Creamy Roasted Pumpkin Soup
This pumpkin soup recipe is creamy AND healthy! It calls for roasted pumpkin for maximum flavor. This pumpkin soup is great with sandwiches and salads!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 5, 2024
Meet my favorite pumpkin soup recipe. It’s super creamy (thanks mostly to the pumpkin, with a little help from coconut milk or cream) yet plenty healthy, too. It’s gently spiced, but I made sure that the pumpkin flavor shines above the rest.
This dairy-free pumpkin soup would be a welcome addition to your holiday table. It would be equally at home with a soup or sandwich from fall through winter.
It’s easy to make and the leftovers taste even better the next day. So, you could certainly make the soup a day in advance. Don’t be intimidated by the ingredient list—this soup only requires basic pantry ingredients!
This soup was inspired by my recent trip to Portland. While I was there, I went to lunch with my baby brother and our friend Bill. I’ve written about Bill over the years—in summary, Bill beat leukemia with the help of my stem cells. He’s the toughest guy I know.
Now we’re friends who share the same immune system and we finally got to meet a few weeks ago. (You can join the registry here.)
We shared lunch and an afternoon at Multnomah Falls. It was a damp, gray fall day in the Pacific Northwest and it was perfect.
Bill picked The Picnic House for lunch. You really have to go next time you’re in Portland. “Unique” doesn’t begin to describe it—the restaurant feels like an old school theater inside, with different scenes set up in every corner and amazing food everywhere the eye can see.
I was tempted to order every item on the menu, but after much deliberation, I finally settled on a small soup, salad and sandwich. I might just have to recreate all three of them for the blog (so good), but homemade pumpkin soup seemed most timely.
I can’t say that my version is exactly the same, but it is equally satisfying and fresh. It’s utterly delicious in its own right.
Pumpkin Options
This pumpkin soup recipe includes instructions on how to roast fresh pumpkin, for maximum pumpkin flavor. Canned pumpkin purée also works well, if you’re in a time crunch. See the recipe notes for details!
Please let me know how this recipe turns out for you in the comments. I’m always so eager for your feedback. If you’re craving more cozy fall soups, don’t miss my butternut soup, lentil soup or minestrone.
Watch How to Make Pumpkin Soup
Creamy Roasted Pumpkin Soup
This pumpkin soup recipe is creamy AND healthy! It calls for roasted pumpkin for maximum flavor. This roasted pumpkin soup recipe would look lovely on your holiday dinner table, and leftovers would go great with sandwiches or salads the next day. Recipe yields 4 bowls or 6 cups of soup.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- One 4-pound sugar pie pumpkin
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 4 large or 6 medium garlic cloves, pressed or minced
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon cloves
- Tiny dash of cayenne pepper (optional, if you like spice)
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 4 cups (32 ounces) vegetable broth
- ½ cup full fat coconut milk or heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
- ¼ cup pepitas (green pumpkin seeds)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper for easy cleanup. Carefully halve the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds (you can roast the seeds if you’d like—see note—but you won’t need them for this recipe).
- Slice each pumpkin halve in half to make quarters. Brush or rub 1 tablespoon olive oil over the flesh of the pumpkin and place the quarters, cut sides down, onto the baking sheet. Roast for 35 minutes or longer, until the orange flesh is easily pierced through with a fork. Set it aside to cool for a few minutes.
- Heat the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add onion, garlic and salt to the skillet. Stir to combine. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is translucent, about 8 to 10 minutes. In the meantime, peel the pumpkin skin off the pumpkins and discard the skin.
- Add the pumpkin flesh, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cayenne pepper (if using), and a few twists of freshly ground black pepper. Use your stirring spoon to break up the pumpkin a bit. Pour in the broth. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, to give the flavors time to meld.
- While the soup is cooking, toast the pepitas in a medium skillet over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until fragrant, golden and making little popping noises. You want them to be nice and toasty, but not burnt. Transfer pepitas to a bowl to cool.
- Once the pumpkin mixture is done cooking, stir in the coconut milk and maple syrup. Remove the soup from heat and let it cool slightly. You can use an immersion blender to blend this soup in the pot. I prefer to use my stand blender, which yields the creamiest results—working in batches, transfer the contents of the pan to a blender (do not fill your blender past the maximum fill line!). Securely fasten the blender’s lid and use a kitchen towel to protect your hand from steam escaping from the top of the blender as you purée the mixture until smooth. Transfer the puréed soup to a serving bowl and repeat with the remaining batches.
