Fall is the perfect season to whip up some of this easy and delicious (and super nutritious!) creamy vegan pumpkin soup! It’s perfect for Halloween or Thanksgiving entertaining but easy enough to make on a weeknight.
We had leftover sugar pumpkins from Halloween this year and decided to use them to make one of our oldest recipes, this creamy pumpkin soup. It’s a simple recipe that can be adapted in so many ways depending on how you want to use it.
We created this recipe in my mom’s kitchen, when we first started C&J Nutrition (10 years ago!) and were using her kitchen table as our office/desks. I can remember the making of it like it was yesterday! I hadn’t made it in a number of years and was wondering if it might need some updating or tweaking. It was delicious then and is delicious now. Why mess with a great thing, right?
This pumpkin soup has a hint of cumin, cinnamon, and nutmeg, melding its sweet and savory qualities perfectly. It’s creamy, without cream, and packed with antioxidants like beta carotene and vitamin C. The perfect fall food.
This recipe calls for cooked and pureed or mashed pumpkin, which can be in the form of fresh or canned pumpkin. If you plan to use fresh, here’s the how-to for roasting the pumpkin:
- Use a sugar or pie pumpkin (they are the smaller variety at about 2 1/2 – 3 1/2 pounds), which has sweeter, creamier, more flavorful flesh compared to larger carving pumpkins that typically have watery, stringy, flesh.
- Using a sharpened knife, cut the stem end off of the pumpkin. Then cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds.
- Cut the pumpkin into thick slices, about 2-inches thick (you’ll get 3-4 slices out of each 1/2 of pumpkin.)
- Brush the flesh with about 1 teaspoon olive oil.
- Roast the pumpkin slices on a baking sheet, skin side down, at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until the flesh is tender and the skin is a deep orange color.
- Let the pumpkin cool, then scrape the flesh from the skin using a spoon–– it should come right off.
- Puree the pumpkin in a blender or food processor, or mash well with a fork.
- One sugar pumpkin should make approximately 2 cups mashed pumpkin, possible slightly less. If you have a pumpkin on the smaller side, it’s best to make 2, to ensure you’ll have enough pumpkin for the soup.
Note, if it’s not pumpkin season, or you simply don’t have one, substitute an equal amount of cooked butternut squash.
Once you’ve got your roasted pumpkin, you’re ready to make soup! Here’s the recipe:
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 6 | 5 minutes |
| Cook Time | Passive Time |
| 30 minutes | 15 minutes |
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This creamy vegan pumpkin soup is rich in antioxidants like beta carotene and vitamin C. It's easy enough to make for lunch or dinner anytime, but also perfect for holidays and entertaining. Garnish it with toasted pumpkin seeds and fried sage leaves for a pretty presentation. Plus, it's a great option for vegan and vegetarian guests.
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- 1 tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 large Yellow onion chopped
- 3 medium stalks celery chopped
- 2 medium Carrots chopped
- 1 large leek chopped
- 2 cups Pureed cooked pumpkin canned or cooked from fresh
- 6 cups low sodium vegetable broth
- 1/2 teaspoon Ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- Pinch ground clove
- 1 cup Unsweetened soy milk or 1% milk
- Heat olive oil in a large stock pot. Saute garlic, onion, celery, carrot, and leek until they begin to soften, about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add pumpkin, stock, cumin, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and clove. Stir to combine. Bring soup to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Remove from heat and let cool for 15 minutes.
- Puree soup in blender (or, use a hand blender and puree in the stock pot -- it's much easier and less messy). Return soup to pot. Stir in the soy milk and season with additional spices to taste.
- Top with toasted pepitas and pinch of fresh or dried sage leaves, chopped.
Nutrition Facts (per serving, about 1 1/2 cups)
CALORIES: 92, PROTEIN: 5.2g, FAT: 0.5g fat (0.2g saturated, CARBOHYDRATE: 18g, FIBER: 4g, SODIUM:120mg, CALCIUM:111mg
Want to impress your dinner guests? Serve this soup in a hollowed out pumpkin. You can use small sugar pumpkins for individual bowls or a larger pumpkin as a serving dish.
Make it a full meal by adding white beans and baby spinach leaves and you've got a nutritionally balanced dinner.
Don't have pumpkin? Use butternut squash instead!