Creamy Thai Carrot Sweet Potato Soup
This creamy, Thai-spiced carrot and sweet potato soup will warm you up on cold days. It's filling and full of nutritious ingredients.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 10, 2024
Is it too soon for soup? When I had a full-blown cold last week, soup sounded like just the ticket. I flipped through Angela’s new cookbook, Oh She Glows Every Day, and landed on this creamy, plant-based soup bursting with vitamin A and other goodness.
Carrots, sweet potato, and warming Thai curry blended with an unexpected ingredient—almond butter—made it a sweet and spicy, rich soup. I wish it could say it cured me for good (if only soup could), but it definitely made me feel better that evening. And the next morning, when I heated up leftovers for breakfast. Thank you, Angela!
Fans of Angela’s first book, The Oh She Glows Cookbook, will find tons of new favorites in her new one. Fun vegan breakfasts, smoothies, salads and soups, hearty plant-based dinners—this book has it all, with beautiful, bright and light photos by the lovely Ashley of Edible Perspective.
Blogging has a lot of perks, and meeting wonderful people through the blog is the best one. I’m so glad to have gotten to know Angela and Ashley over the years. I emailed Angela for cookbook advice a couple of years ago, and I’m so thankful for her generous advice and support. She’s a really hardworking lady, and I know that every recipe in this book has been tested over and over again to make sure it works. I hope you’ll get a chance to pick up her new book soon.
Watch How to Make Creamy Thai Carrot Sweet Potato Soup
Creamy Thai Carrot Sweet Potato Soup
This nutritious, Thai-spiced carrot and sweet potato soup will warm you right up! The tamari almonds are a nice, crunchy touch. Be sure to season this soup with enough salt and lime juice so the flavors really sing. Recipe yields about 8 cups soup (4 servings).
Ingredients
Soup
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 2 cups chopped yellow (sweet) onion
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
- 2 tablespoons red curry paste
- 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth, plus more if needed
- ¼ cup raw almond butter or peanut butter
- 3 cups diced peeled carrots
- 3 cups diced peeled sweet potatoes
- ½ teaspoon fine-grain sea salt, plus more to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Up to ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional, if you like spice)
Toppings
- Minced fresh cilantro
- Fresh lime juice
- Roasted tamari almonds (optional, see below)
Roasted tamari almonds
- ½ cup raw almonds, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon low-sodium tamari or coconut aminos
Instructions
- To make the soup: In a large pot, melt the coconut oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and ginger and sauté for 5 to 6 minutes, until the onion is translucent.
- Stir in the curry paste. In a small bowl, whisk together some of the broth with the almond butter until smooth. Add the mixture to the pot, along with the carrots, sweet potatoes, salt, and remaining vegetable broth. Stir until combined.
- Bring the soup to a low boil over medium-high heat and then reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until the potatoes and carrots are fork-tender.
- Ladle the soup carefully into a blender. You will likely have to do this in a couple of batches, depending on the size of your blender (never fill your blender past the maximum fill line). Being careful to avoid hot steam escaping from the lid, blend on low and slowly increase the speed until the soup is completely smooth. (Alternatively, you can use an immersion blender and blend the soup directly in the pot.)
- Taste, and season with salt and black pepper. If you’d like more spice, add a pinch or full ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, and blend again. Transfer the soup back to the pot and reheat if necessary. If desired, you can thin the soup out with a bit more broth if it’s too thick for your preference.
- Ladle the soup into bowls and top with minced cilantro, a squeeze of lime juice, and optional tamari almonds. This soup will keep in the fridge for up to a week, and freezes well for 1 to 2 months.
- To make the roasted tamari almonds: Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, toss the almonds with the tamari until the almond pieces are fully coated. Spread the almonds over the prepared baking sheet in an even layer.
- Roast the almonds for 9 to 12 minutes, until lightly golden. The tamari will have dried up.
- Let cool completely on the pan. The almonds will harden up as they cool. Using a spoon, scrape the almonds off the parchment paper and enjoy! Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for a couple of weeks.
