Carrot and Leek Soup is one of our favourite healthy soups to enjoy during the Fall harvest season.

Our healthy homemade recipe is quick and easy to make, ready to serve in under an hour.

Spoon through a bowl of our Leek and Carrot Soup featuring flavourful garlic, turmeric, saffron, honey and fresh thyme.

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Table of Contents

What Is Soup?

Soup is a liquid food, generally served warm or hot (but can also be served cold like gazpacho), that is prepared by combining meat or vegetables with stock or water.

Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingredients in liquids in a pot until the flavours are extracted, creating a rich broth.

Soups are similar to stews, and in some cases there may not be a clear distinction between the two. Soups generally have more liquid (broth) than chunkier and heartier stews.

In traditional French cuisine, soups are classified into two groups: clear soups (bouillon and consomme) and thick soups (purees, bisques, veloutes).

Purées are vegetable soups thickened with starch; bisques are made from puréed shellfish or vegetables thickened with cream; cream soups may be thickened with béchamel sauce; and veloutés are thickened with eggs, butter, and cream.

Ingredients you'll need to make our Healthy Carrot and Leek Soup recipe. — Ingredients you’ll need to make our Healthy Carrot and Leek Soup recipe.

Carrot and Leek Soup Step 1: Dice carrots, potato and apples. Slice leeks and mince garlic.

History of Soup

Evidence of the existence of soup can be found as far back as about 20,000 BC. Boiling was not a common cooking technique until the invention of waterproof containers, such as clay pots. To boil the water hot rocks were used.

The word soup comes from French soupe (broth), which comes through Vulgar Latin suppa (“bread soaked in broth”) from a Germanic source, from which also comes the word “sop”, a piece of bread used to soak up soup or a thick stew.

The word restaurant (meaning “restoring”) was first used in France in the 16th century, to refer to a highly concentrated, inexpensive soup, sold by street vendors, that was advertised as a cure to physical exhaustion. In 1765, a Parisian entrepreneur opened a shop specializing in such soups. This prompted the use of the modern word restaurant for eating establishments.

In America, the first colonial cookbook was published by William Parks in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1742, based on Eliza Smith’s The Compleat Housewife; or Accomplished Gentlewoman’s Companion, and it included several recipes for soups and bisques.

English cooking dominated early colonial cooking; but as new immigrants arrived from other countries, other national soups gained popularity. In particular, German immigrants living in Pennsylvania were famous for their potato soups. In 1794, Jean Baptiste Gilbert Payplat dis Julien, a refugee from the French Revolution, opened an eating establishment in Massachusetts called The Restorator, and became known as the “Prince of Soups”.

Carrot and Leek Soup Step 2: In a dutch oven sauté butter, garlic and leeks.

Saffron and turmeric flavour the best Carrot and Leek Soup recipe.

My Family Loves Carrot and Leek Soup

My family has a tradition of eating soup and salad for lunch on Sunday’s after getting home from church. Soup is such an simple and brainless meal to serve a busy family with kids.

My dad would often make cream of tomato soup and serve a bowl with grilled cheese sandwiches and pickles. Our family also loved slurping through bowls of Butternut Squash Soup, French Onion Soup and Chicken Noodle Soup.

Some of the fondest memories of my childhood spent in Toronto, Markham, Oakville and Muskoka are cozying up to a bowl of homemade soup with gourmet crackers, artisanal cheese and sourdough bread.

During October in Ontario we’d often visit popular Fall Fairs in Norfolk County, Niagara and Prince Edward County to go on fun rides, run through corn mazes and purchase fresh local fruits and vegetables at the peak of harvest season.

Carrots and leeks are available in abundance year round in Canada but we especially love to serve this savoury soup in the Fall at Thanksgiving.

Carrot and Leek Soup Step 3: Add carrots, potatoes, apples and chicken stock to the pot.

Where To Eat Soup

If you live in a large city in North America you’ll likely have access to plenty of soup-specific restaurants. We also love to visit local, family-run diners and cafes that offer menus specializing in “soups, sandwiches and salads.”

Simmer Carrot and Leek Soup in a cover dutch oven for 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Carrot and Leek Soup Health Benefits

Our Carrot and Leek Soup recipe is packed full of healthy ingredients!

An excellent source of vitamin A and the phytochemical beta-carotene, carrots help keep your eyes and bones healthy, and may help protect against several types of cancer.

Leeks are a member of the onion family, a humble vegetable packed with vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals. Regular consumption of leeks can help boost digestive health and reduce the risk of developing heart disease.

It is only recently that scientists have begun to identify the components responsible for garlic’s myriad health benefits. Rich in phytochemicals and potassium, garlic helps boost your immune system, fight cancer and protect your heart.

A useful source of vitamins C, K and B6, apples support your immune, skeletal, and circulatory systems. Phytochemicals in apples may also keep your eyes healthy and help reduce bad cholesterol.

