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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
This was my first taste of pumpkin, and I have to say I’m glad I tried this recipe it is lovely and has now totally converted me and my friends to pumpkin
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I modified this slightly and must say, this may be one of the best soups I’ve ever prepared. As a vegan, I had to modify the dairy ingredients in this recipe, without losing the creamy texture that heavy cream offers. I opted to use two scoops of unflavored protein tossed into my vitamix with the veggie broth. I used fresh ginger, which really makes this soup catch your attention, but not too much. With the cumin, garlic, curry, and cinnamon, the end result was glorious!
I used fresh pumpkin and roasted the seeds inside to use as garnish. I can’t report if others liked this soup as I have no intention of sharing! Do not underestimate the quality of this simply-looking soup. You would pay top dollar for this soup in any fine restaurant.
Thank you for sharing this recipe as I would never have thought to combine these ingredients. Well done!
Hi! Was thinking about converting this to vegan. Would you mind sharing with me what you used instead of the heavy cream?
I used this recipe in my soup maker (Without bay leaves) and it was so delicious that I have frozen purée to have this soup throughout the year. It is my absolute favourite.
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Great recipe. Instead of pureeing the pumpkin before I add it, I use a stick blender in the whole pot before serving (remove the bay leaves first).
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This is good, but since the 2006 recipe is one of my favorites, with a couple tweaks, I’ll be going back to using that!