Carrot, Apple & Five-Spice Soup
18
- Prep Time15 min
- Total Time45 min
- Makes8 Servings
Photo, Janis Nicolay.
After making and enjoying this soup just once, you won’t even need a recipe for it. The addition of Chinese five-spice, with its combination of star anise, fennel seed, Szechuan pepper, clove and cinnamon, really enhances the humble carrot and apple combination, giving it a well-rounded flavour complexity with minimal effort.
Ingredients
Extra-virgin olive oil, for the pot
6 to 8 large carrots (about 1½ lb/675 g total), diced
1 large onion, diced
2 tart apples, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tsp Chinese five-spice
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup (250 mL) whipping cream
Salt and black pepper
Toasted pumpkin seeds, for garnish
Instructions
Drizzle olive oil in the bottom of a soup pot over medium heat. Add the carrots and onions and sauté for about 5 minutes, until the onions begin to look translucent. Add the apples, garlic and five-spice and cook, stirring, for 1 minute more.
Add the stock and bring the soup up to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover the pot and gently simmer until the vegetables are very tender, 15 to 20 minutes.
Purée the soup using an immersion or regular blender (in batches, if needed) until smooth, then stir in the cream, return to a gentle simmer and season to taste. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with the chopped cashews (or pumpkin seeds).
Kitchen tip
The soup will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Excerpted from Anna Cooks by Anna Olson. Copyright © 2025 Anna Olson. Photographs by Janis Nicolay. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.
Anna Olson is a professionally trained chef and the internationally known host of Food Network Canada’s Bake with Anna Olson, as well as the Oh Yum with Anna Olson channel on YouTube. She is the author of 10 bestselling and award-winning cookbooks, including Anna Olson’s Baking Wisdom, Baking Day with Anna Olson and Set for the Holidays with Anna Olson. She lives in Ontario with her husband, Michael.