The star component of turmeric is curcumin, a potent phytochemical that has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. It is often prescribed in Indian Ayurvedic medicine to help relieve arthritis, aid digestion and inhibit the growth of cancers.

Rich in energy-boosting manganese and anti-inflamatory phytochemicals, thyme may help keep your blood and immune system healthy.

Use an immersion blender to make Carrot and Leek Soup smooth.

Soup Tips

This healthy homemade soup is quick and easy to make at home. We’ve included a few tips for first time soup makers!

Use a large cast iron dutch oven with a high rim to reduce splatter when cooking and pureeing the vegetables.
In our recipe below we suggest using an immersion blender to puree the cooked vegetables but you could also use a heavy duty Vitamix.
We suggest using a high quality rubber spatula spoon when making soup so you can easily stir, scrape down the side of the pot and sip to check if it needs to be seasoned further with more salt before spooning into bowls.
We’ve used turmeric, thyme and saffron to flavour this soup. You could also substitute with ginger, curry powder, lime leaf and lemongrass.
If you use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock this soup recipe is suitable for vegetarians.
Our recipe features butter and whipping cream but you can make it vegan by substituting for coconut oil and coconut cream. If you’re going with flavours from Thailand why not add a few dashes of fish sauce and a scoop of curry paste?

Vegetables in our Carrot and Leek Soup recipe should be completely blended into a velvety soup.

Add whipping cream then ladle soup into bowls.

What To Serve with Carrot and Leek Soup

There’s nothing more comforting on a cold day then cozying up to a bowl of soup with a fresh salad, gourmet crackers, artisanal cheeses, sourdough bread, savoury muffins and homemade pickles.

If you’re hosting a large dinner party you might want to serve our healthy Leek and Carrot Soup as an appetizer before serving heartier mains.

We love serving this soup with Osaka Okonomayaki, Calgary Ginger Beef, Keto Jalapeno Poppers, Instant Pot Short Rib Ragu, Cheesy Polenta, Vegetarian Roti Canai Curry, Gruyere Grilled Cheese Sandwich, Old School Cheese and Onion Pie, Green Onion Cake, Baked Mediterranean Chicken Thighs, Baked Chicken Cracklings, Homemade Savoury Pickle Pie, Indian Crepes, Vietnamese Crepe Bánh Xèo, Tartiflette Reblochon or Ricotta Gnocchi.

After dinner why not dazzle your guests with one of our popular desserts such as Oat Flour Cookies with Chocolate Chips, Dark Chocolate Lindt Lindor Cookies, Maraschino Cherry Cupcakes Recipe or Cinnamon Babka For Chocolate Lovers.

Garnish Carrot and Leek Soup with drizzle of cream, honey and thyme.

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Saffron, Turmeric, Carrot and Leek Soup is our favourite healthy soup to enjoy in the Fall and Winter.

Storing Soup

If you have leftover soup you can store it in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week. To reheat simply zap it in the microwave or simmer in a small saucepan on the stove.

We love doubling our soup recipes so we can store leftovers in the freezer and save time on cooking in the kitchen. We suggest storing leftover soup in Pyrex freezer safe containers that have a snug lid so there’s no spilling. My mother often uses old glass pasta sauce jars to store soup in the freezer.

Be sure to let your soup reach room temperature before storing it in the freezer. If you add a hot jar of soup to a cold freezer it will significantly reduce the interior temperature and potentially spoil your food.

Store soup in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for 3 months.

How To Make Healthy Carrot and Leek Soup

Print Recipe

4.75 from 4 votes

Homemade Carrot and Leek Soup

Learn how to make the best Carrot and Leek Soup! Our healthy leek and carrot soup recipe features saffron, turmeric, garlic, honey, and thyme.

Prep Time20

Cook Time30

Total Time50

Course: Appetizer, Soup

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Carro Soup, Carrot and Leek Soup, Leek and Carrot Soup, Leek Soup, Vegetarian Soup

Servings:

Calories: 177kcal

Equipment

Dutch Oven
Immersion Blender
spatula
measuring spoons
measuring cups
French knife
vegetable peeler

Ingredients

2 Leeks white part only
5 Garlic cloves minced
3 tbsp Butter
1 pinch Saffron
1/8 tsp Ground turmeric
5 cups Chicken broth
1 Apple peeled and chopped
3 cups Carrots peeled and chopped
2 cups Potatoes peeled and chopped
1/4 cup Whipping cream
Salt & Pepper to taste
Fresh thyme
Honey

Instructions

In a dutch oven, soften the leeks and garlic in butter with the saffron and turmeric over medium heat.
Add the chicken broth, carrots, potatoes and chopped apple and bring to a rolling boil.
Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
Using an immersion blender, purée the soup until smooth and velvety. Add the cream. Season with salt and pepper. Serve drizzled with honey, whisper of cream and fresh thyme.

Nutrition

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Healthy Homemade Carrot and Leek Soup Recipe