An immersion blender could be the MVP of your kitchen

By Karla Walsh, CNN

(CNN) — Salt, fat, acid and heat are the essential elements of cooking to Samin Nosrat, who transformed them into her best-selling cookbook and popular Netflix series, “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat.”

For her latest book, she has added to that list.

Before she mentions even a single recipe in “Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share With People You Love — A Cookbook,” Nosrat shares a spread of her “unexpectedly essential” kitchen gear, which includes one piece she used to dread but now adores: the immersion blender.

Nosrat’s culinary career began at Chez Panisse, where she worked her way up from food runner to cook over two years. Nosrat was often on soup duty at Alice Waters’ acclaimed Berkeley, California, bistro, which was a trailblazer in the farm-to-table movement.

“We’d use the immersion blender as the first step, then we’d have you transfer it into a smaller, normal-sized Vitamix blender, batch by batch, to get the smoothest, satin-iest texture,” Nosrat told CNN. “I had a vendetta against the immersion blender, because if I’m going to have to transfer it into the Vitamix countertop blender to puree it anyway, why bother? It took forever and felt like this huge burden to do this for 10-to-15-gallon pots of soup.”

At home, you’re making much less soup, Nosrat conceded, but those messy, fussy memories were hard for her to erase. For years, every time she saw an immersion blender, she would have a visceral reaction. “I had this dread in my stomach,” she said. “The idea of blending a soup was restaurant-sized dread, even when it was applied to a home-sized meal.”

All of that changed when Nosrat realized she could skip a step. Frustrated after one too many countertop blender mishaps spilling on her clothes or spraying the contents onto the ceiling, Nosrat decided to stick with the stick blender while developing a recipe for butternut squash and green curry soup.

“I’m just at home and not trying to serve this to people in fine dining circumstances, so I figured it might be fine. It was, and that single recipe changed everything,” Nosrat said.

In fact, the immersion blender breakthrough was so impactful that Nosrat decided to pay tribute to that creation with the Curried Carrot and Coconut Soup that stars in her latest cookbook (recipe below).

“Once I realized that creamy soup does just fine with the immersion blender only, it felt like a liberation,” she added.

As soon as the handheld blender was back in her good graces, Nosrat discovered two more stellar uses: for whipping up quick mayos and salad dressings.

“I have grown to love using it for making a small amount of an emulsion,” she said, referring to the process of mixing two liquids that normally don’t like to combine.

Want to try it out? Round up a small mason jar, add an egg, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and 1 cup of a neutral-flavored oil, and blitz. In less than a minute, you have mayonnaise.

“If I were doing it by hand, I’d have to invest a ton of time and energy to whisk it,” Nosrat said. “Using a narrow jar and the immersion blender, it comes together quickly and easily since the blade is small and the ingredients are much closer together and more compressed than they would be in a large bowl.”

The same secret comes in clutch for salad dressings such as a Caesar or the creamy oregano dressing in “Good Things.” Besides being quick and easy to emulsify, “the idea that I can make the dressing in the same jar that I store it in has been a revelation for me,” she added. Just add a lid and pop any extra in the refrigerator for tomorrow.

As far as what brand to buy, Nosrat said she has relied on a Vitamix Immersion Blender for five years, “and it’s just so powerful.” That said, feel free to invest in whatever model fits your budget, she said. While powerful tools can simplify certain tasks, the most important part is making any adjustments required so it’s easier to step inside the kitchen and create something nourishing.

“‘Good Things’ is about the gratification of getting to use your hands and creating something in a world that is committed to separating us from the act of making something,” Nosrat said. “There are so many forces that digitize and take away the opportunity to be part of the creation process from start to finish. I do think there’s something so essential in that. Cooking gives us an opportunity to do this any day.”

Curried Carrot and Coconut Soup

Don’t let the lengthy ingredient list scare you away from making this cozy meal, which is inspired by Nosrat’s butternut squash soup revelation and spicy, punchy Thai red curries. The garnish is optional but highly recommended and described as a “real standout” by Nosrat. The crunchy, savory sprinkle is a twist on a popular snack across Thailand and Laos called miang kham.

As for the soup, the only secret is to leave a bit of breathing room at the top of the pot.

For this or any creamy soup, “you want to put an immersion blender in a pot that’s not super full, because the blender will incorporate air into the base of the pot as it’s blending. That will increase the volume of the soup,” Nosrat advised.

Reach for a large enough vessel so the volume of the soup fills it no more than two-thirds of the way to the top and insert the immersion blender at a slight angle so it doesn’t create a vacuum seal on the bottom — and so that the soup and fiber can swim around the pot.

Makes about 2 quarts

Serves 4

Total cooking time: About 50 minutes

Ingredients

For the soup:

● ¼ cup coconut oil

● 3 shallots, diced

● One 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced

● 1 lemongrass stalk, cut into 3-inch pieces

● Kosher salt

● 3 pounds carrots, peeled and sliced ½ -inch thick

● Two 13.5-ounce cans coconut milk

● 6 to 8 tablespoons Thai red curry paste, or to taste

● 3 tablespoons fish sauce

● 3 to 4 cups chicken stock or water

For the garnish:

● ¾ cup salted, dry-roasted peanuts

● ¾ cup unsweetened coconut flakes

● 2 tablespoons fish sauce

● 8 small dried red chilies, such as chiles de árbol, thinly sliced

● 1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted

● 1 tablespoon minced lemongrass

● 1 tablespoon sugar

● 10 makrut lime leaves, thinly sliced (optional)

● Handful of Thai basil leaves

● 2 to 3 limes, quartered

Instructions

1. Adjust an oven rack to the center position and preheat to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. To make the soup, melt the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. When the oil shimmers, add the shallots, ginger, pieces of lemongrass and a generous pinch of salt. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots are tender and just starting to brown, about 18 minutes.

3. Increase the heat to high and add the carrots, coconut milk, curry paste, fish sauce and 3 cups of the stock. As the soup comes to a boil, partially cover the pot and reduce the heat to keep the liquid at a gentle simmer. Cook the soup until the carrots are completely tender, about 25 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, to make the garnish, in a medium bowl, combine the peanuts, coconut flakes, fish sauce, chiles, oil, lemongrass, sugar and lime leaves (if using). Spread the mixture out on a sheet pan in a single layer. Bake until the coconut is a deep golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes after the first 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and pour the mixture immediately into a bowl to prevent overcooking. Stir to combine and set aside.

5. Remove the soup from the heat and discard the lemongrass. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup. (Alternatively, transfer soup in batches to a blender or food processor and puree.) Taste and adjust for salt and curry paste. Add more stock or water to thin soup to the desired consistency.

6. Thinly slice the Thai basil leaves and arrange on a small plate or platter, along with lime wedges and the peanut mixture. Serve the soup hot with garnishes.

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Recipe adapted from “Good Things” by Samin Nosrat. Copyright © 2025 by Samin Nosrat. All rights reserved. Published by Penguin Random House. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.