Silky Carrot Apple Soup Recipe

Nothing warms you up on a chilly day like a hot bowl of homemade soup. It's even better when that soup is the perfect cross of sweet root vegetables, juicy fall fruit, and just the right seasonings — like this silky carrot apple soup by Ksenia Prints of At the Immigrant's Table.

Soup has long been used by cultures worldwide to make the most out of seasonal ingredients. This silky carrot apple soup is the perfect example. Featuring carrots and apples in their cold weather prime, it highlights the natural sweetness we associate with the season's harvest. The combination of leeks, celery, and fresh ginger creates a rich aromatic base for the soup, while a touch of fresh thyme and sage adds an herbaceous depth of flavor.

After a long simmer, the vegetables melt into a silky puree that comforts both body and soul. With optional additions of sour cream or croutons, each serving can be tailored to your individual tastes. Make this soup when the inspiration strikes, then store or freeze the leftovers for easy, quick meals on busy weeknights. Any way you serve it, one sip of this soup will have you feeling cozy and nourished.

To create this comforting autumnal soup, you will need carrots and apples at the peak of their season to provide natural sweetness. Leeks and celery provide the fragrant base flavor for this soup, which gets a lift from a hit of fresh ginger, thyme, and sage. It all cooks in vegetable stock, resulting in a smooth, silky pureed soup. Finally, optional additions like sour cream or croutons enrich each serving with texture. 

Add oil to a large pot over medium heat.

Stir in the leeks and celery.

Grate in the ginger and saute for 5 minutes.

Stir in carrots, apples, dried sage, and thyme leaves. Let cook for 5 minutes.

Pour in stock, then cover the pot, bring to a boil, and simmer for 30 minutes.

Uncover and let cool for 30 minutes.

Blend soup until smooth. Add salt and pepper and adjust any seasonings to taste.

Top soup with additional fresh thyme, sour cream, and croutons, if desired, before serving.

This silky carrot apple soup is perfectly suited to making in advance and storing for easy reheating throughout the week. The flavors will deepen over time, making it an excellent meal prep option for work or school lunches. The soup can be refrigerated in an airtight jar or container in the fridge for up to 4 days. To properly refrigerate the soup, allow it to cool completely before transferring to an airtight container. 

This soup can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Again, let it fully cool before portioning into freezer-safe bags or containers, leaving an inch of extra space for expansion. Freezing preserves the soup perfectly so it tastes as fresh as the day it was made once thawed and reheated. Simply thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating gently on the stovetop or in the microwave until piping hot.

Though the unique nature of this soup lies in the balance marriage of carrots and apples, we understand that not everyone is a fan of sweet fruit in savory dishes. For those wanting to make this soup without apples, it is possible to do so while still achieving a rich and sweet flavor profile. However, to replace the natural sweetness and texture normally provided by the apples, you will need to increase the amount of carrots significantly. Using 12 cups of chopped carrots instead of the original 8 cups called for in the recipe will keep the soup sweet while maintaining the right balance of vegetables and body. 

All the other ingredients — like the leeks, celery, broth, and seasonings — and cooking instructions can stay the same. Omitting the apples simplifies this recipe slightly, but the extra carrots do the trick of replicating the natural sugars missing from the apples, so the soup is still sure to be a satisfyingly sweet and creamy blend of fall flavors. To get a touch of tartness back in the soup, you can even add a squeeze of lemon right before serving.

While carrots are the primary vegetable in this soup, there is some flexibility to substitute a portion of them with other complementary root vegetables. Both parsnips and butternut squash are excellent stand-ins that add extra layers of flavor and texture. When making substitutions, we recommend switching up to 4 cups of the alternative vegetable — whether you choose parsnips, sweet potatoes, or butternut squash — along with 4 cups of carrots. This ratio maintains the right level of sweetness, velvety consistency, and beautiful orange color. 

Do note that cook times may need to be adjusted for heartier veggies like sweet potato or butternut squash to ensure they soften fully; simply poke the vegetables with a fork before blending to ensure they are perfectly soft. Beyond that, the rest of the soup will come together the same way as indicated in the original recipe.