitting with this warmer than usual spring weather we’re having. If you like my Thai Curry Vegetable Soup, you’re going to love this one as well. It has a similar flavor profile, but a little sweeter (naturally), a little lighter, and with a silky smooth texture. It’s one of those recipes that makes you wonder, “How do so few ingredients make something that tastes SO good??”

A bowl of Thai Coconut Curry Carrot Soup on a wooden cutting board with coconut milk and sriracha swirled into the top

Make it Vegetarian or Vegan

This Thai Coconut Curry Carrot Soup is an amazingly flavorful vegetarian OR vegan treat. To make sure your soup is vegetarian, check the ingredients on your Thai curry paste. I used Thai Kitchen brand, which does not include any shrimp, but some brands do, so just double check. Also, if you want to make your soup vegan, just use coconut oil in place of butter in the first step. :)

Close up view of a spoonful of thick Thai Coconut Curry Carrot Soup
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Thai Coconut Curry Carrot Soup

4.79 from 74 votes
You only need a few ingredients to make this light and satisfying Thai Coconut Curry Carrot Soup. It’s a creamy, a little sweet, a little spicy, and a lot of delicious. 
You only need a few ingredients to make this light and satisfying Thai Coconut Curry Carrot Soup. It’s a creamy, a little sweet, a little spicy, and a lot of delicious. BudgetBytes.com
Servings 6 about 1.5 cups each
Prep 15 minutes
Cook 40 minutes
Total 55 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 Tbsp butter or coconut oil ($0.26)
  • 1 yellow onion ($0.32)
  • 4 Tbsp red Thai curry paste ($1.45)
  • 1 lb. carrots ($0.89)
  • 1 sweet potato (about 3/4 lb.) ($0.84)
  • 3 cups vegetable broth* ($0.39)
  • 1 13.5oz. can full fat coconut milk ($1.99)
  • salt and pepper to taste ($0.05)

Optional Garnishes

  • cilantro ($0.25)
  • sriracha ($0.25)

Instructions 

  • Dice the onion and add it to a large pot along with the butter (or coconut oil). Sauté the onion until soft and translucent (about 5 minutes).
  • Once the onions are soft, add the Thai curry paste and continue to sauté for about a minute more.
  • While the onion is sautéing, peel and dice the sweet potato (about 1-inch cubes). Add the sweet potato to the pot after the curry paste has sautéed, and continue to sauté the sweet potatoes while you peel and slice the carrots. Add the carrots to the pot as you slice them.
  • Add the vegetable broth to the pot, stir to combine, place a lid on top, and turn the heat up to medium-high. Allow the soup to come to a boil, then turn the heat down to low (or just above low) and allow it to simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. After 30 minutes the sweet potatoes and carrots should be extremely tender and fall apart as you stir the pot.
  • Turn the heat off and remove the pot from the hot stove top to facilitate cooling (to another area on the stove is fine). Add the coconut milk and stir to combine. You can reserve a tablespoon or two of the coconut milk to garnish the finished soup, if desired.
  • Use an immersion blender, or allow the soup to cool further and carefully purée in batches using a traditional blender. Once the soup is puréed, give it a taste and add salt or pepper if desired (this will depend largely on the type of broth used). Garnish with fresh cilantro and a drizzle of sriracha, if desired.

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Notes

*I use Better Than Bouillon to make my vegetable broth.

Nutrition

Serving: 1.5CupsCalories: 134.52kcalCarbohydrates: 17.73gProtein: 1.45gFat: 7.02gSodium: 872.42mgFiber: 2.98g
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Overhead view of a bowl of Thai Coconut Curry Carrot Soup with a hand lifting a spoonful

How to Make Thai Coconut Curry Carrot Soup – Step by Step Photos

Sauté Onions and Butter

Start by dicing one yellow onion and adding it to a large soup pot with 2 Tbsp butter (or coconut oil). Sauté the onions over medium heat until they are soft and translucent.

Add Thai Curry Paste to Onions and Butter

Add 4 Tbsp red Thai curry paste and continue to sauté for about one more minute.

Thai Curry Paste in jar

This is the red Thai curry paste I used. I’m showing you this because it’s an ingredient that I think many people might be familiar with, but is actually in most major grocery stores now. I’ve even seen it at Walmart! So, when you’re in your international foods aisle, you’ll know what to look for. :) And if you’re unfamiliar with this ingredient, it’s basically made out of red chiles, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, and other spices and aromatics. Super yum.

