Curried Parsnip Soup

Curried Parsnip Soup

Curried Parsnip Soup with Apple

This vegetarian Curried Parsnip Soup with Apple may be the perfect winter soup. The sweetness of the apple boosts the flavour of the parsnips. The gentle spice from the curry powder adds interest to the soup and enhances its warming qualities. Perfect for a cold winter’s day!

This soup is based on an old curry sauce recipe that I inherited from my mother. The recipe is a 1970s version of curry sauce – nothing fancy or sophisticated – and is very simple with medium curry powder, onion, apple and garlic being the primary ingredients. I use the sauce recipe for making my traditional Boxing Day turkey curry and, while I was doing that this year, I wondered whether it could be adapted to make a soup.

Parsnips love a bit of curry flavouring so I decided to use them as the main ingredient. I also added a potato to tone down the parsnip flavour just a bit and to thicken up the soup. I think the flavour is just right – not too parsnippy and not too spicy. My initial taste trials, so far limited to my teenage children, have been very positive. In fact, this soup has been described as “banging” which clearly is an accolade to which I aspire in all my recipes.

Curried Parsnip Soup

Super soup – the perfect weekday lunch

As with all vegetable soups, this recipe can be made in advance and re-heated when required. It can also be frozen and defrosted when needed. I generally make a big batch of soup and then freeze it in individual portions. I can then defrost a portion for my lunch or for my children’s lunchboxes. This works well as long as you make sure that the labels on the portions are legible. I have notoriously bad handwriting – my excuse being that I spend most of my time using a keyboard – and sometimes even I cannot read what I have written. This means that I may sometimes be expecting parsnip soup for my lunch but end up with potato and leek as they are a similar colour!

For me, home-made soup is the perfect lunch as it can be made in advance, is tasty and healthy and is just that bit more fortifying than a sandwich. It also fills you up – there is a lot of fibre in those veggies – so it reduces those mid-afternoon snack cravings. My working life is split between home-working and office working. If it is a day when I am office-based, I heat the soup before I leave for work and take it with me in a thermos. All I need is a roll or a slice of bread – and maybe a bit of fruit for afters – and that is lunch sorted.

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Other home-made soup recipes

I have lots of easy, vegetable soup recipes. If you like this Curried Parsnip Soup, you might like some of the others. All my soups are vegetarian and all can be made vegan by substituting animal fats, such as butter, for vegetable fats. Some of them are pretty simple such as Fennel Soup and showcase a single vegetable. Others combine vegetables which have complimentary flavours such as Celeriac and Apple Soup, Mushroom and Chestnut Soup, Pumpkin and Sweetcorn Soup or Leek and Potato Soup. A few have more unusual combinations of flavours such as Beetroot Soup with Coconut or Butternut and Peanut Butter Soup. I also have a few chilled soup recipes, which are fantastic cold in the summer, but can also be served warm such as Asparagus and Pea and Tomato.

Curried Parsnip Soup

Curried Parsnip Soup with Apple

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Curried Parsnip Soup

Curried Parsnip Soup

  • Author: Tastebotanical
  • Prep Time: 15
  • Cook Time: 17
  • Total Time: 32 minutes
  • Yield: Serves 6
  • Category: Soup
  • Cuisine: English

Description

This Curried Parsnip Soup is mildly spicy and sweetened with apple.  Healthy, easy to make, warming and delicious, it is the perfect winter soup.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
  • 1 large onion
  • 3 parsnips
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1 sweet eating apple
  • 1 large potato
  • 2 teaspoons of medium curry powder
  • 500 ml vegetable stock
  • Plain vegan yogurt and turmeric (optional)

Curried Parsnip Soup


Instructions

  1. Peel and roughly chop the onions.
  2. Peel and roughly chop the parsnips.
  3. Heat the oil in a heavy-based pan and add the chopped vegetables.  Season with salt and pepper.
  4. Cook gently over a low heat for around 15 minutes until the vegetables are starting to caramelise. 
  5. Crush the garlic clove.  Peel, core and roughly chop the apple.  Peel and roughly chop the potato.  Add the garlic, apple and potato to the pan.
  6. Stir in the curry powder and cook for two minutes.
  7. Add the vegetable stock to the pan and bring to simmering point.   Cook gently for 15 minutes.
  8. Blend the soup in a food processor or by using a hand blender.
  9. The soup will be quite thick.  You can add a little additional water to thin it to your desired consistency.
  10. When you are ready to serve the soup, reheat it gently and pour into individual bowls.  If you wish, you can decorate each bowl with a swirl of plain vegan yogurt and a sprinkle of ground turmeric.

Curried Parsnip Soup


Notes

This soup is vegan.  If you are not a vegan, you can substitute butter for the vegetable oil and use non-vegan yogurt.

Keywords: parsnip, apple, curried, soup, vegetarian

This recipe has been shared on #CookBlogShare with Peachick Bakery and #FiestaFriday with Fiesta Friday and Diann of Goats and Greens

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10 thoughts on “Curried Parsnip Soup”

  1. Oooh this looks lovely! Love the idea of adding apple to the soup! And any recipe that can be batch cooked and frozen for later is always a winner! Happy New Year & Thanks for sharing with #CookBlogShare

  2. I’m a bit of a doofus for forgetting to make soup! But when I do remember, parsnip is on of my go-tos. Actually its one of my fave veggies. I’ll have to try your combo – I’ve never added apple before. Looks yum!

    1. Thank you! I love parsnip soup too and I think the curry and apple really lift the taste.

  3. We eat lots of homemade soups, and parsnip and apple is one that I make a lot. Never tried it with curry powder though so I’ll have to give this a go.

    1. I think that the curry – which is quite mild – really lifts the taste of the parsnips ????

  4. just made this for dinner and it is legit!!! i don’t know how i have gotten this far in my life without ever cooking a parsnip! thank you so much for posting…

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