- Taste and adjust if necessary (I thought the soup was just right as is, but you might want to add more coconut milk for extra creaminess/milder flavor, or maple syrup to make it a little sweeter).
- Ladle the soup into individual bowls. Sprinkle pepitas over the soup and serve. Let leftover soup cool completely before transferring it to a proper storage container and refrigerating it for up to 4 days (leftovers taste even better the next day!). Or, freeze this soup for up to 3 months.
Notes
Soup inspired by the pumpkin soup at The Picnic House in Portland and roughly adapted from my curried butternut soup.
Make it dairy free: Use coconut milk, not heavy cream.
Make it vegan: Use coconut milk and maple syrup.
Change it up: Kabocha squash works instead of pumpkin, and I bet butternut squash would work well, too.
If you want to use canned pumpkin: Instead of roasting the pumpkin, you can substitute two to three cans of pumpkin purée (15 ounces each). Just skip steps 1 and 2, and add two cans of pumpkin purée in step 4. You’ll still want to blend the soup for the best texture; add more pumpkin purée at that point if you’d like thicker soup.
How to roast pumpkin seeds: Pick off all the flesh bits from the seeds and discard them. I like to do this in a colander under running water. Pat the seeds dry with a tea towel or paper towels. Toss the seeds with a little olive oil, a sprinkle of salt and any other seasonings that sound good (I tossed my pumpkin seeds with 1 teaspoon brown sugar and ½ teaspoon curry powder). Toss to coat. Line a small, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and arrange the pumpkin seeds in a single layer. Roast for 13 to 16 minutes, until the seeds are fragrant and toasty.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Lovely recipe! For my taste buds it was a teeny bit sweet, so next time i make it i will just leave the maple syrup out, but overall it was creamy and delicious and a nice easy to follow recipe :)
Feel free to adjust to your liking! Thanks for the review, Amanda.
Great recipe! We had this with the ‘Mega crunchy romaine salad with quinoa’ (recipe: https://capital-fly.pro/mega-crunchy-romaine-salad-recipe/%3C/a%3E%29%3C/p%3E
I’m visiting my boyfriend who just moved into our new place. I have to stay in our old place another couple of months with all of our stuff… long story short, we realized too late that we didn’t have our blender, food processor, nutribullet or anything that would work to blend this soup. Needless to say it was a rather chunky version, and yet it was still DELICIOUS!! We both went for seconds.
I’m happy it still worked, Kiirsit! Thanks for your review.
I just made this recipe but I didn’t have veggie broth, so I used water and I didn’t have coconut milk, so I used hemp milk. It turned out really good! I’ve got a cold and it’s raining, so I didn’t want to go to the store. This was perfect for soothing my sore throat!
Hemp milk, interesting! Thanks for your review, Sally.
Of all the alternative milks, I believe hemp is the best – always creamy, and super nutritious! Thanks for the great recipe!
Made this with 2 cans of canned pumpkin–easy and yummy. My husband enjoyed it too, but I have to figure out which spice didn’t appeal to my 2 and 4 year olds … maybe the cloves.
I’m glad you were able to enjoy it! Kids are picky!
Lovely recipe. After simmering, did a taste test and decided it was sweet enough, so I left out the maple syrup and used light evaporated milk instead of coconut milk, and added more cayenne, as I like it spicy. Thanks!
Thank you for sharing, Dee!
Made this and delicious, would make again as it was so easy and affordable. Interesting to see in reviews what alternative ingredients at hand were used, so a very versatile recipe and still robust soup this is
Made the soup today.. i skipped the vegetable broth as I didn’t have any but it turned out really yummy! Thanks for the easy and lovely recipe.
Thanks for letting me know you still liked it!
Most pumpkins soup isn’t full bodied or sweet enough for me. I put in coconut cream and used honey instead of the maple syrup and it was perfect. So yummy. My husband who doesn’t like pumpkin soup tried it and was very impressed. This is a keeper for me thanks!!
Thanks for sharing, Betty!
Could you please provide the approximate number of cups of pumpkin purée. I have a pumpkin that’s larger than 4 lbs, and can sizes vary too.
Thanks.
Hi Nancy! Please see my note as I don’t have the number of cups. I wish I had more precise measurement for you.
I made this soup for a group of friends. One whom is Vegan. Everyone absolutely love it and everyone asked for the recipe.
This is the best pumpkin soup I have every eaten!!!
I love to hear that, Jodie!