Notes
Recipe minimally adapted, with permission, from Oh She Glows Every Day by arrangement with Avery Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, A Penguin Random House Company. Copyright © 2016, Glo Bakery Corporation.
Make it soy free: When making the tamari almonds, use coconut aminos instead of tamari.
Make it gluten free: Verify that your tamari is gluten free (most, but not all, are).
Make it nut free: I haven’t tried making this soup nut-free, but here are some thoughts. First, you’ll have to omit the almond topping. You could also just omit the almond butter, but the soup will be lighter. If you like sunflower butter, you could try that in place of the almond butter. I’ve also had good luck blending soup with ½ cup rinsed and drained cooked white beans (Great Northern or chickpeas) if you want to give that a shot—I haven’t tasted beans in the finished soup.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
OMG, this soup is fabulous. Tasty and easy to make. The only thing I did differently was to roast the carrots, potatoes, garlic and onions for about an hour rather than cook them on a burner. Definitively a keeper, thank you!
This looks amazing. I am committing to make more time for cooking this year after years of not cooking as much, and I love the flavors in this. In your recipe, it would be helpful to know how many carrots & sweet potatoes (approximately) – as I don’t buy them pre-diced!
Hi Renee, that’s a good point. I always include rough amounts in my recipes, but this one was more or less verbatim from a friend’s cookbook. I just checked to see if I made note of the amounts in the book, but I didn’t. I’m guessing you’d need one large onion, about 1/2 pound carrots and 1 or 2 medium-to-large sweet potatoes.
So I never comment on blogs (but i ALWAYS read the comments section). If you’re like me, you’re looking for someone who’s made this soup to vouch for how awesome it is. Well look no further, cause I’m your girl.
I’ve been a vegetarian my whole life and soup seems to still be one of those things that’s super difficult to for me to want to eat it again and again for days after I make it. I consider this one my first victory—Incredibly flavorful and hearty without all the fatty cream. I didn’t have almonds or tamari, so i topped mine with toasted pepitas and it was perfect. It also helped to have my immersion blender on hand.
Thank you, Kate!
I’m so happy this soup stood out to you, Laurel! Thanks for the fantastic comment, I hope it helps to convince others to try this delicious dish :)
Do you think that sunflower seed butter would work all right here in place of the peanut or almond butter (hubby’s allergic to both)? I’ve successfully used it as a sub in peanut sauces and the amount is relatively small here, so I think it would, but I’m curious to know what someone who has made the recipe thinks!
I imagine it would work well, yes!
I stumbled upon this receipe and just made it! WOW it’s fantastic!! Going to be making this again For sure!!
Awesome!
OMG! This was SO good! It was easy to make and the garnishes topped this soup off with great flavors as well as with great color. Hot soup and this spiced one in particular is very warming and appreciated in this cold snap we have going on here…
Thank you once again Kate (& of course Cookie) for yet again another delicious dinner!
Ps…I took a great picture but no way to post it… :(
It’s a great soup for winter. & you can tag me on Facebook, if you post the photo there!
Does this really only make 4 servings?
If I remember correctly, I believe it makes 4 rather large servings or 6 to 8 small to medium servings.
This was delicious and pretty quick to make! The nut butter really makes it creamy and gives it a heartiness I wasn’t expecting (I thought I would miss coconut milk or something to make it rich – but the almond butter did that). I went light on the curry paste since the kids don’t like spice. We aren’t vegetarians, so I also added a couple splashes of fish sauce. Will add this to our regular week-night dinner rotation, perfect for winter! Thank you!
Awesome, Danielle! Happy your version came out delicious :)
This soup was amazing! It made a curry lover out of me for sure! I could eat it all day long. The best part is that it doesn’t include anything on my do not eat list! Thanks!
Oh, I’m so glad! Thanks, Regina.
