Toasted whole spices, slow-cooked onions, a generous amount of ground chillies, and tahini blended directly into the pot — this spicy carrot soup is a lot more interesting than the classic version. Red lentils make it filling enough for dinner on its own, though a hunk of no-knead whole wheat bread for dipping never hurts. Everything comes together on the stove in about an hour.

Using whole spices is worth the extra step. Toasting cumin and coriander seeds in a dry pot before grinding them transforms the base. The end result is more fragrant and layered. Diaspora Co.’s ground Kashmiri chillies are my go-to for their bright heat and color, but any quality ground chilies work. The onions need real time too: seven to eight minutes until fully soft and translucent is the savory foundation that everything else builds on.

Tahini goes into the blender with the cooked soup rather than stirred in at the end. Using tahini like this gives the vegan soup a surprising nutty depth. Straight out of the blender, it will be quite thick. I add about 2 cups of water to loosen it to the texture I like. Toasted sesame oil and Tamari go in at the blending stage too–they add more depth and umami. A squeeze of lime at the end brightens everything up.

For garnish, I go with swirls of tahini, chili oil, sesame seeds, and chopped cilantro. The chili oil reinforces the heat from the spice without muddying the sesame note. One reader mentioned serving this spicy carrot soup over basmati rice in the bottom of the bowl. I thought that was a simple and brilliant upgrade, and may start doing it myself.

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Spicy Carrot and Red Lentil Soup (Vegan)

A vegan spicy carrot soup that comes together in about 1 hour. Blended smooth with tahini for a rich, nutty depth. Hearty enough for a weeknight dinner with some crusty bread on the side.

4.91 from 42 reader reviews

Print Recipe

Prep Time: 20 minutes mins

Cook Time: 45 minutes mins

Total Time: 1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Servings 6

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground chillies or chili flakes (I used Diaspora Co.’s ground Kashmiri chillies)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2- inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
• 1 ½ lbs carrots, scrubbed and chopped
• sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
• ½ cup split red lentils, rinsed
• 5 cups vegetable stock
• ¼ cup tahini
• 1½ teaspoons toasted sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon Tamari soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons lemon or lime juice

Equipment

• Blender

Notes

• The pureed soup will be super thick when it comes out of the blender. Some people enjoy soup this way! If that’s you, leave it at that. For me, I like a pureed soup to have some fluidity to it, so I usually add more water until I’m happy with the consistency.
• If you don’t have the whole spices on hand, you can use an equal amount of ground cumin and coriander and skip that initial toasting and grinding step.
• Really take your time with cooking the onions. It’s a key flavor-building step for this simple soup.
• Blend the entire batch in one go in an upright blender. Work in batches if needed, and always vent the lid when blending hot liquid.
• This soup freezes well for up to 6 months in an airtight container. Reheat on the stove over medium heat, adding a splash of water to loosen.

Instructions

• Set a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the cumin and coriander seeds to the pot and toast, stirring them up often. Toast the spices until very fragrant, about 45 seconds to a full minute. Dump the seeds out onto a small plate and allow them to cool completely before grinding up to a powder in a spice grinder. Set the ground spices aside.
• Return the large soup pot to the stove over medium heat and pour in the olive oil. Swirl the oil around a bit and then add the onions to the pot and stir. The onions should be sizzling, but on the quieter end of sizzling. Lower the heat if necessary. Keep cooking the onions, stirring occasionally, until very soft and translucent (but not browning), about 7-8 minutes.
• Add the ground cumin and coriander to the pot, along with the ground chillies as well. Stir and cook along with the onions for one full minute. Then, add the minced garlic and ginger to the pot and stir. Keep cooking until the garlic is very fragrant, about 1 minute.
• Add the carrots to the pot along with big pinches of salt and pepper. Stir the carrots to coat them in the spices and sautéed onions. Then, add the red lentils to the pot and stir once more. Finally, pour in the vegetable stock and give it a final stir.
• Bring this broth-y carrot, lentil, and spice mixture to a boil and then lower your heat to a simmer. Simmer this mixture uncovered, stirring here and there, until the carrots are quite soft, about 30 minutes.
• Carefully ladle the broth-y carrot, lentil, and spice mixture into the pitcher of an upright, vented blender. To this mixture, add the tahini, sesame oil, and Tamari. Close the lid on the pitcher and slowly bring the speed of the blender up to high. You may have to add a few splashes of water to get things moving. Blend until you have a completely smooth puree.
• Pour the spicy sesame carrot soup back into the pot. At this point, you can leave it as-is or add some water to make the texture a bit more fluid. I personally like a bit of fluidity in pureed soups, so I added 2 cups of water at this point. Bring the soup up to a boil, stirring often. Stir in the lemon or lime juice.
• Give the soup a taste at this point to see if you need to adjust some of the seasoning. Maybe it needs even more lemon/lime for your taste, some extra pepper etc. Adjust the seasoning to your liking and then serve! I topped mine with chopped cilantro, drizzles of tahini and chili oil, and sesame seeds.

Author: Laura Wright

Course: Main Course, Soup

Diet: Gluten Free, Vegan

Keyword: red lentil carrot soup, spicy carrot soup