The Carrot Soup + Topping Combo That I Didn’t Know I Needed
This combination is dynamite. Wow. We did this for dinner last week and it was amazing.
Two main parts:
- a silky carrot soup (think coconut milk, madras curry powder, onions and carrots) – borderline 5 ingredients and very easy
- an equally easy savory ground beef skillet with toasty pine nuts and lemon zest (similar to this caramelized beef, too!)
And then (wait for it) we’re putting the spiced beef and pine nuts on top of the soup. And adding some thinly sliced shallots, a swirl of yogurt, and dipping into that beauty with some warm flatbread! She is beauty, she is grace, she is layered to the maximum with textures and flavors (savory, toasty, bright, warming, all of it)! I am here for every single dunk of that bread through the creamy carrot soup.
My kids love that this is a build-your-own situation (which, for them, mostly consists of soup and bread). Meanwhile, Bjork and I get to go a little overboard with toppings and feel like we’re eating out in a fun restaurant. Wins all around! Hope you love it!
Want more cozy soups? Check out my lineup here!
Watch How To Make This Soup
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Carrot Soup with Spiced Ground Beef and Pine Nuts
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 5 servings 1x
Description
Silky carrot soup topped with spiced ground beef and toasty pine nuts! Bright, savory, warming, all the best things!
Ingredients
Carrot Soup
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, sliced
- 2 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
- 2 tablespoons Better Than Bouillon beef flavor base
- 2 teaspoons hot madras curry powder (regular curry powder works, too)
- 1 14–ounce can coconut milk
- 3 1/2 cups water
Spiced Ground Beef and Pine Nuts
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons Better Than Bouillon beef flavor base
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1/3 cup pine nuts
- 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
- a bit of lemon zest
For Serving:
- thinly sliced shallot (love)
- plain yogurt
- flatbread
Instructions
- Carrot Soup: Heat a soup pot over medium high heat. Add oil, onions, carrots, bouillon, and curry powder. Sauté for 3-5 minutes.
- Simmer: Add water; simmer for 15 minutes.
- Puree: Add coconut milk; puree with an immersion blender until smooth. (affiliate link)
- Cook the Ground Beef: heat a large skillet with the oil over medium high heat. Brown the ground beef until cooked (season with a little bit of salt and pepp).
- Ground Beef Extras: Stir in tomato paste, bouillon, and garam masala; sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add pine nuts, parsley, and lemon zest and sauté until toasty and fragrant.
- Serving: Serve soup topped with a scoop of the ground beef, and whatever other toppings you like (I love this with thinly sliced shallot, a swirl of plain yogurt, and some flatbread for dipping).
Notes
To make the yogurt easier to swirl on top of the bowl, I usually thin it out with a bit of water until it drizzles off a spoon.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: carrot soup, crispy ground beef, ground beef topping, creamy carrot soup, healthy soup
This soup is delicious! All flavours complement each other, and the beef taste brings depth to the carrots and balances the sweetness of the coconut milk! Yum! Will be making this again. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Can I make this in the slow cooker- after the carrots are soft, should I then use the immersion blender with the coconut milk? Continue cooking in the slow cooker for a couple of hours after blending?
I saw this on an Instagram roundup and was intrigued, so I made it. I think I would in the future make the carrot soup part with chicken broth or veggie broth rather than beef broth, as the soup was more of an unappetizing brownish latte color than the bright orange shown in the images. Also recommend a squeeze of lemon juice to serve—IMO it’s asking for more acid.
Delicious! I ended up almost doubling the ground beef topping because I had a 1.7lb package, but it felt like a good amount. The spices shine through, giving a very simple dish a depth of flavor. The only other thing I changed was adding the lemon juice from the zested lemon to the soup to brighten it up a bit; it seems like the yogurt would serve the same purpose, though. Served with flatbreads and sliced green onions on top and it was a winner dinner.
Yes, we love adding a dollop of yogurt to each bowl when serving!
Another recipe that sounds kind of strange, but is the best mix of flavors! I’m looking forward to making it again – and one of my (somewhat picky-eater) friends already tried it for her family and loved it, too.
I make POY recipes all the time – rarely comment, but this time I was compelled to! This was so yummy and beautiful, it looked restaurant quality. My husband is a bit hesitant around all things “curry”. He’s come to see the light on Thai curry recently but this was the first time he was totally on board with Indian curry flavors – a win! Also got my 3 year old’s stamp of approval.