Amazing!! Thank you so much form NZ! My family never like bland pumpkin soup, but love pumpkin roasted and this was a winner:)) Pretty much followed the full recipe, used a homegrown pumpkin, organic coconut cream/milk, and didn’t need the real maple. Beautiful! Thank you from all of us! We are making this in bulk now to give away:)
You’re welcome, Jacqui!
Lovely recipe!! I made a half batch and it will do 2 of us 2 nights (adding crispy bacon tomorrow ). I did not use the cream or sweeteners and used chicken stock, needed extra boiling water to thin. The pumpkin flavour is gorgeous!! Thank you.
Thank you for sharing, Sharon. I appreciate your review!
I have two acorn squashes that I need to use. Do you think I can substitute? I’m going to try it, but would love your thoughts!
Sue
How did it go for you?
Dee-licious! I will do it again, for sure. Thanks for a great recipe!
Superb, thank you. This is going into my favorites recipe book!!!
I have made this soup several times and I love it!
Do you think this recipe is crockpot friendly?
I’m not the biggest fan of pumpkin soup but this recipe has changed that. It’s so warming and creamy and flavoursome. Will be recommending to all my friends.
Absolutely delicious! I wasn’t sure about the color until I mixed in the cream but all looked right after that. The soup is rich, flavorful, and filling. I’m far from a pro in the kitchen, but this recipe is easy to follow and doesn’t have too many ingredients = a winner. Thanks!
I’m happy this one was clear for you to follow! I appreciate your feedback, Elisia!
OMG Between this soup and the lentil
Soup (in which I totally blended the whole thing lol) I am in love!!!!! Will be making the butternut squash soup next week!!!
Amazing!!
PS. I never leave reviews… I am the Símon when it comes to it!!!
Great job
Cheers,
a big fan
Thank you, Mandisa!
Thank you. Lovely.
You are super
Made this today. Perfect! Myself, the wife and our daughter loved it. Thanks! Will try lentil soup tomorrow!
I would like to try this, with canned pumpkin. When you say 2 or 3 cans, do you mean the big cans, or the 15 oz cans?
Hi Candida! 15 oz cans.
I made it and it was delicious! I will be making this again but next time I’ll try canned pumpkin instead of baking a fresh one. Thank you for the great recipes!
You’re welcome, Valerie.
Made this lovely soup today and loved it. I had half and half on hand so used that instead. Also, I often don’t blend soups and prefer a more chunky texture which also worked well. Thank you for sharing.
A great soup this time of year! Thanks for sharing, Juleeanna.
One of my all time favourite recipes! Making this once a week now that it is starting to get colder over here in Europe. Always a winner!
I love that, Lisa!
Totally YUM!!! The blender made it SO creamy. I didnt think anything would beat your Thai sweet potato carrot soup but this is definitley a contender. Thanks for all your wonderful recipes. :)
Do you have a recipe for the Thai sweet potato carrot soup? I’ve looked on the website and can’t see it. I made the pumpkin soup yesterday and we love it!
Hi Cara! Are you looking or my creamy Thai carrot sweet potato soup? Or my creamy carrot soup?
This was so delicious, and roasting the pumpkin made it so easy! Only used about 1/4 cup of maple syrup and it was plenty sweet. A dusting of cayenne pepper gave it just the right kick of heat. Thank you for another winning C+K recipe that will get added to our regular rotation!
Great to hear, Lindsey!
Delicious! I used a mix of fresh and canned pumpkin, and a whole can of lite coconut milk (since I didn’t want a half can left in the fridge). I love the blended texture! I served it with spinach and swiss quesadillas, which gave a great taste contrast with the sweet soup. Thanks!
I am making this tonight so look forward to it..roasting pumpkin smells wonderful.I realized I don’t have stock so am using water instead. I am curious is stock vital to the recipe. I guess I will find out, but of late am opting for water if I don’t have homemade stock. Are additional spices needed?
You might need to amp-up the flavor of this if you don’t use vegetable broth. It will likely be watery.
Thank you for the recipe for my base line. I canned pumpkin chunks last year so used those in the recipe and added a touch of chili powder!!
This recipe was easy to make and tasted great!!
Creamy recipe! Just like like how it’s done in restaurant. I used coconut milk as i wanted it plant based.
I tasted once before in a restaurant in Poland that it had some hint of ginger. So i added some, and it’s was achieved as well.
We had it for dinner with baguette. Thanks for the recipe.
You’re welcome, Tina! Thanks for your review.
Yummy and so easy. Instead of a sweetener I tossed in a cubed Granny Smith apple. I’ll be making this again!
Thank you for sharing!
