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This Szechuan Carrot Ginger Soup will warm you from the inside out. Seasoned with ginger, hot pepper flakes and sesame oil this soup is nourishing, delicious, filling and EASY. It basically checks all the soup requirement boxes.

Overhead shot of orange, carrot soup garnished with swirls of sour cream, cilantro leaves and oil - in a blue and white transferware bowl on a silver tray.

Skip right to the recipe.

I have absolutely nothing to say about Carrot Ginger soup. Nothing. As someone who is passionate about all things soup you'd think I'd have at least one thing to say but nope. I have been sitting here in my office for the last half hour trying to remember some sort of anecdote about this soup to lead into the recipe with. I do not have a single interesting story about it. I don't even have an uninteresting story about carrot soup.

Here is what I can tell you about me and soup. I like it all. I like Habitant canned Pea Soup with a stack of buttered Premium Plus crackers on the side and vinegar drizzled on top of the soup, I love a good squash soup, am enamoured with spicy sausage fire broth soup and generally have nothing bad to say about soup.

Yup.

Riveting post so far isn't it?

So I might as well get right into it then. What I DO know about this carrot ginger soup is that it's completely delicious, dead easy to make and packs more flavour than you'd think possible in a recipe that only has a few ingredients and takes about half an hour to make. 40 minutes if you're going at a relaxed pace.

Diced celery and onions next to a large chef's knife.

This is soup so do not be frightened of it. It is quite literally impossible to screw up soup.

You cook some carrots until tender in chicken or vegetable broth, whiz it a bit with an immersion blender and you're done.

O.K. there are a few more ingredients and steps, but basically that's it.

CARROT SOUP TIPS

Grid photo demonstrating how to peel ginger with a spoon, simmering carrots for soup and blending with a stick blender.

To peel ginger just scrape the skin away with a spoon. It the fastest, easiest way to do it.
Have a leftover bag of those baby carrots? Use them up in soup.
Want to add a little kick to ANY soup? Throw in ¼ teaspoon of pepper flakes or cayenne pepper.
Still saving up for a Vitamix? Use an inexpensive immersion blender. They work GREAT for so many things, soups especially, making them velvety. You'll get the same result by using a Vitamix.

Carrot ginger soup served in transferware soup bowl with handles, on a silver tray.

OUT OF CARROTS? No problem. Omit the sugar in the recipe and use sweet potato instead.

Szechuan Carrot Ginger Soup

Carrot Ginger Soup

This Szechuan style carrot soup is made with basic pantry ingredients and will warm you from the inside out.

4.64 from 19 votes

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Course: Soup

Cuisine: Asian

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 20

Total Time: 35

Servings: servings

Calories: 164kcal

Author: Karen Bertelsen

Ingredients

1 medium onion
2 stalks celery
1 clove garlic minced
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 lb carrots cut 1" (or baby carrots uncut)
½" fresh ginger peeled & sliced
¼ teaspoon pepper flakes
3 cups chicken broth
1 ½ Tbsps soy sauce
½ tablespoon peanut butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon Sesame Oil I use toasted
1 cup milk
4 tablespoon sour cream

Instructions

Cook the onion, celery and garlic in oil until the onion is softened.
Grab yourself a fresh hunk of ginger. About ½ an inch is good for me, but you can add more (if you’re crazy like thaor less (if you’re crazy like that). Peel your knob of ginger, then slice it thinly.
Add the sliced ginger to the softened onions along with about ¼ teaspoon of red pepper flakes.
Add the 3 cups of chicken broth to the pot which now includes onion, celery, garlic, ginger and pepper flakes.
Add the carrots!
Cover the pot and simmer until the carrots are tender.
Remove pot from heat and add the remaining ingredients to the pot. (Soy Sauce, Peanut Butter, Sugar, Sesame Oil and Milk)
Blend the soup with either an immersion or regular blender. Rewarm the soup on the stove if necessary, but be careful not to boil it because of the milk. If you don’t want to worry about the soup boiling (or calories) use whipping cream in place of milk.
Serve the soup with a big dollop of sour cream on top.

Notes

To peel ginger just scrape the skin away with a spoon. It the fastest, easiest way to do it.
Have a leftover bag of those baby carrots? Use them up in soup.
Want to add a little kick to ANY soup? Throw in ¼ teaspoon of pepper flakes.
Still saving up for a Vitamix? Use an inexpensive immersion blender. They work GREAT for so many things, soups especially.
You can do WHATEVER you want to a soup recipe to make it your own. Like it hotter? Add more pepper flakes. Like it thinner? Add more broth or milk.
Get hot pepper flakes in your eye? Rinse with milk. Yes. Seriously. Milk. Read about it here.

Nutrition

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Pumpkin Soup with maple pumpkin seeds and crispy fried sage.

Fire Broth Soup - a hearty soup filled with spicy sausage, broth and tons of vegetables.

Garnish with a big dollop of sour cream, cilantro if you have some and a few drops of toasted sesame oil. As with any recipe feel free to change things up a bit, adding more or less of this and that. And if, by chance, something VERY exciting happens to you while making or eating this soup, let me know. Evidently I'm in need of a really good carrot soup story.

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