Creamy Curried Parsnip Soup Recipe

This Curried Parsnip Soup is a warming and delicious soup and very easy to make. There's nothing like a big bowl of hot soup to warm you up on a chilly day. This soup is perfect for those cold days when you need something warm and comforting.

Jump to:

• 🛒 What You'll Need
• 🔪How To Make Curried Parsnip Soup
• 👩‍🍳 Top Tips
• 🍽 How To Serve It
• 🔪 How To Make Homemade Parsnip Crisps
• 💭FAQs
• 🔄 Variations
• 🍲 More Tasty Soup Recipes
• Evan More Soup Recipes
• Curried Parsnip Soup

Served with parsnip crisps and some good crusty bread, this soup is great for lunch, or as an entree for a special occasion meal. This spiced parsnip soup is such an easy soup recipe and is made with minimal ingredients. 

We love soup and as soon as the weather turns I am making soup at least once a week. This time of the year parsnips are at their best so I'm usually making carrot and parsnip soup or potato and parsnip soup, both of these soups are rich and creamy and so easy to make.

This curried parsnip soup is moderately spiced, enough to shake up the taste buds and it has a little kick of ginger, just in case the spices aren't enough. I used medium curry powder, so if you want to give this to the kids you may want to use mild curry powder.

🛒 What You'll Need

Please see the recipe card below for the full ingredient list and step-by-step instructions.

• Parsnips - Make sure the parsnips are nice and fresh, and when buying parsnips try to get the whiter ones. They should also be firm and the roots should be intact. Always go for smaller white parsnips, they are sweeter. Bigger parsnips can be quite woody so are best avoided.
• Potato - You will need one large floury potato for this soup, the potato gives the soup a lovely creamy texture meaning you don't have to add too much cream.
• Curry Spices - To get all those amazing curry flavours I add ground cumin, ground coriander and medium curry powder. Curry powder is a mixture of finely ground spices, such as turmeric, ginger, and coriander, used for making curry. You will find it in all large supermarkets in the spices aisle.
• Fresh Herbs - You will also need fresh coriander (cilantro).
• Vegetable Stock -  You can use vegetable stock cubes to make the stock, I prefer a vegetable bouillon for making this soup. 
• Cream - I add double cream to this soup to give it that extra creamy texture. You can omit it if you want it will still be creamy.
• Other Ingredients - You will also need olive oil, garlic, fresh ginger root, salt and freshly ground black pepper.

🔪How To Make Curried Parsnip Soup

1. Add the olive oil to a large saucepan then add the chopped onions and celery along with a small pinch of salt. Cook the onions on medium heat until they are soft, this will take at least 20 minutes, so stir often with a wooden spoon. Once the onion is soft add the ginger and garlic and cook for about a minute. Then add the spices and the chopped coriander (cilantro) stems and cook for just a minute until they release their fragrance. 

2. Next, add in the chopped parsnips, the potato and the chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves. Stir well so that the vegetables are covered in spices.

3. Pour in the stock, add salt and pepper, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes.

4. Once the potatoes are cooked blend the soup using a stick blender (immersion blender) until the soup is smooth. Finally, return the saucepan to the heat. Pour in the cream and stir well until the cream is absorbed into the soup.

👩‍🍳 Top Tips

• Spice - This curry parsnip soup is moderately spiced, enough to shake up the taste buds and it has a little kick of ginger, just in case the spices aren't enough. I used medium curry powder, so if you want to give this to the kids you may want to use mild curry powder.
• Potatoes - to get a creamy soup without the cream I add a potato, make sure the potato is a floury variety, the starch released in cooking will result in a creamy soup.

🍽 How To Serve It

I usually make parsnip crisps to serve with this soup. They make for a lovely garnish. But they are also a great snack, so if you have any leftovers hide them away and snack on them instead of potato crisps/chips. And if you have time go ahead and make a good-sized batch of these because they are really tasty and slightly addictive, one or two may not be enough for you. I love to serve this soup with my Irish Soda Bread, the cosy earthiness of soda bread goes perfectly well with this parsnip soup.

🔪 How To Make Homemade Parsnip Crisps

• Heat the oven to 180°C fan, (350°F) 200°C (390°F) conventional oven 
• Cut a parsnip in half lengthways then using a vegetable peeler or potato peeler peel thin slices of the parsnip. Start at the fat end of the parsnip then peel to the end of the parsnip.
• Place the strips of parsnip on parchment paper, brush each side with oil then sprinkle with sea salt.
• Bake on the middle shelf of a preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes turning halfway through cooking.
• Once the parsnips are golden brown around the edges and looking dry, remove them from the oven and transfer on to kitchen paper.

💭FAQs

🔄 Variations

• Make it vegan - If you would like to make this soup vegan then you can swap the double cream for vegan cream or you could use coconut milk instead. 
• Add more veggies - You could easily add more root vegetables to this soup, carrots or turnips would work really well in this soup.

🍲 More Tasty Soup Recipes

• Spicy Cauliflower Soup - Vegan
• Vegetable Orzo Soup
• Roasted Tomato Soup
• Irish Potato Soup
• Roasted Pepper and Red Lentil Soup

Evan More Soup Recipes

*This recipe was first published in February 2018. Updated September 2023 with new photos and more information.