Fresh carrots, ginger, sweet potatoes, and coconut milk come together to create a rich and creamy soup that's bursting with flavor! This vegan carrot ginger soup is so vibrant that it looks like liquid gold!
My husband calls this vegan carrot ginger soup "liquid gold soup" because it's the most beautiful and vibrant golden orange color! It really looks (and tastes) like pure sunshine in your bowl. It's bright, fresh, and so flavorful! This creamy carrot sweet potato soup is so easy to make, it requires less than 10 ingredients, and it's ready in less than one hour!
Related Post: 21 Vegan Sweet Potato Recipes You Should Make for Dinner!
Step by Step Instructions
(Please see the recipe card for exact ingredient amounts)
In a dutch oven, saute the diced red onion until it's soft and translucent. Add the grated ginger, minced garlic, and dried seasonings to the pot and let it cook for a few minutes until fragrant. Next, add the chopped sweet potatoes, carrots, and vegetable broth to the pot (Photos 1 & 2). Bring it to a low simmer and then reduce the heat and let it cook until all the vegetables are soft (Photo 3).
Transfer the vegetable mixture to a high-powered blender (Photo 4) and blend on high until it's thick and creamy. Pour the soup back into the pot and stir in the coconut milk (Photos 5 & 6). Taste and add any more salt to taste. Garnish the carrot ginger coconut soup with a drizzle of cashew cream, vegan sour cream, fresh thyme, or a sprinkle of cayenne pepper.
Serving Suggestions
Toasted slices of bread are a must to dunk into this creamy carrot ginger soup. If you'd like to make your own homemade bread, you should try my favorite easy no-knead bread recipe. It's delicious! You could also serve:
- Roasted Maple Dijon Brussel Sprouts
- Baked Potatoes
- Avocado Arugula Cherry Tomato Salad
- Roasted Beetroot and Feta Salad
- Lemon Tahini Courgette Salad
- Vegan Scalloped Potatoes Florentine
How long Does it Last in the Refrigerator?
If the soup is stored properly in an airtight container in the fridge, it will stay fresh for 4-5 days.
Can I Freeze It?
Store the soup in a freezer-safe container and put it in the freezer for 4-6 months.
How to Reheat it
From the Freezer: Take the soup out of the freezer and put it in the fridge to defrost for 24 hours before reheating it.
From the Fridge: Transfer the soup to a bowl and warm it up in the microwave or you can reheat it in a pot on the stovetop. If the soup is too thick, you can add a little bit of water or vegetable broth to help loosen it up.
Recipe Variations
This vegan carrot ginger sweet potato soup is extremely delicious just like this, but you can switch it up in the following ways:
- Make it Spicy: Give this vegan carrot soup a spicy kick by adding ¼ tsp of cayenne pepper. Cayenne pepper pairs perfectly with the natural sweetness of the carrots and sweet potatoes.
- Add Extra Plant-Based Protein: Add ½ cup of dried red lentils and 1 extra cup of vegetable broth or water to the soup, so the lentils can cook in the soup with the rest of the vegetables.
- Leave it Chunky: Skip blending the vegan carrot ginger soup and leave it chunky for a tasty twist on this creamy soup.
- Add Pasta: You can use the leftover carrot ginger soup as a pasta sauce for your favorite noodles! The sauce is so creamy, it's absolutely delicious with pasta! I also like to add a few handfuls of spinach for a pop of color in the sauce.
Substitutions & FAQ
- Carrot Substitutions: You can use butternut squash, canned pumpkin puree, or parsnips instead of carrots.
- Sweet Potato Substitute: Peeled russet potatoes can be used instead of sweet potatoes to get a similar soup consistency.
- Canned Coconut Milk Substitute: To make this soup without coconut milk, you can substitute unsweetened almond milk or unsweetened cashew milk.
- Can I Use Roasted Vegetables? I cooked the carrots and sweet potatoes in the soup so I had one less tray to clean, but you could definitely roast the vegetables and sweet potatoes if you prefer. Roasting brings out the natural sweetness in vegetables so this would be a delicious way to make this vegan carrot ginger soup.
- Can I Use Dried Thyme or Ginger? If you don't have fresh thyme on hand, you can substitute ½ tsp of dried thyme. Dried ginger can be used, but fresh ginger adds so much more flavor to the soup.
- Can I Make it in the Slow Cooker? Yes, you can! Put all of the soup ingredients except for the coconut milk into a large slow cooker and set it to cook on high for 3-4 hours. Transfer the soup to a blender and blend it until smooth and creamy and then pour it back into the slow cooker. Stir in the coconut milk right before serving.
Success Tips
- Peel the sweet potatoes before adding them to the soup so it will have the creamiest consistency.
- You can use fresh or frozen vegetables for this vegan carrot soup recipe, look for the best price and what's in season. (Frozen veggies are just as good as fresh and they're usually cheaper!) You could even use baby carrots if that's what you have on hand.
- Use a high-powered blender (I use this Vitamix blender) to get the creamiest texture. You could also use an immersion blender to blend the soup, but it will take you a little bit longer to blend and the texture might be a little chunkier. Just don't use a food processor because it won't make the soup very smooth.
- Store the leftover soup in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days or you can freeze it for a future meal.
