Pumpkin Soup
An easy-to-follow recipe for making the best pumpkin soup! Choose any eating pumpkin to make it and change up the flavor by adding your favorite spices.
I love making this recipe every fall and winter, especially when it gets cold outside. I have made it with other vegetables, and different spices like cinnamon and curry, with coconut milk or heavy cream and it always comes out fantastic. Today, I am sharing with you the basic recipe on how to make it, so feel free to add your personal touch to it to make it your own.
Pumpkin Soup Ingredients
- Pumpkin: Use any type of eating pumpkin or even butternut squash. Avoid using carving pumpkins since they tend to be pretty bland.
- Oil: Since I almost always roast my pumpkin for this soup, I like to add a bit of olive oil inside and out to add more flavor.
- Vegetables: For this basic recipe, use your favorite type of onion and garlic and you’ll see how much flavor they add to this soup. My go-to ingredients are yellow onion and fresh chopped garlic.
- Broth: You can use your favorite flavor of broth or stock to make this soup. You can also make it with just water but it won’t be as flavorful. I always use a combination of broth and water to even things out.
- Cream: It adds a lot of richness to the soup, so if that’s what you like, go for heavy cream. To make it a bit lighter use half and half or plain milk. Another great option is coconut milk.
- Salt & pepper: I use it to roast the pumpkin and to add flavor to the soup. Use as much or as little as you want.
Types of Pumpkin
- Use any pumpkin that is best for eating or roasting like sugar pumpkins, butternut squash, or kabocha squash. You’ll find plenty of these pumpkins at the grocery store during the fall and winter months.
- Another option would be to use 2 cans or 4 cups of pumpkin puree. Make sure it’s not pumpkin pie filling, which is a completely different ingredient.
- If you’re in Colombia or any other country in Latin America, you can use what they call “ahuyama”, which is the most common Spanish word we use for pumpkin.
How to Make Pumpkin Soup
- Cut the pumpkin in half, remove all the seeds, and drizzle the outside and inside with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
- Place the pumpkin with the cut side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Roast at 400°F (204°C) for about 40 to 60 minutes or until tender.
- Let the pumpkin cool for a few minutes. Peel off the skin and set aside the cooked pumpkin. You should end up with about 4-4½ cups of cooked pumpkin.
- Sauté the onion and garlic in olive oil. Add the pumpkin, broth, water, salt, and pepper.
- Simmer for about 20 minutes and then blend in a regular blender or to make things easier, you can use a hand-held blender to puree all of the ingredients.
- Add the heavy cream and let it simmer for about 5 minutes.
Pumpkin Soup Variations
- In Colombia, people tend to add other vegetables like carrots and celery to make pumpkin soup. They also love to add other ingredients like cumin and cilantro.
- Another great option is to add some curry to it. Use curry powder or paste to taste after blending the soup.
- Adding cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg or cloves also gives this soup a great autumn flavor.
What Can You Serve This Soup With?
- I love to serve any kind of soup with rice. I’m Colombian and we love our rice. We also serve soups with a banana on the side but we can discuss that at a later time. 😄
- Bread! Any kind of bread. And if you’re looking for some ideas, here are a few great recipes that I have shared on the blog:
- Coconut Bread Rolls
- Garlic Bread
- Colombian Sweet Bread Rolls
- Pandebonos
- Cornbread
How To Store Pumpkin Soup
- As with any homemade soup, you can store this in the fridge for about 4-5 days. Make sure to use an airtight container.
- You can also freeze it for up to 3 months. Let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight and then reheat it in a saucepan over low heat. If you notice that it is a bit thick, you can add some broth or water to thin it out.
¡Buen Provecho!
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Pumpkin Soup
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 1x
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
Scale
- One 4 lb small pumpkin
- 3 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 4 cups (944 ml) chicken, beef or vegetable broth or stock
- 1 cup (236 ml) water
- Salt & pepper to taste
- ½–¾ cup (118–177 ml) heavy cream, half and half or milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C).
- Wipe clean your pumpkin with a damp paper towel. Carefully cut it in half with a sharp knife and scoop out the seeds with a large spoon.
- Drizzle the pumpkin with 1 tbsp of olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Place the pumpkin skin side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Roast for about 40-60 minutes or until tender. You’ll know it’s done when you can easily pierce it with a knife or fork. Let the pumpkin cool for a few minutes and then peel off the skin. You will end up with about 4-4½ cups (2-2¼ lbs) of cooked pumpkin. Set aside.
- Heat the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy pot over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook for about 3-5 minutes or until soft. Now, add the chopped garlic and cook for one more minute.
- Add the cooked pumpkin, broth, water and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for about 20 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and then blend the soup either in a regular blender or with a hand-held blender until smooth. Return the pot of soup to the stove, add the heavy cream, season with more salt and pepper, if needed, and simmer for a few more minutes.
- Serve immediately and drizzle with some more heavy cream. You can also serve it with your favorite bread or toppings.
Notes
- You can use 2 cans (4 cups) of pumpkin puree instead of the fresh pumpkin.
- If you don’t want to roast the pumpkin, you can boil it in water for about 15 minutes or until tender.
- Serve this wonderful soup with your favorite rice or bread. You can also serve it with chopped cilantro, pumpkin seeds, pepitas, roasted nuts, or crispy bacon!