Ah-mazing!! Holy smokes, what a great combination of flavors and textures that, when combined, are warm, comforting, healthy and just absolutely delicious. I feel like I just made a restaurant quality soup for myself. Thank you for sharing this fabulous recipe!
I rarely leave reviews, but this was SO phenomenal I had to. Absolutely delicious and surprisingly easy to make. The only “hard” part is using your immersion blender. I didn’t even buy whole carrots and chop them up. Instead I bought two bags of baby carrots and just threw them in the pot. It took a little longer to soften, but made it SO easy. Paired with some frozen TJ’s naan, my husband said this is one of the best meals I’ve ever made (and I cook most nights ha). Can’t sing the praises of this recipe enough.
Could you make the soup in the instant pot? Time/ingredients?
This was really good, Lindsay! Unique soup that reminded me in some ways of the hummus + spiced ground beef app from a restaurant. We were surprised how filling and hearty it was, too! Don’t skip the shallots and yogurt, either — great additions.
I made this for dinner last night, and it was delicious!! The flavor combos worked so well. I made it pretty much as written- the only changes I made were to sub light coconut milk, and to fry the shallots to crispy to use on top. Wow! A keeper!
I don’t have the beef bouillon flavor base. I’m curious how essential that is, or if there is a replacement?
Hi Anne! It really is essential. We tested several ways and it really gave the best flavor. You could try beef stock instead of water, but the color might be a bit different and not sure if it would have as much flavor.
This was fire!!!!!! Love it
Really good!
So fast and easy to make on a weeknight. Loved the minimal dishes since I eyeballed most of the measurements. Will definitely be making again!
I knew as soon as I saw this it was going to be delicious, although my husband was super skeptical. After one bite, he said “This is so good, this is fancy restaurant quality.” 😀 We try to avoid red meat so I made it with ground turkey, and it was still just that good! (I think the better than bouillon definitely helped here).
Thank you for the great recipes!
I was so excited to make this that I bought madras curry simmer sauce instead of powder. Do you know if the simmer sauce work as well? If so, same measurements? Thank you! Can’t wait to try this!!
I made the carrot soup ahead of time and have it in the fridge for dinner later, it is best served warm with the beef? The soup is fantastic btw!!
Just made this. I was super intrigued by the flavors and the combo of soup topped with a spiced beef. I came in very hopeful that it would all come together and boy did it. Amazing!
Do you think the soup portion could be frozen?
Yes it can!
This looks so good! I’ve got some members of my family that don’t like coconut milk, though. What would be the best substitute—half and half?
Can’t wait to make this! Do you think I could prepare the soup and ground beef ahead of time, keep them separate, and reheat them later to serve?
Yep, that works well!
Hi! Half-n-half would need to be kept at a very low simmer or it will separate. I think if you did 1/2 half and half and 1/2 cream, that would be the best way to go.
This was soooooo good and I missed rating it! Sorry!
Thanks again for this amazing recipe!
I stumbled across your website & have found 2 gems–both soups, since I’m on a kick to have some sort of ‘smooth’ soup with my breakfast. Your Sweet Potato Soup with Cauliflower Crumbles (I cooked the c’flower right along with the sweet potato & blended it altogether) & the Carrot Soup with Spiced Beef (I didn’t have beef bouillon so subbed beef broth for the water). Magnificent recipes!!! Thank you so much for recipes that aren’t run-of-the-mill!
Wow! This was amazing! When I first read it in my email I thought we have to try this! My husband could not get over how good it was. We both had it the next day for lunch . Thanks so much for this outstanding recipe hun, we’ll be making it again!
Wow wow wow! This is amazing and so comforting and spicey and just so good. Even my picky pre teen loved it. Such an easy week night meal for cooler evenings of fall.
We made it this last night and it was mostly a hit (2/3 of the kids scarfed it down and the adults enjoyed it).
I did make this in an instant pot – sautéing the onions, then adding the rest of the soup ingredients (minus the coconut milk) – 10 minutes pressure – 10 minutes natural release (mainly because I wasn’t home to quick release it!) – then added the coconut milk and pureed!
I doubled the beef topping since my beef package was 2+ lbs — but didn’t want to buy more pine nuts — so I used a “normal” size package of pine nuts and the rest as chopped walnuts. I used the zest of the lemon in the beef and added the lemon juice in the beef and a little in the soup to taste.
Great recipe on a cold and windy Fall night!
Great to know it worked well in the instant pot; thanks for your notes!
We really loved this!