This creamy carrot ginger soup is simple to make, warm without being spicy, and has a refreshing touch of citrus at the very end. Its rich and velvety and filling, which is going to trick you into thinking that I’ve added cream, but in fact this is an entirely vegan carrot soup. It’s cozy, restorative, and I’ve been relishing having a big bowl every day for lunch. No matter how far the mercury dips (or since I don’t own an actual, old-school thermometer with mercury, no matter how low the “feels like” temperature my weather app displays), recipes like this carrot ginger soup fortify my body and soul alike. Vegan and vegetable-based soups like this Instant Pot Carrot Soup with Ginger (or Potato Leek Soup and Curry Lentil Soup) are also ideal if you need a bit of a reset (ME!). Between spending a week in St. Louis cooking and photographing 50 (!!) recipes for my upcoming cookbook (announcement details here; first behind the scenes recipe development post here), a week in Mexico, and Ben and my recent trip to Vail, healthy soups that satisfy my appetite and provide a wealth of vegetables are most welcome. Of course, those healthy soups must be delicious too! This Instant Pot Carrot Soup is a fabulous mix of flavors. Here are the ingredients that make this easy soup taste positively exceptional, along with my tricks to make it super creamy too.
The Best Creamy Instant Pot Carrot Soup with Ginger (shhh, it’s VEGAN)
Carrots. You don’t even need to peel them. Scrub, rough chop, DONE. Use regular (full-size) carrots, not baby carrots. They have far more flavor, and flavor is what we want in our carrot soup with ginger. Cauliflower. Part I of this creamy carrot soup’s lusciousness factor. I discovered the trick of using cauliflower to make soups creamy back when I made this Instant Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup, and I’ve been all-in with the approach since. You can’t taste the cauliflower; it’s role is to make the soup thick and magical. I’ve spotted a few potato carrot soups in the Instant Pot out there (which I assume would yield similar textural results), but I like that cauliflower is less starchy.
Plus I just finished off a pot of this Crockpot Potato Soup so it was time for something new…meaning something new that’s still soup. As I mentioned, I’m (happily) stuck here for a while.
Cashews. Lusciousness, Part II. Toss a big handful of raw cashews into the Instant Pot prior to cooking, then let the pressure cooker do the work to make them soft and blendable. Once the soup is pureed (easiest with an immersion blender like this one), the cashews give the soup a richness that you’d miss without them.
I also included directions to toast extra cashews to sprinkle on top of the finished soup at the end. You’ll be very happy you did this.
Almond Milk. More creamy. Extra dreamy. You can swap full-fat coconut milk for an even more decadent texture, though I prefer the neutral flavor of the almond milk here. Fresh Ginger. Ginger and carrots together forever amen. Because this soup has so few ingredients, I recommend using fresh ginger. Ground simply won’t have as lovely a result. Turmeric and Cumin. A few pinches of these golden, healing spices deepen the carrot soup’s flavor and pair beautifully with the ginger. Together, they create a bit of a curry carrot soup effect, without the need for curry. Fresh Orange Juice. As I was tasting this carrot soup with ginger, I kept thinking it was good but lacked that elusive “pop” that would keep me going back for more. A squeeze of fresh orange juice turned out to be the trick. It transformed this Instant Pot Carrot Soup from something I was reasonably happy with to something I have been enthusiastically devouring every day for lunch this week, and I am not even close to weary of it yet.
What to Serve with Carrot Soup with Ginger
Most days, I’ve been eating this carrot ginger turmeric soup its own, piled high with leftover roasted vegetables (if we have them), toasted cashews, and a dollop of Greek yogurt because a) protein and b) I usually overheat the soup and need to cool it down. If you’d like some suggestions for sides, this Carrot Soup with Ginger would be wonderful with:
Roasted vegetables: Crispy Oven Roasted Brussels Sprouts; Baked Fries. A hearty salad: Moroccan Chickpea Salad; Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad; Broccoli Quinoa Salad; Winter Kale Salad. Grilled cheese: Apple Grilled Cheese with Turkey is a household fave. This Avocado Grilled Cheese is a tasty vegetarian option.
Craving carrot soup but don’t have an Instant Pot? Try my Roasted Carrot Soup or Curried Carrot Soup instead.
More Healthy Instant Pot Soups
Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup Instant Pot Beef Stew Instant Pot Lentil Soup Instant Pot French Onion Soup
Recommended Tools to Make Instant Pot Carrot Soup with Ginger
Instant Pot (recipe tested using this 6-quart model) Immersion blender (one of my favorite tools for creamy vegetable soups)
