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??”
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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. :)
Thai Coconut Curry Carrot Soup
Servings 6 about 1.5 cups eachIngredients
- 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
Nutrition
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How to Make Thai Coconut Curry Carrot Soup – Step by Step Photos
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 4 Tbsp red Thai curry paste and continue to sauté for about one more minute.
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.
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 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.
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 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 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?!
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.
Would chicken broth work in substitute for the vegetable?
Yes!
So good! Absolutely going into my regular rotation. I made this in my instant pot, using the sauté function for onions butter and curry paste, 15 min manual release. I added in 1/4 cup peanut butter at the end and it was really good.
Do you think this would be ok with light coconut milk instead of the full fat?
We haven’t tried it with the light yet, but you could certainly try and see how it goes.
Patty, I was wondering the same thing. Did you try it?
This soup is so good! I found the recipe last month and have made it 3 times! I do a CSA share so I have a plethora of carrots and sweet potatoes. Thank you for sharing!
This soup was SO delicious–I’ve been sharing it with all my friends since making it last night. I was a little skeptical because of how few ingredients it had, I definitely thought it’d be lacking something but it wasn’t at all. Will definitely be adding to my rotation.
This. Is. Fantastic. My husband, who isn’t a huge fan of soup, had 2 bowls and tried to eat our kids’ bowls as well 😂 that is high praise indeed! I had Thai green curry paste in the fridge so I used that instead of red curry paste. Still tasted amazing. Added a squeeze of lime and some sriracha. *chefs kiss*
My grocery store was out of red curry paste, so I used 1 tbsp of curry powder I already had. Still delicious!!
We’ve done this twice now, it’s delicious. We actually made a side of rice to eat with it like how curry is often served in Indian restaurants. We’re in France so the international aisle in our grocery stores is a bit different, but we’ve used other Thai curry pastes (yellow?) and the results are still great. We also skipped using a blender but the veggies are kinda dissolving in the soup anyhow.
Happy to hear it Dana!
I am now tripling this recipe. Everyone loves it that much. So easy to prepare and absolutely delicious!
That is amazing! Thanks for sharing Ali!
After an unusually cool day in Houston, I decided that soup was as must for dinner. Found this recipe while browsing BudgetBytes and decided to give it go, since I had all the required ingredients in the pantry. This was absolutely delicious! Will keep the receipt in regular rotation. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing Emily!
I just want to say this is hands down the best soup I have ever made! I used a different brand of curry paste and only used three tablespoons and it still came out pretty spicy (next time Ill try 2 instead) BUT wow was the flavor there! My 2.5 year old also ate it but I just added a few tablespoons of yogurt to bring down the heat and he ate it no problem. He hates carrots so to get him to eat a bowl of pureed carrot is a win in my book. I cant get over how easy this was. I threw everything in the instant pot, and after sautéing everything I put the veggie broth in, put it on manual pressure of 15 min, quick release, coconut milk, and then blended it up. So easy and SO SO good. We ate it for dinner, and then hubby and I ate it for lunch, and then again for dinner with some fish on the side. We have never finished soup in 24 hours. Will definitely be making it for future events. By the way, I also made your sweet potato biscuits and we had them with the soup the first night. loved it!
Thank you Anna!
Love this soup. Thinking I could maybe do this in my instant pot? Any tips? Thanks!
I haven’t tried this in an IP, but I would probably just do the beginning sauté steps with the sauté function, then switch to the soup function after everything else is added. :)
How many days in advance can you make this soup
Are you just looking to have it in the fridge? If so it could last up to 3-5 days in the refrigerator, and a few months in the freezer.
This soup is so delicious and easy to make! Very similar to a soup we’ve eaten at our favorite restaurant in Denver, Root Down!
I (Kelly) am in Colorado too and I LOVE Root Down! This soup is so similar! Glad you like it!
I have lots of curry powder to use up, can I substitute curry powder for the paste?
Curry powder and curry paste are actually two very different ingredients and have different flavors (paste is Thai and powder is Indian). That being said, I think Indian curry would probably also taste good with the other ingredients in this soup. So it will taste completely different, but I think it would also be good. Haha