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.
Hi, Kate: I made your “Creamy Roasted Pumpkin Soup” using canned pumpkin. The soup was delicious – I didn’t have any heavy cream but I did have whipping cream on hand – so yummy! You recommended using two or three cans of pumpkin – what size of can? I used two cans – each was 796 ml. (26.9 oz.) and I ended up with a large pot of soup, way more than I think that you intended. I increased the cream to 3/4 cup, probably should have increased some of the other ingredients also but it turned out great – lots of containers of pumpkin soup are now in the freezer! Thanks, Heather (Canada)
Hi! Two cans which is typically 14-15 oz. I’m glad you enjoyed it, Heather.
I made this last night for my wife. She said it was one of the best recipes for soup ever. She asked where I could get more sweet baby pumpkins to store in our wine cellar so she could ask for me to make it again. Thank you so very much.
That’s wonderful to hear! I’m so happy she loved it. Thank you for your review, Michael.
This was delicious! I have made other pumpkin soups and was disappointed. Your recipe is a keeper. I did modify a bit based of what I had in the house. I used 2# of fresh pumpkin puree and 1 cup of chicken stock. I did not blend the soup at the end because I liked the consistency of the onion and garlic bits (I had minced them). I used heavy cream, but will look forward to trying this again with coconut milk. Thanks!!
Thank you for sharing what you did differently, Summer! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Delicious! We loved it. I’m such a big fan. I wish it were easy to order your cookbook where I am. I can’t justify getting the Kindle version and missing out on all the lovely photos. But I will get it next time I’m abroad. Keep up the good work Kate! :)
I’m glad you loved it! I’m sorry it’s hard to get my cookbook where you are. Have you checked Indie Bound? It will show you where you may be able to get it locally.
I’m in the Middle East and any Amazon (or other) delivery means paying a ton in customs unfortunately. Next time someone visits from abroad or I go abroad, I will definitely make it a point to get your cookbook. I’ve been a fan for many years now… must be at least five years so can’t pass up the chance to get your cookbook :)
Delicious! No pumpkin, but the recipe worked perfectly with 2 squashes (kobocha and futsu) from my CSA box. The coconut milk made it sweet enough so I didn’t use syrup and even added a pinch of red pepper flakes for more zip.
I loved it! I skipped the syrup because I am Type I diabetic. How much is 1 serving? 2 cups???
Hi! One serving is typically 1.5-2 cups.
Following this recipe was a disaster…. Pumpkins are not in season so I had to use canned. The recipe fails to state if it is referring to 8oz or 15oz cans (hint: its 8oz). How big is a large onion? How big is a large/medium clove of garlic? Would have been easier to follow if it was in cups/tsps./tbsps. and not switching between eyeball measures and actual measure. Ended up tasting HORRIBLE. Far too much garlic and onion even with my pumpkin screw up. We managed to salvage it to a edible quality at best using our own knowledge of flavours.
Hi Sam, I’m sorry you were disappointed in the recipe result and how the recipe is written. It is much better with fresh pumpkin as the recipe is designed. You needed 15oz cans as that is the standard of pumpkin in the US. The other ingredients listed is also the standard to present them. I try to be as descriptive and prescriptive as I can with the standard of measurements to ensure a consistent result. I’m sorry you didn’t love it.
I just finished eating a bowl of soup. I added 1 apple but I think I could have used none or less. I didnt use maple syrup but did use can of coconut milk. Between that and the apple was a little to sweet. Im going to adjust a little, but thank you great recipe. Roasted the pumkin 35 mins was fine for mine
the recipe was really good!! it tasted great thanks for this.
You’re welcome! I’m happy you enjoyed it.
almost forgot to ask. how much is a serving? like how many cups of the soup? or grams if that’s how you measure it.
Hi roughly 1.5-2 cups.
Hey there!
Loved the consistency however I felt like it was very Indian flavoured!!
Did anyone else get this? Partner is a chef and he couldn’t eat it.
Also roasted smaller bits of pumpkin for say 45 mins
Nic
Hi, I’m sorry to hear you didn’t love it.
This is a wonderful recipe and the taste is sensational.
Delicious! Thank you for the recipe. This is the best pumpkin soup recipe I’ve ever tried. It was creamy and soooo delicious. Yours is the best food blog I’ve come across in a while. 5 stars.
Tonight I am going to try your Broccoli soup recipe.
Tha is so much Kate! It’s a brilliant recipe one I’ll use again. I had a small Japanese home grown pumpkin given to me by a friend. I used everything the same excepting I roasted the onion and garlic and added more fresh garlic to the sauteing step. I didn’t add the cloves as I didn’t have any but added a tablespoon of red Thai curry paste and 1 TSP of curry powder too. It’s delicious! Alot thinner than yours due to the smaller pumpkin and slightly paler but very scrumptious!
Thank you!
Great to hear, Pixie! I’m delighted you enjoyed it.
Hi I’ve made your roasted cauliflower and roasted carrot soups. They were a hit :). Thanks.
I noticed with those two soups you blend 1 – 2 tablespoons of butter. Would a tablespoons or two of butter blended into this soup be nice??
I think butter tends to be a good idea! I haven’t done it with this one, but I would love to hear what you think.
I didn’t have coconut milk or cream so i added a tablespoon of butter and a cup of full fat milk and that worked well.
Next time I’m going to try the spices you use in your carrot soup which are cumin and coriander + curry powder and try it instead of the nutmeg and cinnamon and see how that goes.
Thanks again for your amazing vegie recipes.
