Is it too late in the year to talk about pumpkin soup?
Oh whatever, it’s never too late in the year for pumpkin at my house.
Some members of my family would claim I overdo it with the pumpkin soup from round about September to February, but that’s all heresy.
Just like it’s never too late for pumpkin soup, there can never be too much of it, either.
Unless you ask my brother. Who hates soup.
Be it pumpkin or anything else.
Not even a Hearty Pasta Fagioli Soup.
Poor kid.
I love pumpkin soup so much because you can add all the orange vegetables to it, and nobody will notice. Also, it gets all creamy and dreamy without you actually having to add anything that’s creamy and dreamy.
I mean, you can of course. I have zero things against cream. I feel like we’ve established that certain kind of trust throughout the years that allows me to fully admit to my secret guilty pleasures in front of you: Nutella by the spoonful, eating the kids’ chocolate when they’re not watching and creamy-dreamy sauces.
But despite all of this, I mostly make pumpkin soup without cream, because it really doesn’t need it. It has so much flavor and silkiness all by itself already.
Even my husband has to admit how good this is, and that means a lot coming from him, talking about pumpkin soup.
My top tips for how this easy pumpkin soup gets foolproof:
- Pick a delicious pumpkin. I used a really fun one (I mean, fun as far as pumpkin goes… I’m not that crazy.): A Blue Ballet one. OK, that’s a winter squash. Guilty. You can definitely use a winter squash like Kabocha or Hubbard for this soup if sugar pumpkin in savory dishes makes you feel weird and you’d rather have it in some pumpkin bread.
- No color, no flavor: Give the ingredients time to roast before adding the stock. That way you get those deep, golden flavors which really make this soup worthwhile.
- Season to taste. I wrote down my suggested seasonings, and while they are amazing, it’s no dealbreaker if you hate ginger and really want to leave it out. I mean, I’ll be sad. But I’ll understand.
- Be careful when you blend it. I have burned myself more than once with hot soup, and it’s not fun. Place a clean dishtowel over the soup if you’re blending it with a stick blender. I you’re using a regular blender, read up on what your manufacturer has to say about hot liquids, before you splatter hot soup all over your sweet face and the just-cleaned kitchen.
How to make this easy pumpkin soup:
All good things start with butter (shhhh… you didn’t hear it from me), so melt some in your largest Dutch oven.
Once the butter is melted and bubbly, let’s add all those beautiful vegetables.
Sure, you could do just pumpkin. But it would be awfully lonely in there. So it gets some company in the name of onion, sweet potato and carrot.
Now let’s get these roasted.
Don’t be afraid of adding a little color. It’s where the flavor magic happens! Accio flavor.
Once the veggies are all starting to roast, add some salt and spices.
I do ground nutmeg, cumin, ginger and black pepper. You can add cayenne for some heat, but my kids are very vengeful when it comes to spicy food and I value no more than the necessary havoc around mealtimes.
Look, now comes our secret ingredient.
Don’t tell anyone. I add brown sugar to my pumpkin soup.
Why? I like the taste of it.
It’s not like the pumpkin needs more sweetness. But for some reason, that spoon full of brown sugar really adds something to the soup. So, in it goes.
Now comes the hard part… Resisting to stir all the time.
I know it’s hard. Bear with me. Roast those veggies without stirring all the time.
It will be fine.
I know I’m stirring in the photo.
Stop it. Hands away.
Now in goes the liquid!
Yes, that’s water. No, it doesn’t taste bland.
Chicken stock is pretty amazing, too.
But chances are, I forget to defrost any chicken stock. So it’s nice to have a recipe that works perfectly fine for the more meal prep challenged among us.
I’m well aware of the alleged person who got furious because there was a “legit leaf” in her bowl at Chipotle.
Do not worry. That leaf is legit and it’s called bay.
Friend, meet bay. Bay, meet friend.
Great. Now let’s add some bay leaf to our soup for more incredible flavor.
Now it’s time to simmer this magic pot of soup.
15 minutes will do, so enough time for the dishes and a little dance.
As if I’m the only person singing and dancing over a sink of dirty dishes.
Now all that’s left to do is blending…
… until the soup is nice and smooth.
Now is the point where you’ll need to try the soup and decide if you want to add cream or not.
It’s absolutely up to you. IF you add cream, warm the soup gently for 2-3 minutes with the cream stirred in, but don’t boil it.
Either way, serve the soup hot and steamy from the pot.
With some crusty bread on the side. That’s a cliché, but also a must.
Too late for pumpkin. Tsk. Clearly those people have never eaten pumpkin soup.
Watch the easy pumpkin soup recipe video:
Print the easy pumpkin soup recipe:
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 medium onion, roughly diced
- 1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 small sweet potato, peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 pounds pumpkin, peeled and deseeded, roughly chopped
- 5 cups water OR chicken stock
- 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg, or less if you're not a huge fan
- Salt + pepper, to taste
- 1 bay leaf
- Cream, to taste (optional)
Instructions
- Sauté the vegetables: Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, sweet potato and pumpkin and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Season the soup: Season with brown sugar, nutmeg, cumin, ginger, salt and pepper. Roast the vegetables for another 3-4 minutes, stirring from time to time, until they are starting to soften and brown.
- Cook the soup: Pour the chicken stock over the vegetables. Add the bay leaf and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.
- Blend the soup: Take the pot off the heat and blend the soup until smooth. I like to use a stick blender when I'm short on time, but you can use a regular blender according to your manufacturer's instructions for hot liquids.
- Finish the soup: Add the soup back over medium heat and heat through. Stir in cream to thin to your desired consistency, if desired. Warm for 2-3 minutes, then serve hot.
Nutrition (this is an estimate)
P.S: If you didn’t use your entire pumpkin, you might want to chop up the rest, throw it on a sheet pan and roast it until soft. Then blend it and make these muffins – you won’t regret it.