Silky carrot soup topped with spiced ground beef and toasty pine nuts! Bright, savory, warming, all the best things!
Carrot Soup with Spiced Ground Beef and Pine Nuts
The Carrot Soup + Topping Combo That I Didn’t Know I Needed
This combination is dynamite. Wow. We did this for dinner last week and it was amazing.
Two main parts:
- a silky carrot soup (think coconut milk, madras curry powder, onions and carrots) – borderline 5 ingredients and very easy
- an equally easy savory ground beef skillet with toasty pine nuts and lemon zest
And then (wait for it) we’re putting the spiced beef and pine nuts on top of the soup. And adding some thinly sliced shallots, a swirl of yogurt, and dipping into that beauty with some warm flatbread! She is beauty, she is grace, she is layered to the maximum with textures and flavors (savory, toasty, bright, warming, all of it)! I am here for every single dunk of that bread through the creamy carrot soup.
My kids love that this is a build-your-own situation (which, for them, mostly consists of soup and bread). Meanwhile, Bjork and I get to go a little overboard with toppings and feel like we’re eating out in a fun restaurant. Wins all around! Hope you love it!
Want more cozy soups? Check out my lineup here!
Carrot Soup with Spiced Ground Beef and Pine Nuts
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 5 servings 1x
Description
Silky carrot soup topped with spiced ground beef and toasty pine nuts! Bright, savory, warming, all the best things!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Carrot Soup
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, sliced
- 2 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
- 2 tablespoons Better Than Bouillon beef flavor base
- 2 teaspoons hot madras curry powder (regular curry powder works, too)
- 1 14–ounce can coconut milk
- 3 1/2 cups water
Spiced Ground Beef and Pine Nuts
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons Better Than Bouillon beef flavor base
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1/3 cup pine nuts
- 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
- a bit of lemon zest
For Serving:
- thinly sliced shallot (love)
- plain yogurt
- flatbread
Instructions
- Carrot Soup: Heat a soup pot over medium high heat. Add oil, onions, carrots, bouillon, and curry powder. Sauté for 3-5 minutes.
- Simmer: Add water; simmer for 15 minutes.
- Puree: Add coconut milk; puree with an immersion blender until smooth. (affiliate link)
- Cook the Ground Beef: heat a large skillet with the oil over medium high heat. Brown the ground beef until cooked (season with a little bit of salt and pepp).
- Ground Beef Extras: Stir in tomato paste, bouillon, and garam masala; sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add pine nuts, parsley, and lemon zest and sauté until toasty and fragrant.
- Serving: Serve soup topped with a scoop of the ground beef, and whatever other toppings you like (I love this with thinly sliced shallot, a swirl of plain yogurt, and some flatbread for dipping).
Notes
To make the yogurt easier to swirl on top of the bowl, I usually thin it out with a bit of water until it drizzles off a spoon.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: carrot soup, crispy ground beef, ground beef topping, creamy carrot soup, healthy soup
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October 14, 2025
Nice to meet you!
I’m Lindsay and I ♡ FOOD. I used to be a teacher, and now making food and writing about it online is my full-time job. I love talking with people about food, and I'm so glad you're here.
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We loved this! The soup and beef both had great flavor that complemented each other really well, and we loved the mix of textures. The yogurt gave it a nice tang as well. Will definitely make this again!
So glad to hear that, thanks for making the recipe!
This was super easy and EXCELLENT. The only thing I would do differently is to toast the pine nuts before, because I wasn’t able to get them toasty enough without burning the beef. Otherwise it was a perfect meal! So tasty!
Thanks for making the recipe!
Soooo good and easy.
Hi there! Greetings from Portugal.
Did this recipe yesterday for dinner, and Omg! So good.
I always look for different recipes but that are also easy and fast, specially during the week. This one hit all marks. Husband and my 2 year old toddler loved it.
I didn’t have garam masala. So I just made my own with cumin, coriander and a touch of cloves.
Thank you. Been a fan of your of for years now.
Oh, love that you made your own garam masala!
This soup is incredible. I got the recipe in my inbox and was so intrigued to try it. I’ve never heard of a recipe like this but it had all the components I love. My husband was skeptical when I told him what we were having but we all devoured it. It’s savory and hearty and so delicious
Excited to make this! Love adding some meat as a topping to soup, I’ve never done that. Do you have an idea for a pine nut sub, or should I just leave them out?
You can just leave them out, or use chopped, unsalted cashews!
We really loved this!
We made it this last night and it was mostly a hit (2/3 of the kids scarfed it down and the adults enjoyed it).
I did make this in an instant pot – sautéing the onions, then adding the rest of the soup ingredients (minus the coconut milk) – 10 minutes pressure – 10 minutes natural release (mainly because I wasn’t home to quick release it!) – then added the coconut milk and pureed!
I doubled the beef topping since my beef package was 2+ lbs — but didn’t want to buy more pine nuts — so I used a “normal” size package of pine nuts and the rest as chopped walnuts. I used the zest of the lemon in the beef and added the lemon juice in the beef and a little in the soup to taste.
Great recipe on a cold and windy Fall night!
Great to know it worked well in the instant pot; thanks for your notes!
Wow wow wow! This is amazing and so comforting and spicey and just so good. Even my picky pre teen loved it. Such an easy week night meal for cooler evenings of fall.
Wow! This was amazing! When I first read it in my email I thought we have to try this! My husband could not get over how good it was. We both had it the next day for lunch . Thanks so much for this outstanding recipe hun, we’ll be making it again!
I stumbled across your website & have found 2 gems–both soups, since I’m on a kick to have some sort of ‘smooth’ soup with my breakfast. Your Sweet Potato Soup with Cauliflower Crumbles (I cooked the c’flower right along with the sweet potato & blended it altogether) & the Carrot Soup with Spiced Beef (I didn’t have beef bouillon so subbed beef broth for the water). Magnificent recipes!!! Thank you so much for recipes that aren’t run-of-the-mill!
This was soooooo good and I missed rating it! Sorry!
Thanks again for this amazing recipe!
Just made this. I was super intrigued by the flavors and the combo of soup topped with a spiced beef. I came in very hopeful that it would all come together and boy did it. Amazing!
Do you think the soup portion could be frozen?
Yes it can!
This looks so good! I’ve got some members of my family that don’t like coconut milk, though. What would be the best substitute—half and half?
Hi! Half-n-half would need to be kept at a very low simmer or it will separate. I think if you did 1/2 half and half and 1/2 cream, that would be the best way to go.
I made the carrot soup ahead of time and have it in the fridge for dinner later, it is best served warm with the beef? The soup is fantastic btw!!
I was so excited to make this that I bought madras curry simmer sauce instead of powder. Do you know if the simmer sauce work as well? If so, same measurements? Thank you! Can’t wait to try this!!