Hi Kate! Glad you’re feeling better! (Read comments below) I wanted to ask – is it ok to omit almond bitter? I would have to make it at home as it’s difficult to find where I am and also wouldn’t know how to use it after. Guilty fact – never tried it before
Hi Lilly! You can omit it, but your soup won’t be quite as creamy and rich. I bet peanut butter would be good, too. If you want to make some almond butter yourself, you can use it like peanut butter—I love it on toast!
This is now my favorite winter soup. I made a big pot on Presidents’ Day and shared it, along with a simple kale salad, two nights in row with girlfriends (who raved about it). Thank you!
Patti in Portola Valley
Thanks, Patti! This sounds delicious with a light salad.
Absolutely delicious. Made this for a dinner party last night and everyone got up for seconds – awesome! I didn’t have red curry paste and it turned out fine with just curry powder. Though I may have to find the paste so I can taste it how it was intended.
Awesome! Sounds like it was a crowd-pleaser. :)
I thought the soup was delicious. I added some freshly ground tumeric and 1 can of coconut milk, also. I added additional broth to thin. Recipe is a keeper. Thanks!
Yum. Sounds creamy and wonderful, Susan.
I just made this soup and it is outstanding! I love the layers of flavor. I did not add any additional salt or pepper and the taste is just fine. I will definitely continue to make this delicious soup. Thank you for posting the recipe! I am newly vegetarian and am always looking for new recipes. I need to expand my cooking repertoire and this is just the place to find amazing recipes!
I’m so happy you found my blog, Lindsey!
This looks delicious and I’m dying to try it, but I have a nut allergy. I can certainly leave the almonds off, but would it alter the texture too much to leave out the peanut butter? Any ideas on substitutions?
Thanks!
Stefanie
Hi Stefanie, you could omit the almond butter but the soup will be lighter. If you like sunflower butter, you could try that. Actually, I’ve had good luck blending soup with 1/2 cup rinsed and drained cooked white beans (Great Northern or chickpeas) if you want to give that a shot. I never can taste the beans in the final result.
I made this soup this weekend and it was sooo… good. It only lasted 2 days. Next time I will have to make twice as much. Yummy!
Awesome!
Wow! I made the Creamy Thai Carrot Sweet Potato soup last night and it is awesome! I brought some to work for lunch and can’t wait to have it! This will definitely be a regular in my home! Thank you!!
Awesome! You’re welcome, Claudia.
Wow this was seriously delicious!! I made it yesterday for lunch and we all loved it! So creamy, the flavors are really well balanced, it’s really a great soup that i will make many times again.
Thank you, Marie. :)
I have read and heard so many different opinions on coconut oil (re cholesterol).
What are your thoughts?
The recipe sounds delish!!!! Will try for sure.
Hey, Deb! I know, there is a lot of contradictory discussions out there on coconut oil. I don’t think the recent discussions have brought up anything *new* about coconut oil, just renewed the conversation around it. With any type of oil or butter, you need to watch your consumption of it. Moderation is key, I think. I’m not a dietician, so I can’t give any professional advice on it, but my policy is to just be aware, make the best choices you can, and don’t police yourself too heavily, because that can become unhealthy for your mind really quickly. Labeling food “good” or “bad” is a really awful way to go about nourishing yourself, so just be mindful, and if you want to swap it out, go for it!
Kate,
Thank you for another great recipe! Very thick, creamy, and filling with great flavor and texture. My husband and I have loved every recipe we’ve tried so far. As a diabetic, I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate that you include the nutrition facts for every recipe. Thank you for all of your hard work, it’s been greatly appreciated in my home :)
Another great recipe Kate! I just made this one for lunch and it was awesome…like seriously awesome. Thanks again, love your soups so much!
I made this and it was delicious!
I didn’t have any cilantro or lime, and only toasted sliced almonds to throw on top, but it was still great!
Haven’t got through all the recipes yet but some are so good.
Thank you!
We made this AMAZING recipe last night. I actually FORGOT to do the toasted almonds, but it was wonderful without. We also did not add any cayenne or red pepper because the red curry paste itself was quite spicy.
