I adore anything carrot–especially carrot ginger soup. When I saw a recipe in Edible Jersey from Jess Niederer of Chickadee Creek Farm, Pennington, New Jersey using carrots and ginger together, I thought to myself–soothing and immune boosting. What is not to love?
Carrots and Ginger wallop a punch in the health arena. Ginger may help to
- protect brain function
- may inhibit some forms of cancer
- fend off respiratory viruses and clear up congestion
- may offer bacterial benefits against some types of drug-resistant bacteria, when combined with garlic and lime.
Carrots, on the other hand, are not just a pretty shade of orange. (By the way, they can be white, purple and other colors too.) According to Dr. Mercola,
“A serving of carrots (one medium carrot or ½ cup chopped) will provide about:
- 210% of the average daily recommended amount of vitamin
- 10% vitamin K
- 6% vitamin C
- 2% calcium.”
In fact, cooked carrots have a higher level of beta-carotene and phenolic acid than raw carrots. Adding carrot peels to a carrot puree increases the antioxidant levels.
I don’t peel my carrots. Nor should you. (Be sure to buy organic carrots so you don’t have to worry about toxic pesticides.)
So in my usual fashion, I modified the recipe. (What’s new?)
Carrot Ginger Soup
adapted from Jess Niederer:
Ingredients:
Two Tablespoons of coconut oil. (I use this one or this one.)
Two medium size organic onions
Two cloves of organic garlic–minced
Six cups of organic, grass feed chicken bone broth (Learn how to make your own HERE or buy HERE.)
Two pound of organic carrots
Two tablespoons of organic white miso or yellow miso. (I use this brand. Read HERE about the health benefits of using miso.) If you don’t want to use miso, you can use soy sauce. The original recipe used this. (We use this gluten free and low sodium tamari sauce.) Alternatively, add sea salt to taste.
2 Tablespoons of grated fresh organic ginger (I use this grating tool.) This soup has a very distinct ginger taste. If you just want a lighter ginger taste, cut back on the ginger.
Directions:
1. Chop the onions. (Don’t forget to save the skins for homemade chicken or vegetable stock.)
2. Chop the carrots in a food processor. You can cut them up, but I found chopping them in a food processor made the cooking time much shorter.
2. Heat the coconut oil on a low flame. Add onions once the coconut butter melts. Cook until the onions are translucent.
3. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.
4. Add the carrots and the stock. (If you are a vegetarian, you can add homemade vegetable stock or this organic low sodium brand.)
5. Cook until the carrots are soft. If you chopped them in a food processor, it wouldn’t take that long to cook.
6. Add the miso when the carrots are soft.
7. Wait until it cools. Then use either an immersion blender or food processor/blender to puree the soup. (I use this high-speed blender.)
8. When you heat it up again, don’t boil the soup since boiling will kill miso’s aroma and flavor.
Notes About Miso
There are three different types of miso: white, yellow, and red. Read about the differences and which dishes to use them in HERE.
I used white miso since I didn’t have yellow miso. White miso is the least savory of the different misos and yellow miso is right in between white and red–not too savory but not too sweet. Sounds like a Goldilocks’s story to me.
Join the Conversation:
Do you love carrot soup?
Micaela @MindfulMomma says
I’ve been using an immersion blender for soups lately and don’t know how I lived without one! Love that this soup uses coconut oil. I need to try it!
Anna@Green Talk says
Micaela, I love mine too!
lynn hasselberger says
And great recipe for the broth!
emily @ Recipes to Nourish says
I love carrots and ginger together, such a lovely flavor combo.
Renee Kohley says
Ooo! Carrot soup! I think my girls would love this!
Andrea Fabry says
THIS IS SUCH AN INSPIRING RECIPE ON SO MANY LEVELS. I LOVE MISO AND THE MANY HEALTH BENEFITS OF MISO. I CAN’T GET ENOUGH GINGER AND OF COURSE CARROTS. I’M DEFINITELY TRYING THIS! THANK YOU.
Tash says
I loooove carrot soup! Actually, I love carrot everything 🙂 Thanks for this simple delicious recipe!
Megan Stevens says
Mmm, love the garlic, ginger and miso together. This sounds soo good!! Would gladly have a bowl right now!! 🙂
Anna@Green Talk says
Megan, come on over! Anna
Jennifer m says
Yum. I need to make this.
Hebrew hippie says
So soothing, I will try this today. I have all the ingredients on hand!
Chloe @ How We Flourish says
Yum! I love carrot ginger soup.
Rachel says
Awesome! Been wanting to try cooking with miso. 🙂
Anna@Green Talk says
Rachel, miso has become my newest love. 🙂 Anna
Doug says
Thanks for including the health benefits of ginger and carrots. I’ll have to up my ginger quotient when allergy season comes around and see if helps with my congestion (I’ll try anything!).
Anna@Green Talk says
Doug, I hope it helps. Anna
wendy says
Hi I have just looked at this lovely recipe and wondered if it is possible to use dried powdered Ginger as I do not have any fresh in at the moment. Also when you say that soy sauce can be used – is this 2 spoons too?
Thank you Anna! x
Anna@Green Talk says
I read that you can use 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon dried ginger to 1 tablespoon fresh ginger. It might not taste the same with dried. Try it and see.
Use 2 tablespoons of tamari or soy sauce.
ANNE says
Sounds fabulous – I really want to try this recipe – I love the taste of everything in it.
But I just popped over and read your link about miso – the red is definitely not gluten-free! It is wheat-free, but that doesn’t help those of us with celiac – the barley is a no-no for us. The miso post doesn’t specify what ingredients are in the dark miso, so I’ll have to presume that isn’t GF either. Drat.
I did a search for GF miso. Has anyone out there had any experience with it in recipes other than soup, like this one? Any miso options that are at least passable?
Anna@Green Talk says
Eden foods mskes a GF miso called Shiro. Anna
Paul says
Ohh i love carrots 🙂
I usually add some pumpkins on it
Ginger such a great idea !