This was one of the best soups I have made in months. It is ideal for a fall meal and my family has begged me to include in the meal rotation. Thank you for providing this great recipe!
Harvey Lemelin
Absolutely magnificent!!! I added sweet potato, leek, hot curry paste, just a bit, and topped my bowl with chives… Thank you, it really helped me understand! BTW you may know this already but pumpkin seeds are really good blanched in salted water, drained and allowed to dry in the pot over low heat, or no heat if the bottom is hot enough…
Thank you for sharing your variation!
Loved this soup! Combination of spices and roasting the pumpkin lifted this above other pumpkin soups I have made. Delicious!
What would you recommend to substitute for coconut nut milk or cream. Allergies. Can’t have dairy of coconut milk.
Rice milk?
Somehow above suggested hemp milk. :)
Hi. Wondering approximately how many cups of fresh pumpkin is needed fur this recipe? I have some that is already peeled and chopped into chunks ready to roast. Thanks!
Sorry! I didn’t measure cups. Some used 4 cups of puree and other diced pumpkin that they said worked well. Let me know!
I worked with what I had and didn’t both with measuring. It turned out delicious, thank you!
I stuck with the actual recipe, easy and delicious. My question is, what is a serving size? Recipe states “serves 4” but those must be some big servings as a 4lb pumpkin made quite a bit of soup so I’m interested in an actual serving size. Definitely a keeper. Thank you
Serving size is roughly 1.5-2 cups. I hope this helps!
Loved the soup and thank you for the reply.
You’re welcome!
Excellent recipe :-) I added a half a cup of red lentils for a little bit extra protein and fiber, And a few squirts of Sriracha
:-) came out awesome!
Soup turned out great. Had earthy,fall flavors. I tried it unblended and it was good but when I blended it it was sweeter and better.
What size cans of pumpkin? 29 oz or 14.5?
Looking forward to making this tomorrow.
You will want two 14.5 cans, or 29 oz total if using canned.
The basic recipe is great but I wanted to make s pumpkin soup on a snowy day. I had to leave out the coconut milk and maple syrup because I did have low fat sweetened condensed milk. I added that,1/8 tsp. curry, grated some ginger and voilà..the best soup I ever made.
This is our go to recipe for pumpkin now!! Thank you
It was yummy. A little awful looking until I added the coconut milk and pureed. Then it was presentable and delicious. Thank you!
I’m glad you ended up liking the end result!
Made this for dinner. So delicious.
Yummy recipe! Easy to make. I took the soup to a pot luck and everyone loved it! I grew the pumpkin in my garden so this soup was the perfect way to use it!
Hi Kate! Your recipe calls for “full fat coconut milk or heavy cream,” I’d like a little clarification: Coconut milk or coconut cream? https://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-coconut-m-75446
I’m making your recipe right now and happen to have both in my pantry (recently bought coconut cream for the first time to try whipping for a vegan friend). Thank you!
Loved your recipe! I added fresh ginger and raw cashews and left out the honey. Super hearty!
Just a follow up, I made this pumpkin soup for a pot luck at work. Everyone loved it and there wasn’t a drop left!
I would say that is a hit! Thanks for sharing, Dawn.
Horrible! I followed directions perfectly, roasted the pumpkin and used high quality coconut cream and prized Canadian Maple Syrup. Noone in my entire family ate more than a couple bites. What an AWFUL suggestion. I still cant believe my roommate never ate his bowl! He literally seems to eat every bite of just about everything i make. I made some about a month ago but just winged it and used onion and some oil salt and pepper… that was edible and my first fail in a long time. A total waste time!!! Thumbs DOWN!!
Hi Echo, I’m sorry you didn’t love this recipe. Thanks for sharing your experience. Pureed soups can be a specific taste situation.
Echo is a dipshit
Have made this several times
It turns out perfect
I reduced the qty of maple syrup to my liking
Thanks for sharing
Amazing soup! Make this every year
I’m happy to hear that, Peter.
This the most horrid soup I have ever made. I have been cooking for close to sixty years and I have made wonderful soups. This turned out to be slop. I added curry to try to save it, no luck. What a waste of pumpkin.It is going to to the compost.
I hope to see my comment on your site.
I brought this to a Thanksgiving potluck and everyone loved it. Delicious recipe, thanks!
I loved this recipe! Ever since i discovered it which was 2 or 3 month ago I have made it probably 5 times. I only substitute the coconut milk with full fat cow milk. It is great! Spicy and rich in flavour.
Thanks for sharing, Tanya!
I loved your recipe. I will be making this again for sure!!!