Carrot Soup {Vegan, Gluten Free}

Sometimes eating healthy food that you know is good for you makes it taste even better. I kind of feel that way about this soup. I mean it’s not a cheeseburger, but it makes me feel good and healthy. That’s pretty important in my opinion!

I get carrots in my CSA box every week. Giant carrots. I get tired of roasting them or slicing them into sticks because I have been doing that for months on end. This time I made a soup.

A study published in 2002 in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry showed that cooking carrots increases their level of beta-carotene. Beta-carotene belongs to a group of antioxidant substances called carotenoids, which give fruits and vegetables their red, yellow, and orange colorings. The body converts beta-carotene into vitamin A, which plays an important role in vision, bone growth, reproduction and immune system regulation.

What’s great about cooking vegetables different ways is that you get to experience an entirely different flavor. I am not going to say it suits everyone, but it’s worth experimenting with the way you prepare vegetables.

Carrots are really quite sweet and paired with some spices and touch of honey, you get that spicy sweet combo. This soup is low calorie and high fiber. All veggie goodness!

I even got my kids to eat a few bites, although next time I think I will puree a portion without the spices just for them.

Don’t like carrots? Butternut squash would be a great stand-in!

and what made this soup even more exciting to make is that I made it with my new Nutri Ninja DUO with Auto-IQ.

Ninja was one of the sponsors at the IFBC (International Food Blogger Conference) and they were kind enough to send a bunch of us conference attendees this amazing blender to try.

I have been wanting to buy a nice blender for a while now, and let me just say the $100 good-brand name blender we bought 2 years ago is not cutting it (no pun intended). I won’t name names but let’s just say that I was one happy camper when this arrived.

I will post some more recipes using the Nutri Ninja (the smaller cup) because they are all made to serve different purposes. The Auto IQ technology offers unique blending, pulsing and pausing patterns that is made to give you the most consistent results.

I couldn’t believe how powerful this blender was- I went with the puree option and stopped it about half way through the minute because the soup was already perfectly pureed. I love the sturdy plastic container, the easy to fit and remove lid and the amazing “total crushing” blade that literally has 6 blades that run vertically up the insert to allow for easy crushing of ice and pureeing of vegetables and fruits .

so back to the soup, you don’t need a good blender to make it, but it sure did make it more fun!

Need something easy, healthy and warm on a cold fall day?

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Carrot Soup {Vegan, Gluten Free}

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 pounds carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces
4 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon coriander
¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
pinch of cayenne pepper
salt
pepper
2-3 teaspoons honey
unsalted sunflower seeds (optional)

Instructions

Heat olive oil in a large soup pot on medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and cook for ~6-7 minutes or until tender. Add carrots,season with salt and pepper, cover and cook for ~10 minutes.
Stir in the cumin, coriander, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper. Add broth, bring to a simmer, then reduce heat and cook until carrots are tender ~20 minutes.
Transfer mixture to a blender and puree until smooth. Return mixture to the pot, stir in honey, taste and adjust for seasoning (more cayenne, salt, pepper, etc.)

Notes

Recipe adapted from Pike Place Market Recipes Cookbook

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 4-6

Disclaimer: I received a Ninja blender for free, but was not required to review or create this recipe. All opinions are my own.