Roasted Carrot Soup
In my opinion, the best way to celebrate local produce is to use simple recipes where the ingredients can shine brightly. This soup is an excellent example of this principle, especially as almost all the ingredients can be locally grown. It also can be modified to be vegetarian or vegan, all of which are equally delicious. For this recipe, be sure to give yourself a couple hours prep time to allow the flavors to properly develop. Resist the temptation to increase the oven temperature to speed up the carrot roasting time. To develop the sweet caramel flavors in the roasted carrots, a “low and slow” oven roast does the trick. I have presented this without much embellishment, but one could easily add herbs or spices that would add dimension. Consider adding a sprig of rosemary or ginger root when simmering for a complementary flavor to other dishes you are preparing.
Ingredients
- 1 pound carrots, peeled and rinsed
- 1 large yellow onion
- 3 tbsp olive oil*
- 1 liter low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar*
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Optional, for garnish: ¼ cup chopped parsley, ¼ cup Greek yogurt
Directions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
- Coarsely chop the carrots into 1 inch chunks.
- Toss carrots with 2 tbsp olive oil and spread evenly on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle carrots with a couple pinches of salt.
- Place into oven for around 45 minutes. Be sure to take out tray a couple times during the roast to flip the carrots and move around the tray for even roasting. The carrots should have a golden-brown roast, not blackened.
- While the carrots are roasting, dice the onion and saute in the remaining olive oil in a large stock pot over medium heat. Sprinkle diced onions with a pinch of salt when you add to the pan to help draw out moisture. Reduce the heat if the onions start to brown too quickly, you are going for a “low and slow” saute that will caramelize the onions.
- Once the carrots are done roasting, add to stock pot with the onions, then add the broth. Simmer for 15 – 20 minutes. Do NOT let this come to a boil.
- Blend the entire mixture in batches in a blender until smooth. You can also use an immersion blender here if you prefer, but I like to use a blender to get this as smooth as possible.
- Return to stock pot and add 1 tbsp rice vinegar. Adjust the thickness of the soup with water, adding 1/3 cup water at a time until the desired thickness is obtained. Adjust seasoning with salt and black pepper (see notes below).
- For serving, whisk Greek yogurt with a couple tablespoons of water and swirl on top of soup, then sprinkle with diced parsley.
Notes:
- You can also use melted unsalted butter or neutral oil for the fats in this soup, whatever you have on hand.
- For modifying to be a vegetarian dish, be sure to use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock. For modifying to be a vegan dish, omit the yogurt garnish (or use vegan yogurt) and be sure to use olive/vegetable/avocado/seed nut oils instead of butter.
- I like using rice vinegar for this, as it has a neutral mild flavor that gives a bit of an acid zing to the soup. If you don’t have rice vinegar, you can substitute 2 tsp white vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
- This soup should be sweet, but if the carrots are a bit on the bitter side, a couple tsp of white sugar can balance the flavors.
- When adding additional herbs/spices, you can add during the simmer phase. Be sure to remove the herbs/spices before blending.
This locally inspired recipe is brought to you by Evelyn Lockhart, MD. Evelyn is an amateur baker and cook, a professor of pathology at University of New Mexico, and a medical illustrator (www.evelynlockhart.com). She recently won best-in-show for pies at the 2025 New Mexico State Fair baking contest.