Carrot and Tomato Cream Soup, Thermomix®

Carrot and tomato cream soup is what we make when the fridge is almost empty but we still want something warm and creamy. A few carrots, a tin of chopped tomatoes, some tomato puree, and in 35 minutes you have a soup that gets by without a single drop of cream.

We have been making this soup regularly for years. In the early days we always had cream on hand, but later we realised that carrots bring enough natural starch to keep everything creamy after blending. The one thing that really determines whether the texture is right at the end is simple: the size you cut the carrots. 1 cm thick slices, not more and not less.

Why 1 cm carrot slices make the difference

We briefly sweat the carrots first in the mixing bowl, then cook them together with the tomatoes for 15 minutes at 100°C until soft, and finally blend for 1 minute, gradually increasing speed. The 1 cm slice is exactly the right size for two things to happen at the same time: the carrots release their starch within the cooking time, yet they do not turn so soft that they fall apart before blending.

If you cut them larger, 2 cm or more, the centre stays firm and small chunks remain after blending at speed 10, leaving lumps in the finished soup. If you cut them smaller, finely diced, the carrots are completely mushy after 15 minutes and the soup turns watery rather than creamy, because the starch has already dispersed into the water.

For 350 g of carrots, slicing by hand takes under two minutes. We only peel them if they have visible soil, otherwise a thorough scrub under running water is enough.

Fry the tomato puree first, add the tomatoes later

Tomato puree straight from the tube tastes sharp and slightly tinny. It is only once the puree heats up and has a few minutes to cook that the flavour shifts towards sweet umami. In our recipe the puree goes in with the other ingredients and cooks for 15 minutes at 100°C. That is enough to get the effect, because the puree receives direct heat from the bottom of the bowl.

If you want an even deeper flavour, you can sweat the puree separately for 3 minutes / 120°C / speed 1 without reverse direction, before adding the water and tomatoes. This happens before step 4, straight after sweating the carrots. We do this when the soup is meant to be a main course in the evening rather than a quick lunch.

Red onions are not an accident here

The recipe calls for two red onions, not white. Red onions have less sharpness and more natural sweetness, and they give the soup an extra warm orange-red colour. A regular white onion makes the soup more pungent and a shade darker. It works, but the result is not as rounded.

We sweat with 40 g of olive oil at 120°C for 5 minutes. The oil is not there to be skimped on: it carries the fat-soluble flavours from the carrots and tomato puree into the soup. With less oil the soup tastes flat.

The most common mistakes when making this soup

The soup is watery after blending

This usually happens because the carrots were cut too small or cooked too long. The starch from the carrot has already dispersed into the cooking liquid and can no longer bind anything when blending.

Our fix: Next time, cut exactly 1 cm slices and cook for exactly 15 minutes from the moment the soup starts to simmer. If the soup is already in the bowl and looks too thin: dice one floury potato (about 100 g) small, add it and cook for another 8 minutes / 100°C / speed 1, then blend again. The potato starch will bring it together.

The soup tastes sour, almost bitter

Tinned chopped tomatoes vary in acidity from brand to brand. Italian Pelati are often milder than mainstream supermarket brands. If you happen to open a sharper tin, the soup will taste more acidic than expected straight after blending.

Our fix: A pinch of sugar (1/2 tsp) is enough to pull back the acidity. We add the sugar after blending, stir briefly with the spatula and taste. If you prefer to avoid sugar, add 30 g of double cream or a spoonful of creme fraiche per bowl: it has a similar effect.

Carrot fibres are stuck to the inside of the mixing bowl

When sweating the carrots at 120°C, individual slices can sometimes stick to the upper rim of the bowl because they do not reach the blade in reverse direction.

Our fix: After the 5 minutes, open the lid briefly and scrape the sides down with the spatula, pushing everything towards the bottom. By the time you add the water and tomatoes the rest will loosen on its own, but doing this means nothing catches and burns.

Variations we actually make

With ginger: Chop a 1 cm piece of fresh ginger together with the garlic for 3 sec / speed 8. It gives the soup a gentle warmth and a slightly spicier note, especially welcome during cold-and-flu season.

With coconut milk: Replace 100 g of the water with coconut milk. The soup becomes silkier and takes on a mild Asian character. Works well served with a little curry paste or a squeeze of lime.

With roasted peppers: Halve a red pepper, roast in the oven at 220°C for 20 minutes, peel off the skin and add to the mixing bowl with the tomatoes. This rounds out the soup and adds an extra sweet note.

As a main course with minced beef: Brown 200 g of minced beef separately in a frying pan and add it to the soup just before serving. We season the mince with a little cumin, which pairs well with the tomato base.

Bread, croutons or Mozzarella alongside

We usually eat this soup with homemade croutons from leftover bread. If you have no croutons, a piece of baguette with a little olive oil does the job. Something to dip is, for us, non-negotiable. If you are looking for more soup ideas: our Pumpkin Soup with the Thermomix® works in a similar way, relying on natural starch rather than cream, and our classic Tomato Soup focuses more on freshness than depth of seasoning. For something heartier, our Potato Soup or Gyros Soup are firm favourites.

3 days in the fridge, 3 months in the freezer

In the fridge, the soup keeps for 3 days in an airtight container. By the second day a little water often separates on top, which is normal: just stir briefly before reheating. When warming up, keep the temperature low and do not go above 90°C, otherwise the olive oil separates visibly.

Freezing works well. We portion the soup into 500 ml containers and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge, then reheat for 5 minutes / 90°C / speed 1 in the Thermomix®. We do not recommend going straight from frozen into a hot mixing bowl, as this causes splashing and uneven heating.

There is no need for a hand blender or a stand blender. Blending for 1 minute, gradually increasing from speed 1 to speed 10, is enough in the Thermomix® because the soup is already fully cooked and soft. We start slowly so nothing hot splashes, then build up to speed 10.

Ginger boost: when it works, how much to use and when to leave it out

Neither the Cookidoo recipe nor the common alternative versions include ginger in the carrot and tomato combination. We add it anyway, because 1 cm of fresh ginger gives the soup a warming edge without overpowering the natural sweetness of the carrots. Timing matters: we chop the ginger for 3 seconds at speed 8 together with the garlic and sweat it with the onions. This takes away the raw sharpness so only the aroma remains. We would not go beyond 2 cm, as the soup then tips into a full carrot-ginger style and loses its tomato character. When making the main-course version with minced beef, we leave the ginger out, as it competes with the cumin.

Goes well with: Parmesan.

More soups made with the Thermomix® include our Leek Cream Soup, Cheese and Leek Soup and Pancake Soup. For our classic Tomato Cream Soup we have a separate recipe that puts tomato firmly at the centre.