We also used a blend of cashew and almond butter that we had on hand and it was delightful.
I am looking forward the enjoying the cold leftovers for lunch today. This soup hit the spot.
Leftover soup is the best! Glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for your review, Dana!
Excellent recipe!! I’ve made it twice already, and it’s great! It has so many different layers of flavor, very satisfying. My modifications were that I added some coconut milk (1/2 a cup to a cup, I’m not sure), and used butternut squash instead of sweet potatoes the second time around. Also, I’ve omitted the toppings only because I couldn’t be bothered, but it still tasted great.
Thank you, Adriana! I am happy you enjoyed it. I appreciate your review!
I made this the other night after being out of town on business, and it was amazing! I didn’t need to go to the store, as I had all the ingredients from before my trip. If you food shop before your holiday, these items are easy to keep in the pantry for when you return. I made a few edits:
– I used green curry paste to automatically add the kick, so I omitted any spicy pepper.
– Cashew butter easily replaced the almond butter, and it still had a creamy texture.
– I halved the recipe, and it made about 2-3 servings (perfect for singles who don’t like to eat the same thing all week.)
Thanks, this will become a cold weather staple for me!
Thank you, Kathleen for your feedback and star review! I appreciate it.
This was the spiciest thing I’ve ever eaten in my whole life. I mean it was good but I was also sweating while I was eating it. I had to take frequent breaks to go wipe myself down. Maybe I goofed somewhere in the directions? I don’t think so, but holy cow this is spicy. I recommend using half the amount of curry paste it says to – unless you like the feeling of your whole mouth being on fire.
I am sorry to hear that Hannah! Maybe omit cayenne pepper next time. Or, you can even cut back some of the curry paste. Try adding the curry in by taste and see how that helps.
I made this recipe last night for a Soup/Chili Holiday fundraising lunch at work. I made 3 batches of it! I didn’t have enough almond butter so I added some coconut milk to make maintain the richness and it worked great.
I made homemade Veggie stock…that was a lot of extra work. I’m sure it added to the flavour but next time I may just buy some.
Out of 10 crock pots, mine was the first to empty and I had many people come up to me to tell me that they loved it. I saved a bit to have with friends on the weekend. Looking forward to eating it again!
Thanks for the great recipe!! I will definitely make this again. It’s great for the cold Canadian winters.
That’s success! Way to go, Tania! You are very welcome. I am so happy it worked well. Thanks so much for your review and comment!
Just fantastic. Thanks
You are welcome!
I would never have thought put nut butter in a soup but it really works!! I use cashew butter and it tastes great. Such a warming nourishing soup, at one point I had 10 frozen portions in my freezer!! I love serving it with toasted cashews
Thanks for trying it, Evie!
I added a little extra Thai spice, peanut butter and cayenne. Yum!
Nothing wrong with a little extra spice! Thank you, Sherri.
Made this with shredded butternut squash instead of sweet potatoes, and it turned out great. The perfect amount of heat and so creamy! Loving all the Cookie & Kate soups we have tried so far!
That’s a great variation! Thank you for your review, Katie.
I was looking forward to making this soup today and as expected it was beyond yummylicious. As suggested, I added slightly more ginger and pepper for a bit of a kick and it made it even more perfectisimo. Thank you for making the recipes simple and easy to follow.
I also want to thank you for including the nutritional information – I’m a lil health nut ;)
Yes! It’s so nice with a little extra ginger. I’m glad you thought so too. And you are welcome! I try to provide as much and accurate information as I can. I appreciate the review, Elle.
Your “Best Lentil Soup Recipe” was my go-to for healthy, delicious, filling lunch for the week. This one might replace it!
I added a half can of full fat coconut milk while blending, and added a couple pinches of red pepper flakes while simmering. It’s incredible. I also had some cauliflower I had to use, so I roasted that in sesame oil and soy sauce, and threw some of that on top with toasted cashews and cilantro.
Thanks so much. This totally made my snowy Sunday even better!