More Vegan Soup Recipes You Should Try!
Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Basil Soup
Easy Stuffed Pepper Quinoa Soup
Vegan Carrot Ginger Sweet Potato Soup
Equipment
- 6-Quart Dutch Oven or Large Soup Pot
- Blender
Ingredients
- 3-4 tbsp low-sodium vegetable broth (to saute)
- 1 medium red onion diced
- 1 ½ inch knob ginger peeled and grated
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 ½ tsp fresh thyme (or ½ tsp dried)
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp himalayan pink sea salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 5 cups carrots chopped (about 10 medium carrots)
- 1 medium sweet potato peeled and diced (about 2 cups)
- 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
- 14 oz can unsweetened coconut milk
Instructions
- In a 6-quart dutch oven over medium heat, saute the diced red onion in 3-4 tbsp of low-sodium vegetable broth until it’s translucent. Season the onions with a pinch of salt.
- Add the grated ginger, minced garlic, 1 ½ tsp fresh thyme, ¼ tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp black pepper to the pot, stir to combine, and let it cook for a few minutes until fragrant.
- Next, add the chopped sweet potatoes, carrots, and vegetable broth to the pot. Bring the soup to a low simmer and then quickly reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover the soup and let it cook for 30 minutes or until all the vegetables are soft.
- Transfer the vegetable mixture to a high-powered blender and blend the soup on high until it's thick and creamy. Pour the blended soup back into the pot and stir in the coconut milk.
- Let the soup cook a few more minutes until it's hot. Taste the soup and add more salt and pepper if it needs it. Garnish the soup with a drizzle of cashew cream, a sprig of fresh thyme, or a sprinkle of cayenne pepper.
Notes
- Peel the sweet potatoes before adding them to the soup so it will have the creamiest consistency.
- You can use fresh or frozen vegetables for this recipe, look for the best price and what's in season. (Frozen veggies are just as good as fresh and they're usually cheaper!) You could even use baby carrots if that's what you have on hand.
- Use a high-powered blender (I use this Vitamix blender) to get the creamiest texture. You could also use an immersion blender to blend the soup, but it will take you a little bit longer to blend and the texture might be a little chunkier. Just don't use a food processor because it won't make the soup very smooth.
- Store the leftover soup in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days or you can freeze it for a future meal.
Nutrition
*This recipe was originally posted on 9/19/17, but I updated it with better recipe instructions on 7/10/20.
Would it make a taste difference to use yellow sweet onion instead of red onion?
No, it doesn't matter.
I absolutely hate coconut milk. Would it ruin the recipe to swap that out for plain almond milk or oat milk? This recipe is on my Thanksgiving menu this year! Can't wait to try it.
Hi Lynda! No problem, you can use almond milk or oat milk instead of coconut milk as long as it's unsweetened and not vanilla flavored. I hope you enjoy it!
I know this would make the recipe not vegan, but would heavy cream work as a substitute as well?
Sure, heavy cream can be used as a substitute.
Can I use a stock pot to cook this recipe? I do not have a dutch oven or a crock pot yet 🙁
Sure! A stock pot will work just fine. Enjoy!
Thank you! I will be making it this weekend cant wait! Love any recipe I have made of yours so far!
Thank you, Caitlyn! I hope you enjoy it =)
OMG this soup was AMAZING!! So creamy and so delicious! next time i will use more veggie broth while sauteeing the onions and garlic. I also added nutmeg to make it more fall-y
Thank you! I'm so happy you liked it <3
Was easy to put together and tasted good. I had to use 3/4 dried diced onions that i reconstituted in the broth. Used 1 can pumpkin instead of the carrots, as suggested. I did have 1 small carrot so i threw that in. My sweet potato was large and was the white variety.
I doubled the ginger but still it was more of a background flavor.
I served it with chili oil and cayenne pepper
Best soup ever!
Thank you, Myriam!
This is was so good. My whole family loved it. My dad asked me to make it again. We felt nurtured by the ingredients. Definitely add the cayenne!
Thank you, Jackie! I'm so glad your family enjoyed the soup!
This looks absolutely scrumptious and very easy to make! Looking forward to making another one of your winning recipes!
Just making this soup. Love all the ingredients. Can’t wait for it to be ready. However I must comment- it takes much more than five minutes to prep.
Thank you for the feedback, Magdalen! I hope you enjoyed the soup =)
Will the ginger be soft enough to blend with the rest of the ingredients or do you remove it before blending?
Hello! I blend it all together.
Will be making this this weekend. Can I substitute chicken or beef broth for the vegetable broth?
Hi leedra! I would stick to the vegetable broth if possible, the chicken broth might be too strong a flavor. The beef broth would definitely be too intense a flavor and the color would change the look of the soup. Also, if you use chicken or beef broth the soup won't be vegan anymore.
This sounds like a WONDERFUL recipe. Sounds like another winner that I MUST make Stacey. Such a creative mind you have.
Thank you!
Hi there, looking foreward to trying this soup out. As a college student, simple and hearty recipes are best. I'm wondering if this soup is freezable because I do not have much experience with soup yet and do not know of the rules of freezing it. Appreciate any advice I can get. Thank you
Hello! Yes, you can definitely freeze this soup! Enjoy!