Add Chopped Carrots and Sweet Potatoes

While the onions are sautéing, peel and dice one sweet potato (about 3/4 lb.). Add them to the pot after the curry paste as sautéed for about a minute, and continue to sauté everything while you peel and slice 1 lb. carrots. Add the carrots as you slice them.

Add Vegetable Broth to Pot

Add 3 cups of vegetable broth to the pot. The vegetable broth should barely cover the chopped vegetables, but don’t worry if a few poke out above the liquid. Place a lid on the pot, turn the heat up to medium-high, and allow it to come up to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn it down to low (or just above low) and let it simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. If any sweet potatoes or carrots are out above the liquid, the steam in the pot will still help them soften and you’ll be stirring once in a while to make sure everything gets time in the broth.

Simmered Carrots and Sweet Potatoes

After simmering for 30 minutes, the sweet potatoes and carrots should be extremely soft and should begin to fall apart as you stir the soup. Turn the heat off and move the pot to a different surface to facilitate cooling (moving to another part of the stove is fine).

Add Coconut Milk

Add one 13.5 oz. can of full fat coconut milk (not the stuff you find in the dairy aisle as a milk substitute). You can reserve a couple tablespoons for garnish, if you like. Stir to combine. If you’re going to use a traditional blender to purée the soup, you’ll want to let the soup cool a bit before you blend, to reduce the risk of burning yourself, should anything splatter or explode out the top of the blender. The steam from hot liquids can actually build pressure in a blender and cause the top to pop off while blending, so it’s very important to let it cool a bit first. If you’re using an immersion blender, you can blend the soup whenever you’re ready.

Purée Thai Coconut Curry Carrot Soup

Purée the soup until smooth. If you’re using a regular blender, you’ll probably want to do this in batches, depending on the size of your blender. This recipe makes about 9 cups total. It’s also a good idea to drape a towel over the top of the blender when blending warm liquids, just in case there is any splatter. How gorgeous is that color?!

A spoon sinking into a bowl of Thai Coconut Curry Carrot Soup with coconut milk and sriracha swirled on top.

Once your Thai Coconut Curry Carrot Soup is puréed, give it a taste and add salt or freshly cracked pepper, if needed. If you’re using a low sodium broth you may need to add a touch of salt at the end to help the flavors pop. I decided to add a little pepper to mine because I thought I might like that little peppery bite on top of the mild spiciness from the curry paste. You can also garnish your soup with fresh cilantro, sriracha, or a small drizzle of coconut milk, if you like. :)

YUM.

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  1. Made this today and added some honey, for sweetness. My carrots were a bit old. I used a russet potato, since I had no sweet. A tasty red curry soup!

  2. This was shockingly good for how few ingredients were in it, and how old the vegetables I was using up were ๐Ÿ˜‚ Only sub I made was subbing in some chicken stock, as I ran out of vegetable stock. Definitely one of those recipes that will be heavily impacted by the quality/flavour of the curry paste and the coconut milk.

  3. This is definitely a โ€œskipโ€ recipe for me. I had to add Cayenne, a good tablespoon of Hot Curry powder to try to salvage the taste and gobs of salt. Leaves quite a bit to be desired.

  4. Is this really supposed to be 4 Tbsp red curry paste? Maybe itโ€™s because I used a different brand (MEKHALA Thai Red Curry paste) but 4 tbsps was the whole jar and it was unbelievably spicy, and I generally enjoy spicy food. This had me crying, nose running, everything. I have made dozens of Budget Bytes recipes so I didnโ€™t think to read my jar of paste or to compare this recipe to other Thai red curry carrot soup recipes online, but my jar says to use 2 tsp paste:2 cups coconut milk:1.5 lbs veggies/meat and other similar recipes use similar ratios. If I had made this with half the paste or less it would be good; I might make the recipe tomorrow again with no spice and mix the two batches together.

    1. Oh no! Curry pastes definitely tend to vary in spiciness from brand to brand so I’m sure that’s the issue!

  5. Absolutely outstanding!! Going in my forever rotation. I made this as listed with no subs or changes. Wonderful!

  6. So quick and easy to make, and so amenable to improvisation. And, yes, I did indeed slurp the whole thing down in an evening. Itโ€™s that good. I fear coconut milk will be the death of me.

  7. I Really enjoyed this soup. I didnโ€™t have sweet potato so I used cauliflower and white potatoes(I pre baked the potatoes and added after I blended the soup). Added cumin, paprika and red pepper flakes and I removed some chunky pieces of carrot and cauliflower before blending to have a few chunky pieces let yo enjoy. It was delicious.