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.
Hi Beth. Do you have an immersion blender? How much do you actually use it? I’m trying to figure out if it’s worth getting one.
I don’t have one because I don’t make blended soups that often, but they are 100x easier than a regular blender for things like this. They’re also nice if you make homemade salad dressings a lot. :)
Mine has a whisk attachment that I use for whipped cream. I began to make more blended soups when I got one….so I am glad I have it and it’s multi purpose.
I used a different curry paste brand and this same out way too spicy…like inedible. If you are using any other brand seriously half the amount.
I found it a really spicy too but for me, nowhere near inedible, so it might really depend on the brand you’re using. I will cut back a little on the curry paste next time I make it, but I am still enjoying this batch!
What an AWESOME recipe! So simple, healthy, tasty and fresh! I had some left over fresh spinach from another recipe that I threw a handful of into this soup. This recipe is a keeper!
This is FANTASTIC!!!! I actually did it in my Instant Pot and is turned out perfect. I put it on saute for the onion and red curry paste then added everything else and put on Manual for 10 minutes. Perfection! Thanks for another winner!
Nice! Thanks for sharing the IP method!
I’ve had this several times before and have loved it! I have some shredded chicken in my freezer from a rotisserie chicken I didn’t use all of. Do you think that would be good to add at the end, post-blending?
Sure! I add leftover rotisserie chicken to all sorts of meals like this. :)
Super good! But indeed, if you use an other brand of curry paste 4 table spoons is waaaaay too much! Maybe the one you are using is less spicy? I love spicy food, but this was chocking hazard spicy, haha! I added some broth and it was ok. But definitely a awesome recipe.
I am wondering if this will freeze well?
I think this one would probably freeze well, although I haven’t tried it with this particular recipe. If anything, you may need to just stir a bit after reheating to mix everything back together.
I’m uncertain this would freeze well. Things frozen with coconut milk tend to take on a grainy texture and separate when defrosted and rewarmed.I’d test with a small portion of it to see what happens to the soup upon defrosting.
It freezes just fine! It has a grainy texture when you reheat it, but if you whisk while reheating that goes away and it’s as smooth as when you first made it.
I have a vitamix blender and really like to make no cook soups in it; do you think I could just throw all the ingredients in the blender and blend on high until the soup gets hot?
It probably won’t taste quite the same, as the sauté steps in the beginning really concentrate the flavors and sweeten up the aromatics. Also, I don’t know much about the Vitamix, so unfortunately I can’t comment on letting it heat in the blender itself.
Wow nice soup my mother very like it this & I’m like this its very delicious to eat Thanks Budget Bytes for sharing post
Our family now has a new favorite soup. It was actually a really quiet lunch as everybody was too busy devouring their soup to talk. I have yet to make a recipe from this site that has not turned out great. This soup will definitely be made again.
This was awesome! Absolutely loved it and so did my boyfriend. Thanks Budget Bytes!
This was very tasty soup! I was short on the red thai spice paste so I used another spice mix. It was still very good.
Thanks for sharing this!
This was so delicious! Really my kind of comfort food. And bonus that it was so quick and easy to make. I wanted to add something to make it a bit more filling for dinner so I made some crunchy Thai spiced chickpeas to put on top. I got the recipe from Food & Wine. I really loved the crunch factor and flavor they added. I will be making this on the regular. Thank you for this recipe. I don’t think I’ve ever made a recipe of yours that I don’t like.
Soups like this are the only way I can get anyone to eat any vegetables! Perhaps it was my curry paste… but OMG this was so so spicy! I like spice, but I’ll half the curry paste next time. Other than that, it was a delicious soup! I made it with your homemade naan recipe which is so easy and I also just love.
I have been using budget bytes recipes for years and this is my favorite recipe to date! It was incredible! I keep telling all my family and friends about it :)
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoy it so much!!