This Roasted Carrot and Fennel Soup is bursting with flavour. Made with just a few simple ingredients this vegan soup is perfect for lunch or as a starter for a special occasion meal. Roasting the carrots and fennel brings out their subtle sweetness, making this a delicious but delicate soup.
If you've been reading this blog for a while you will know that I'm a huge soup fan. Whether it's creamy broccoli and cauliflower soup or sweet potato and carrot soup, we have soup either for lunch or dinner at least twice a week. So I make a lot of soups and I like to make them as varied as possible.
This roasted carrot and fennel soup is one I make over and over again and never get tired of. It is a lovely delicate soup yet big on flavour! Roasting the vegetables really brings out the sweetness from the carrots and fennel. Add that with the gentle flavour of thyme and then the hit of garlic, and voila you have a pretty amazing soup!
📝 What You'll Need
- Carrots - to peel or not to peel? Here's my rule on this, if the carrots are organic I don't peel them, I just give them a scrub under a running tap. If they are not organic I peel them.
- Fennel - when buying your fennel look for small, heavy, white bulbs that are unmarked and not browning. The stalks should be crisp with bright green fronds. I use the fronds as a garnish, waste not, want not!
- Thyme - fresh is best here, but you could swap it for a teaspoon of dried thyme if you can't get fresh.
- Stock - to keep this soup vegan I use a vegan vegetable bouillon to make the stock.
🥣How To Make It
- Roast the carrots - to avoid the fennel burning I roast the carrots for a little while first.
- Add the fennel - after 10 minutes add the fennel and thyme to the carrots and roast for another 10 to 15 minutes.
- Cook the onion celery and garlic - while the vegetables are roasting, cook the onion and celery. Once they are soft add the garlic and cook for a minute before you add the roasted carrots and fennel to the saucepan.
- Add the stock - finally, add the stock to the saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes. Then blend the soup and serve immediately.
📋 Tips and Variations
- Pro Tip - Blending the soup - this soup is best once blended, I use a hand-held blender to do this. But if you want an even smoother soup I would blend the soup (either with a handheld blender or in a blender) then pour it through a sieve to catch any bits.
- Switch it up - other flavours that go very well with this is soup are ginger (fresh root ginger) or coriander (cilantro).
- Garnish - the great thing about fennel is that you can use the whole plant, green leafy fronds and all. I use these as a garnish along with some sourdough croutons and a dollop of vegan yoghurt.
- Making ahead / storing - this soup can be made up to 3 days in advance. It will keep in the fridge once cooked then cooled, use within 3 days. You can easily freeze this soup - once cooled transfer to freezer suitable containers then freeze. Use within 3 months. Defrost overnight before reheating on the hob until piping hot.
Try these tasty soups next.
If you need more soup inspiration then I have you covered! My Spicy Vegetable Red Lentil Soup is warming and satisfying and great for lunch or dinner. My Spiced Carrot and Parsnip Soup is a very easy soup recipe made with just a few ingredients. All you need for this tasty soup are carrots, parsnips, onion, celery, spices and stock. It really is that easy. My Carrot and Coriander Soup is a lovely light, classic soup, spiced it up a little.
Roasted Carrot and Fennel Soup
Ingredients
- 500 g (1.1 lb) Carrots cut into chunky slices
- 2 tablespoon olive oil divided
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt divided
- 1 medium bulb of fennel sliced
- 4 or 5 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1 medium brown onion finely sliced
- 1 stick of celery finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic put through a garlic press or finely grated
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 litre ( 1.8 pints ) of hot vegetable stock made with 4 teaspoons of vegetable bouillon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (390°F) fan / 180°( 360°F) conventional oven.Place the sliced carrots on a baking tray, drizzle over 1 tablespoon of olive oil and ¼ teaspoon of sea salt. Roast in the oven for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes add the sliced fennel and fresh thyme to the pan, toss gently so that the fennel picks up some oil.Return the tray to the oven and roast for another 10 to 15 minutes.The carrots and fennel should be cooked and tinged around the edges.
- While the carrots and fennel are roasting cook the onion.Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan.Add the chopped onion and chopped celery along with ¼ teaspoon of sea salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring often until soft, about 15 minutes.Add the garlic then cook for another minute or two.
- Once the carrots and fennel are cooked remove the tray from the oven. Discard the thyme, then transfer the vegetables to the saucepan.Add the stock to the saucepan, season with ¼ teaspoon each of sea salt and freshly ground pepper.Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes then using a handheld blender blend the soup until smooth.Serve immediately with the fennel fronds as a garnish along with croutons and a dollop of vegan yoghurt.
Notes
- Blending the soup - this soup is best once blended, I use a hand-held blender to do this. But if you want an even smoother soup I would blend the soup (either with a handheld blender or in a blender) then pour it through a sieve to catch any bits.
- Garnish - the great thing about fennel is that you can use the whole plant, green leafy fronds and all. I use these as a garnish along with some sourdough croutons and a dollop of vegan yoghurt.
- Making ahead / storing - this soup can be made up to 3 days in advance. It will keep in the fridge once cooked for 3 days. You can easily freeze this soup - once cooled transfer to freezer suitable containers then freeze. Use within 3 months. Defrost overnight before reheating on the hob until piping hot.
- Nutritional Information - is calculated using an online tool. It is approximate and is based on one serving of four. It does not include toppings.
- Weights and measurements - For US readers, I use Cuisipro measuring cups and spoons, and a Pyrex measuring jug for liquids. These are the industry standard. Cup/spoon volumes can differ from brand to brand, for accuracy, I recommend weighing all ingredients if possible.
Nutrition
*This recipe was first published on this blog in Nov 2015. Updated Mar 2021 with new photos, recipe card and nutritional information.
Ron
This is a tasty soup like a chef recipe. An immersion blender can only blend it to a certain degree because the fennel ìs stringy, although it is fine this way. So if you want it really smooth you will need a more powerful blender.
Michelle Alston
Hi Ron, thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed it.
Shawntel
Getting ready to make this but wondered is cauliflower and cabbage would be an ok addition as i am trying to use vegetables starting to brown. Help! Never used fennel before.
Michelle Alston
Hi Shawntel, I haven't made this with cauliflower or cabbage so I can't say that will work. I would probably make a vegetable soup with the cauliflower and cabbage. I would use a base of chopped carrot, onion and celery cooked until soft then add garlic and then stock and I would add the cauliflower and cabbage and some herbs, maybe thyme. I hope this helps. M x
Ailsa
Do you mean a stick of celery (a rib) or do you mean the whole Stalk of celery (all of it)? Thanks
Michelle Alston
Hi Ailsa, it is one stick (or rib) of celery not the whole celery.
Sarah
Can you use dried thyme instead of fresh? If so, how much would you use and when? I am looking forward to making this. Thank you!
Michelle Alston
Hi Sarah, yes you could use dried thyme if you like. I would use a quarter if a teaspoon of dried thyme. I hope this helps x
D59
I had a fennel bulb and carrots and thought I'd try and make soup, I wasn't quite sure that they would work together so looked for a recipe and found yours. It's really delicious and very easy.
Michelle Alston
I'm so glad you liked it 🙂
Raymund
Hmmm I can imagine the sweetness of that fennel brings.
Michelle Alston
Hi Raymund, yep it's lovely 😉
Ailsa
Fab thank you! As know there are differences between UK & USA wording of stick so wanted to double check. I am going to make this tomorrow!