If you like bold and flavorful vegetable soups, you're in luck with this recipe for Instant Pot curried carrot soup. Pressure cooking makes quick work of carrots, onions, and garlic, while warm curry powder and coconut milk do much of the heavy lifting with flavor. Such easy prep with a big payoff!
Leave it to me to choose the most unseasonably appropriate lunch at a botanical garden in the peak southern U.S. summertime heat, but one smell of the curried carrot soup/grilled cheese pairing and my mind was made up. Or rather, my stomach. The stomach wants what the stomach wants.
Now that it's January it feels like the right time to break this recipe out! I started experimenting with my own version once the temps dipped under 80°F and chose the Instant Pot for my cooking vessel. Hands-off, quick, and you can sauté the vegetables for extra flavor without needing to wash an extra pan.
As for the flavor, curry powder is the shining star, with a sweet (sugar), acidic (vinegar), and salty supporting cast. Rounded out with creamy canned coconut milk, I can vouch that this vegetarian curried carrot soup is the ultimate simple and easy meal for frigid nights, sweltering summer days, and all those in-between.
P.S. If you're looking for a similar style of soup that is the opposite of quick but just as tasty, check out this slow cooker sweet potato soup, too.
Recipe Ingredients
- Carrots: These often come in two-pound packages so grabbing just enough is easy.
- Broth: Reduced-sodium vegetable broth will ensure this Instant Pot carrot soup is vegetarian, though you could use chicken with these flavors if that designation isn't important to you.
- Curry Powder: Vibrant curry powder is a mix of dried spices that can vary by region in authentic Indian cooking. Here though I'm referring to the standard curry powder you can find from large brands in U.S. grocery chains.
- Sugar: A tiny amount of sugar enhances the other ingredients here without adding its own flavor like honey or maple syrup would.
- Vinegar: A splash to contrast against the natural sweetness of the carrots and provide depth. It's a small amount so the kind can vary, but I often use apple cider vinegar.
- Coconut Milk: Beyond providing a necessary creaminess and luxurious mouthfeel from the fat content, coconut milk adds a flavor complementary to the rest of the ingredients. Use the canned kind, not a refrigerated carton. I've used heavy cream here in a pinch and while tasty, the flavor felt like it was missing something.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Step 1: Sauté the onion in olive oil to soften, then add the curry powder, thyme, salt, and pepper. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.
- Step 2: Add the peeled and chopped carrots to the Instant Pot and sauté for 3 minutes. Deglaze with some broth, then add the rest along with the vinegar and sugar.
- Step 3: Cook on manual high pressure for 12 minutes, letting the pressure release naturally for 15 minutes before carefully releasing the rest.
- Step 4: Immersion blend the curried carrot soup until mostly smooth, then pour in the coconut milk and continue blending until smooth to your liking.
Tips and Tricks
- Curry powder variety - You can sometimes find curry powders listed as mild, sweet, hot, etc. Since a fair amount is used to provide a bold flavor in this curried carrot soup, I'd caution against using a hot or spicy variety unless you know you love heat.
- Be sure to deglaze - After sautéing the vegetables it's important to deglaze the bottom of the Instant Pot insert fully before pressure cooking. The Instant Pot mechanism reads the temperature from the bottom of the pot and not deglazing the browned, stuck-on bits can trigger the Instant Pot "burn" warning, which stops cooking.
- Blending options - If you don't have an immersion/stick blender, carefully transfer soup to a stand blender and blend in batches. Be careful not to exceed the maximum liquid capacity so hot splatters don't fly out.
Serving Suggestions
This Instant Pot carrot soup is not the heaviest meal and can benefit by a substantial side dish or two. I like to go with a hearty bread side dish, like garlic bread or grilled cheese, and vegetables of some kind.
- Crusty bread - A nice and hearty seeded variety (semolina bread, sourdough, etc.) are always soup side dish MVPs.
- Garlic bread - Pictured here is easy onion garlic bread, made from onion rolls!
- Grilled cheese - Have you made an air fryer grilled cheese? Perfect for sharing and dipping.
- Side salad - Especially one with my personal house dressing, maple balsamic vinaigrette. It truly goes with any cuisine.
- Quesadilla - A little unconventional, but sharing a roasted vegetable quesadilla is simply delicious here.
Related Recipes
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Instant Pot Curried Carrot Soup
Ingredients
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1 Tablespoon curry powder (see note)
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 5 cloves garlic chopped
- 2 pounds carrots peeled and chopped into 1-2-inch segments
- 2 cups reduced-sodium vegetable broth
- 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 cup canned coconut milk well-shaken
Instructions
- Set the Instant Pot to "Sauté" and pour in the olive oil. Once heated, add the onion and cook for 4 minutes. Season with curry powder, thyme, salt, and pepper and stir well to coat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more, then add the carrots, stir, and cook for 3 minutes.
- Pour a small amount of the broth into the Instant Pot, let it bubble up, and then deglaze the bottom of the pot by scraping up all browned and stuck-on bits from the bottom of the pot with a wooden utensil. Shut off the "Sauté" function.
- Pour in the rest of the broth, add the apple cider vinegar and granulated sugar, and stir well. Close and lock the lid into place and ensure the valve is set to "sealing". Set the Instant Pot to cook for 12 minutes on manual high pressure.
- Let the Instant Pot come up to pressure, cook, and then release pressure naturally for 15 minutes before carefully turning the valve to "venting". Once the float valve goes down and it is safe to do so, remove the lid.
- Immersion blend the contents of the pot until smooth, then blend in the coconut milk. Taste for salt and adjust seasonings as needed before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as an estimate. As it can vary due to many factors (brands used, quantities, etc.), we cannot guarantee its accuracy.
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