Velvety smooth and sweet carrot, squash, and coriander soup gets spiced up with a crunchy harissa chickpea topping.
carrot, squash, and coriander soup with crunchy harissa chickpeas

Truth: occasionally I use condiments as weapons.

Case in point:

“DON’T MAKE ME SPICE THIS” – a war cry commonly heard coming from my kitchen as I stand in front of a bubbling pot of something or other, hand poised directly over it with a bottle of sriracha or a 1/2 cup measure of harissa.

Armed and ready.

To pour.

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But is it really my fault that the.boy and I have vastly different levels of heat tolerance, to the point where my “it’s a little spicy” is his “there is smoke coming out of my ears and I am sweating beyond profusely”?

A life without spicy food is pretty much a life barely worth living. I mean, I’m obviously the one who’s suffering here.

Which is why I’m beyond thrilled that this month’s Recipe Redux instructed, nay MANDATED that we get our smoky spicy on. After all, I couldn’t just not follow orders, am I right?

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That being said, I did compromise just a teensy bit in the execution of this soup. The soup itself is filled with warm, sweet, smoky flavor from the carrots, kabocha, coriander, and smoked paprika, while it’s the crunchy chickpea croutons that pack the harissa heat. This way, in every bite, you get a little of each and, for the most part, they cancel each other out. Perfect for the less spice tolerant among us.

On the other hand, if you’re a heat junkie like me, I give you permission to bathe in the harissa.

I mean, spoon it onto your soup as desired and sweat away. It’s the right thing to do.

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Carrot, Squash and Coriander Soup with Crunchy Harissa Chickpeas
 
Velvety smooth and sweet carrot, squash, and coriander soup gets spiced up with a crunchy harissa chickpea topping.
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 lb carrots, peeled and diced
  • 1 kabocha squash, seeded, peeled, and coarsely chopped
  • 1 tbsp minced ginger
  • 2 tsp coriander
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 6 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 cup coconut milk
  • salt and black pepper, to taste
  • 1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 1 tbsp harissa, plus more for drizzling
Instructions
  1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the carrots and kabocha squash to the pot. Saute for 4-5 minutes, or until starting to brown. Stir in the ginger, coriander, smoked paprika, and a pinch of salt. Saute for a minute, or until spices are fragrant.
  2. Add the vegetable broth to the pot, scraping up the bottom to release any brown bits. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer. Cook, covered, for 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Puree with an immersion blender (or a regular blender). Stir in the coconut milk. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.
  3. Meanwhile, for the chickpeas, preheat the oven to 450F. Pat the chickpeas dry and then toss with the harissa. Spread on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until crispy, stirring halfway through.
  4. Serve the soup topped with the chickpeas and a drizzle of harissa.
Notes
An Eats Well With Others Original
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 1 bowl

 More soup:

carrot and tahini soup

Carrot and Tahini Soup

nutty sweet potato soup with harissa and spinach

Nutty Sweet Potato Soup with Harissa and Spinach

wheat berry and white bean soup with savoy cabbage

Wheat Berry and White Bean Soup with Savoy Cabbage

From Around the Web:

Roasted Cauliflower, Leek, and Carrot Soup from Flourishing Foodie

Curried Lentil Vegetable Soup from Nutmeg Nanny

Broccoli and Barley Soup from 10th Kitchen

Green Minestrone with Kale Pistachio Pesto from Vegetarian Ventures

Creamy Spinach, Artichoke, and White Bean Soup from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice

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carrot, squash, and coriander soup with crunchy harissa chickpeas
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53 Responses to Carrot, Squash, and Coriander Soup with Crunchy Harissa Chickpeas

  1. June Burns says:

    That looks just divine! I, too, appreciate a good amount of spiciness–lots of frank’s red hot, thank you very much! But sriracha’s cool too 🙂

  2. What a delicious and comforting vegan soup. Carrot soup is one of my favourites. Pinning this!

  3. yea life without spicy food is not blahhhhh. also those colorful carrots are my latest obsession. i have been roasting them in bulk and using them throughout the week.

  4. I love the sound of this. And plenty of spice is fine with me!

  5. I am loving the sound of this soup!! I JUST finished the batch of chickpeas that I cooked up. Guess I’ll just need to make some more!

  6. I can’t wait to sweat away with this delicious looking soup!! Harissa adds just the right touch to the soup. Love that we both though of using harissa for the redux!

  7. Mira says:

    This soup is loaded wit awesome stuff and I love the harissa on top! Thanks for sharing all the other links, too!

  8. Soup is my winter food of choice and this is pure comfort!

  9. Stefanie says:

    See we both like spice in this house. I’m probably on the mild end of spicy and Mike is on the hot end. But we appreciate heat none the less. I even have the little guys starting to like spicy foods. He does do a mega chug of water afterwards though hahah. This soup is so pretty and I looooove the chickpea croutons!!!

  10. This crunchy, spicy topping has me seriously swooning over here!

  11. I cannot pin nor make this soup fast enough – I think this is one of those recipes that will get me through winter….

  12. Julia says:

    Before I made carrot soup, I thought it would remind me of baby carrots in my brown bag lunches growing up, but it turns out sooooo freaking good! You’ve inspired me to do another run of carrot soup and add all the spicy harissa chickpeas. Bueno!

