Creamy Carrot Soup has surprisingly simple ingredients like carrots, onion, celery, and bacon, but it tastes gourmet. Just like our popular Potato Soup, this is a quick and easy recipe that comes together in one pot. You will love the silky smooth texture and rich flavor.
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Why You’ll Love This Carrot Soup Recipe
Carrot soup is loaded with sweet carrots, plenty of onion and celery (don’t worry – they disappear into the final soup but add amazing flavor), fresh garlic, bacon, and light cream. Sauteeing the bacon first and cooking the rest of the soup in a little bit of bacon grease elevates the flavor of this cream of carrot soup.
It’s such a comforting and flavorful bowl of soup. All you need to go with it are some Dinner Rolls or crusty French Bread.
How to Make Easy Carrot Soup
You’ll love how this soup comes together in one pot. If you use an immersion blender, it’s even easier since you can blend it right in the pot and don’t have to transfer it to the blender. Immersion blenders are amazing!
- In a large pot or 5 1/2 Qt Dutch oven, brown the bacon over medium heat and transfer to a plate, keeping the bacon grease in the pot.
- Add diced onion, celery, and sliced carrots and cook 6-8 min. Add minced garlic, salt, and black pepper and cook another minute.
- Add chicken broth, and simmer partially covered 20-25 min until carrots are soft.
- Puree soup in batches in a blender or use an immersion blender.
- Return soup to the pot, stir in 1/2 cup cream, 1/2 cup milk, salt and pepper to taste, then bring to a simmer and remove from heat.
Ways to Blend Creamy Soups
There are many ways to blend soup, but not all are effective in getting a restaurant-quality ultra-smooth consistency.
- High-Powered Blender: Transfer your soup to your blender in batches. You should never fill a blender more than halfway with hot liquids to avoid burns, spills or ‘explosions.’ A high-powered blender will do the job best. Our blender has openings in the lid to allow heat to escape so you don’t end up with a vacuum.
- Immersion Blender: You can blend the soup to the right consistency and save yourself some dishes by using an immersion blender. Blend directly in your soup pot. It has a shield around the blade to avoid scratching your pot. Wear an oven mitt and apron while using in case there is any splatter.
- An Electric Hand Mixer – This is not as good as an immersion blender for getting a silky smooth texture. An electric hand mixer can also scratch up your coated pots.
- A Food Processor is our least favorite option as it doesn’t achieve the smoothness that you get from a high-powered standing blender or immersion blender. It is better for processing thicker and chunkier sauces and soups.
Tips for the Best Carrot Soup
I fell in love with creamy soups on our honeymoon in Mexico where we dined in 5-star restaurants and soup was often served as a starter. They were so simple and so elegant at the same time. Here are some tips to make silky smooth blended soups:
- Don’t overcook or undercook the vegetables. Cook until uniformly soft without resistance to the bite.
- Season to taste at the end. You won’t be able to truly gauge the flavor until the end after it’s all blended.
- Add cream last. You don’t want to keep boiling after the cream is added.
- Don’t forget toppings! They aren’t just for looks. Toppings like bacon, parsley, black pepper or an extra swirl of cream will add just the right amount of texture and flavor and keep your soup exciting for adults. Remember it’s not baby food!
Can I Make This a Dairy-Free Carrot Soup?
Yes! You can skip the cream and milk and use coconut milk instead for a carrot coconut soup, just like we did in our Sweet Potato Soup. It will still have amazing flavor and be a dairy-free creamy soup.
This Carrot soup is a feel-good comfort food and will warm your belly. If you love quick and cozy soup recipes, don’t miss our most popular Zuppa Toscana, classic Chicken Noodle Soup, and loaded Taco Soup (to change up your Taco Tuesday routine). These are just a few of our best soup recipes.
More Creamy Soup Recipes
- Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
- Clam Chowder
- Corn Chowder
- Creamy Cauliflower Soup
- Easy Tomato Soup
- Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Creamy Carrot Soup
Ingredients
- 6 oz bacon, 6 strips, chopped
- 1 large yellow onion, diced (2 cups)
- 1 celery rib, diced (1/2 cup)
- 2 lbs carrots, 8 large, peeled and sliced into 1/2” thick rings
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tsp sea salt, or to taste
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- 4 cups chicken stock, or broth (reduced sodium)
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, plus more to garnish
- 2 Tbsp parsley, to garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Brown bacon in a 5 1/2 qt Dutch oven or large pot over medium heat and remove browned bacon with a slotted spoon.
- Into the same pot with the rendered bacon fat, add diced onion, celery, and sliced carrots and cook 6-8 minutes until onions soften (do not brown). Add minced garlic and 2 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp black pepper, and stir another minute.
- Add 4 cups chicken stock, bring to a simmer then partially cover and cook 20-25 minutes or until carrots have softened.
- Puree soup in a blender in batches or use an immersion blender.
- Return soup to pot and stir in 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1/2 cup milk. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Nutrition Per Serving
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Thanks for this simple adaptive soup recipe I appreciate you having this available
You’re welcome!
Made this for our Christmas soup night with friends. I was looking for a soup that was different from the ones our group traditionally brought. This was a huge success and everyone loved it. I will definitely make this again.
I’m happy to hear that it was a huge success!
I made this soup twice in 2 weeks. My new favourite. Thank you Natasha. LORI FROM Haliburton Ontario Canada.
That’s wonderful! You’re very welcome, Lori!
Just made this soup, 1st time ever attempting it. Best soup recipe
So glad you loved it, Lori!