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Ah, fall, a perfect time for a spicy pumpkin soup! This soup comes together quickly, and has warm notes of ginger, curry, cumin, coriander, and black pepper. Great flavor additions that enhance not detract from the pumpkin.
What gives the soup its heat? Not chili this time, but some freshly minced ginger. I love the zing ginger brings to the soup. (If it’s too much for you, just scale back.)
This recipe is a major upgrade from a soup we posted in 2006. I was never quite satisfied with that soup. This one nails it. If you liked the original, I think you’ll love the new and improved version! (BTW, you can still find the original on the Internet Archive here.
Spicy Pumpkin Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 cups roughly chopped yellow onion
- 2 cloves garlic, minced (about 2 teaspoons)
- 2 teaspoons minced, peeled fresh ginger
- 1 1/2 teaspoons yellow curry powder
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- Small pinch of cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon of kosher salt plus more to taste
- 4 cups low sodium chicken stock (or vegetable broth for vegetarian option)
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 (15 oz) cans 100 percent pumpkin or 3 1/2 cups of chopped roasted pumpkin purée*
- 1 cup water
- 3 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- Yogurt (for garnish)
- Toasted pumpkin seeds (for garnish)
*To make pumpkin purée, cut a sugar pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff, lay face down on a tin-foil lined baking pan. Bake at 350°F until soft, about 45 min to an hour. Cool, scoop out the flesh. Purée in food processor. Freeze whatever you don't use for future use.
Method
1 Sauté onions in butter, add garlic, ginger, spices: Melt butter in a large (5 to 6 quart), thick-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until softened, about 5 to 6 minutes.
Add the minced garlic and ginger, cook another minute.
Add the curry powder, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, and salt. Cook for another 2 minutes.
2 Add stock, bay leaves, and pumpkin purée: Add the chicken stock and the bay leaves. Add the pumpkin purée and the water. Stir to combine. If the soup is too thick for your taste, add more stock or water to thin it.
Increase heat to high. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
3 Purée soup: Remove bay leaves. Use an immersion blender to purée the soup.
4 Stir in cream: Right before serving, stir in the cream. Add black pepper and adjust seasonings to taste. Add more salt if necessary.
Drizzle with plain yogurt that has been thinned with a little water and sprinkle with toasted pumpkin seeds to serve.
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Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.
Spicy Pumpkin Soup
it seems that one can use coconut oil & coconut milk instead. that would be for more like Thai chilly. cheers,
xxxxxyyyyy
ps. i also skipped the pumpkin seeds. (don’t want to wait in line in grocery)
happy new year
xxxxxyyyyy
tastes great also easy & quick (my type of cooking ! XD)
i used the “Thai hot curry powder” (got it in an oriental market). it’s spicier than those most groceries.
i used crème fraîche instead tho cause i happened to make some & i ran out of yogurt & did not want to wait in-line (there were > 30 people yesterday outside of a grocery due to our county’s restriction :-()
cheers,
xxxxxyyyyy
It’s a great recipe to start, I often enhance recipes to suit my taste and I think that’s what cooking is all about, no? As I roasted my pumpkin I didn’t have the bright colour so I added saffron to colour it and saffron is a great segue to a scoop of rice to accompany and tone down spicy. Adding a spicy garnish such as fresh chilli paste can satisfy the spicy palate out there, no need to downgrade a great recipe. Thanks so much for sharing, I’d love to send a pic of my creation
xxxxxyyyyy
Hi Elizabeth, glad you liked the recipe! Your tweaks sound delicious. We love seeing photos of what you make. Right now the best way to share those photos with us is to post them on Facebook or Instagram and tag us @SimplyRecipes. Other readers like you ask about sharing photos in recipe comments, so we’re keeping this in mind for any future improvements to the site.
Have made this soup at least 10 times. I add more spices than recommended and 2 potatoes to thicken it better. I add low fat cream, about 100 ml. I have a recipe for spiced mini balls that we have with it. My go-to pumpkin soup. Thank you.
xxxxxyyyyy