You’re welcome! Thanks for commenting, Sarah. I appreciate the review!
Super easy and amazingly taste! Will make this again.
Great! Thanks, Jeannie for trying it.
I made this today. It was delicious. I didn’t have red curry so i used green one and it was fenomenal. I ate it with avocados and cilantro on top! Great recipe!
could you use red chili paste instead of curry paste?
You could try it, but it won’t be a curry dish! It would change the curry taste and the heat level/taste would be different.
Delicious! I’ve been following your blog, and love your book. Wanted a different carrot soup recipe and searched your blog. This looked interesting. I used less sweet potato than recommended as that’s all I had at home. We all loved it at home, didn’t need the extra cayenne pepper. Yum!
I’m glad, Karishma. Thanks so much for your review!
So flavorful! The almonds are a particularly delicious addition. The pinch of cayenne was just enough for me, but my husband ended up adding more to his portions.
Thanks for sharing and providing a review, Susan!
I did a search on Google this weekend for carrots and sweet potatoes and soup. I made this in my Instant Pot and made a double portion. This honestly is possibly the best tasting soup I’ve ever made. I analyzed the calories and it’s amazing how good it is for so little calories overall — rich and very filling. Thank you so much. This is going into my regular rotation. ;-)
Wonderful, Todd! Thanks for stopping to comment and provide a review.
The soup looks quite nutritious, and given that it contains carrots, sweet potatoes, and Thai curry; that is to be expected. Seems like just the thing to warm you up if you are feeling a little chilly. I love that the soup looks like something I could try to make myself, and I bet I will.
Thank you! It’s perfect to warm you up. Thanks Elisa for the review!
We are in a cooling trend after a nasty heat wave. I looked in my fridge and saw all these odds-and-ends. Luckily, this recipe fit the bill to easily use them up, so I decided to make it. It was delicious! And I was surprised how delicious it was since normally I hate blended soups. It was so delicious that I wish I had the ingredients to make it again!
Great!! You’re welcome. I’m glad it fit just what you needed.
Well, this is another recipe that has my family telling me I should go become a chef. Thing is, the recipe was really easy! Fry, this, boil this, blend it all together, the result is beautiful. Feel free to switch the veges out for what you have on hand – I used pumpkin instead of kumara/sweet potato and it worked very well!
I’m glad you like it, MccKenzie!
Amazing recipe. I made this last night and am making the vegetarian chili tonight. My partner suffers from a rare condition and until surgery soups, smoothies, and chili are apparently what is recommended. So I’ll be making a lot of your recipes I’m sure. Thank you!
You’re welcome, JB!
We just made it and gobbled it up! We enjoyed and will make it again , thank you for sharing!
You’re welcome, Jamie!
I have one cup of coconut milk left from making your Chickpea Tikka Masla from the cookbook (wonderful!). Do you think this recipe would take well to blending it in?
Did you try it? What did you think, Beth?
I thought it was too sweet at first, but once I added more salt and the lime it was perfect.
Really flavorful and complex without anything being to overpowering.
I was looking for a good healthy lunch food so I would stop eating frozen pizza, so glad I found this.
Great, Laura!
Couple of weeks in the fridge?
Hi Dylan! Sorry for the confusion. The soup will keep in the fridge for up to a week, and freezes well for 1 to 2 months. The tamari almonds will keep for up to 2 weeks. I don’t know of any soup recipe that will keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge.
Heavenly! this soup has just changed the way my hubs and baby look at sweet potato! it was devoured in minutes. the almond butter gave it another dimension altogether. i’m your fan and love you for your recipes :)
Powerful soup! :) Thanks so much for sharing!
This soup is so good! I love the punch of lime and i drizzled some sriracha on it too. I have a 3 month and 3 year old so I end up eating garbage or nothing for lunch, lately and it’ driving me nuts! I made this tonight and am already excited to have it again for lunch tomorrow. Thank you!
Happy to hear that this was just what you need to fuel your body at lunch!