  13. Lori R. says:

    Threatening with spice. I’ll have to give that some thought. Hubs and I are on different spice levels, too. I try to be considerate. Haha! I’ve been looking for new soup ideas. This sounds great!

  14. You come up with the tastiest healthy dishes! I love that spicy harissa chickpeas a lot!

  15. I love every element of this soup, Joanne! The spicy topping has me swooning! Pinned!

  16. Pam says:

    I am love spicy food but luckily so does my husband.,, but sadly, my kids don’t. The soup looks comforting & delicious. I love the crunchy chickpeas on top!

  17. “Don’t make me spice this” loooooove that!! This soup looks amazing and I love the addition of the crunchy chickpeas- MUCH better than a crouton!

  18. SallyBR says:

    I am the daughter of my Dad, and he used to bite into hot chile peppers as if eating candy.

    Bring the Harissa, so I can properly celebrate his memory!

  19. Heather says:

    We have this battle often at our house. Ha ha. My husband still won’t let me live down one instance with a jalapeno that I accidentally gave him that caused him extreme pain and suffering. :p

  20. This looks awesome, Joanne! I love spicy food and have to tone it down a bit because my husband thinks I’m mad at him when I serve food that forehead-sweat hot. 😉

  21. Bahaha “don’t make me spice this”…you kill me!! You can spice my dinners any day!

  22. Alanna says:

    This soup looks like the perfect comforting meal for these cold winter days! Loving the colors 🙂 Definitely will be giving this a try soon!

  23. Not sure which I love more pureed soup, spicy food, or colorful carrots. This is a win on all accounts. I need to try harissa to branch out beyond sriracha.

  24. Thank goodness my husband loves spicy foods as much as me but I feel ya, my kids are whimps big time! I’m slowly raising their taste bud tolerance a dash at a time ;} Love the chickpea addition to this savory soup! Pinned.

  25. Alissa says:

    I had to laugh at this because my husband was giving me a hard time the other day about making him look like a wimp when I discuss our differing spice tolerances on the blog. Ha! I love carrot soup and a little extra spice from harissa sounds like an amazing addition.

  26. Joanne, I already liked you and your recipes. . but now. . “A life without spicy food is pretty much a life barely worth living.” I mean, come on. I love this so much. And this soup!!!! Delicious!!

  27. I loved this post. I can totally get behind spicy! So well written and with a great recipe to boot!

  28. Kate says:

    I am definitely pro-spice

  29. Kelly says:

    I love everything about this soup – especially all the heat! It looks so comforting and I love your idea to bathe in the harissa since we are spice obsessed too!

  30. Pam says:

    It looks delicious, esp. for a cold day like today. Bring on the heat!!!

  31. What am awesome looking soup! I’m sure I’ll be having it for dinner soon 🙂

  32. If you’re using condiments like that, let’s be friends, cuz the more spice the better!!

  33. Hahaha – I am cracking up at your “war cry” of “DON’T MAKE ME SPICE THIS”!!!
    I most definitely am a heat junkie! And I so love all that’s going on in that there bowl!

  34. Wow this looks amazing! I love the crunchy harissa chickpeas on top! What a fun idea!

  35. There you go teasing me with the chickpeas again. Sigh. Deliciousness!

  36. I love this creamy and spicy soup. It looks perfect to combate the gloomy weather outside.

  37. Betty says:

    Alright, now I’m craving those spicy chickpeas! Soup looks good too- I love spicy. 🙂

  38. Zainab says:

    I trained mine to just SHUT up. U don’t like the spice, try cooking sometimes 🙂 I love the harissa in this 🙂

  39. I made carrot soup a few weeks ago and never even thought to add some heat 🙂

  40. Ala says:

    Ohhh, spice it up, gal! You tell that boy what’s what in the household 😉 looks like my kinda soup!

  41. Just going through the recipe list, I can imagine how wonderful this soup must have tasted.

  42. This looks wonderful! I’ve recently tried similar soup, but without crunchy spiced chickpeas. Such a great idea!

  43. I am so loving this soup. Just look how amazingly decadent it is. Delish

  44. Reeni says:

    This looks so creamy and delicious! I love it when smoke comes out of my ears! Heehee it’s a good thing. 🙂 Thanks for linking to my soup!

  45. Oh, a bowl of this would be so satisfying in the winter.

  46. Ooh, this looks fantastic. Carrot and coriander soup all dressed up!

  47. Eileen says:

    Hooray for spice! We are a super-spice-happy household, so even though I love spice, I’m still the one with lower tolerance! But this soup sounds just about perfect for my tastebuds. I love the idea of the chickpea garnish too. YES.

  48. Danguole says:

    Heat maniacs unite! Love the crunchy chickpeas on this. Hope you’re staying warm and indoorsy!

  49. Johanna GGG says:

    this looks great – I must try these chickpeas to use up some harissa – have pilaf and think they would be brilliant on it! and I know E would love it because his spice tolerance is so much higher than mine (he always has the tabasco at the ready)

  50. Honestly, this recipe is rocking my world. I have made a carrot soup with quinoa chickpeas but I have to try this next time, especially with the harissa!

  51. Laura says:

    Ha just wait til if/when you have kids. Then ALL (heat) spicing will be done at the table. I empathize with the boy, but my husband would so empathize with you. He likes to wax poetic about the days before I got pregnant when I could actually my som tom the way they served it in Thailand. Yeah those days are gone. 🙂

    Either way this looks terrific! Pinning!

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