The next recipe I
‘m giving a go is your eggplant parmi :) Can’t wait.
Really a wonderful recipe. I have made this multiple times for my family and for friends in need and everyone loves it (and wants the recipe). Highly recommend!!
Thank you, Jeanne! I’m happy to hear it was a hit.
The best pumpkin soup ever. I loved it. Thank you
This soup is awesome on a fall or winter evening. Perfect as written. The sugar pumpkins I grew were small and I have no scale so I guessed. The second time I made I used 4 cups of pumpkin puree I had vaccum sealed in the freezer. This soup was wonderful both times! The spices warmed me up and made my tummy happy
That’s great to hear, Amanda! Thank you for your review.
I found an interesting tweak that I and my friends/fam. really enjoyed. Most of the store bough vege or chicken broths are low salt. So to only slightly increase the saltiness, and it only needs a little, i add 1/4 C of Soy Sauce. It caused a major flavor enhancement and it slightly thickened the texture of the soup. Although before adding Soy Sauce I’d carefully and smaller amounts since they aren’t all alike and the flavor is different in a variety of brands.
Wow Wow & WOW!!!…..I have a recipe that has been passed down through the generations which I always cook which everyone loves.
Today, I hit the google search engine came across you & thought this sounds great and GREAT it was!!
The taste was sensational with the baking of the pumpkin and I also threw the garlic in the oven, then the nutmeg and cinnamon really finishes off the flavour!!
Thank you so much Kate… the old recipe is now gone with this to be our new pass me down recipe!!! Thanks so much!!
Regards… Jenny
Thank you for sharing, Jenny! I’m delighted you enjoyed it.
Delicious. I used light coconut milk and honey. Used a kent pumpkin ( Australia) and needed to bake pumpkin for extra 15mins, otherwise followed exactly. Love the hint of heat, spice and use of coconut milk instead of my usual sour cream. Will be adding to my recipe collection. Thank you
I was so glad to come across this recipe because earlier today I baked some onion foccacia bread in a wood oven that was fuelled with coconut shells, third batch came out perfect with two variations of the foccacia on purpose; one was thick, soft and fluffy, whilst the other was crunchy of biscotti type. Hehe.
THEREFORE, Pumpkin soup made with coconut milk and baked pumpkins came across my mind to make, your amazing recipe Kate gave me the guideline to follow, only I put 1.1kg of baked ‘asian’ pumpkins, 550gm (2 cups) of fresh thick coconut milk, 2.5 cups of fresh vegetable broth, did not have fresh onions so added fried onions into the broth, that I believe gave an extra ‘zing’.
It’s 2am in the morning and the amazing aroma woke up one of my my kids, of which she sleepily said I want soup and “biscotti” for breakfast.. Hehe..
Thanks KATE for the inspiration.. God bless..
I loved loved loved this recipe and its a favourite amongst friends! Everyone wants the recipe. This is also my go-to-recipe when making a meal for a friend in need!
I’m glad it’s a favorite for you, Jeanne! Thank you for taking the time to review.
Made this soup out of a 1/4 can of leftover pumpkin that was kicking around in the freezer for too long. Reduced all ingredients proportionately. It was lovely, and a wonderful healing food for my daughter’s c-section recovery.
This was delicious! Thank you. I have been searching for a ,ore flavoursome pumpkin soup – my search was literally “epic pumpkin soup recipe” and this is what came up. I had a mare last time I blended soup, so left it chunky and it was all good! I used 1 TBSP Maple, it was sweet enough without but was trying to appeal to the kids tastebuds. And cream. My 5yo asked for more! Will be making this again for sure. Thanks again
You’re welcome! I’m glad this was a hit with everyone in your family, Dani.
Lovely simple recipe!
I prefer to use coconut oil to keep the coconut theme going.
And I roast my garlic together with the pumpkin! Can’t get enough roasted flavour :).
Delish!
Thank you for your review, Ruth!
I found your recipe last year and absolutely LOVED it! I am beyond ecstatic to use it again this fall! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe. I can’t give it enough praise!!!
Great to hear! Thank you for your review, Carissa.
This soup was delicious! I only made substitutions based on what I had on hand. I used a butternut squash, agave nectar for sweetening, omitted the salt (broth is salty enough for me), and then caramelized the onion instead of only cooking until translucent. My immersion blender worked beautifully to make it smooth and creamy, but I have a pretty powerful one.
I will definitely be making this soup again, and even gave it to my brother. Next time I think I’m going to make some roasted sweet and spicy pecans to top it with.
Thank you for sharing! I’m glad you were able to get creative, Paula.
Dearest Kate,
This receipt is the best pumpkin soup i have not only ever made but ever eaten… Ohhh mmmmy it’s great!!
It’s now totally my go to receipt.
Thank you for sharing it with the world… So much gratitude to you for this wonderful tasty recipe..
Much love and appreciation…
Amanda xxx
Sydney, Australia
Quick question – is this 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves? I didn’t see any mention of fishing them out before blending the soup.
Hi! It’s ground cloves. Sorry to be confusing!
Followed the directions exactly as written. Soup was DELICIOUS! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
You’re welcome, Kathy!
Just made this and it came out perfect. I could only find a 6lb pumpkin and I was in a rush so I chopped into 12 wedges took out the seeds and roasted 30 mins. Delicious! Will def make again.
Great to hear, Vanessa! I appreciate your review.
cant we boil the pumpkin directly?
Hi Dimple, I’m not quite sure I understand. Are you asking about cooking the pumpkin?
We made this tonight. It was absolutely delicious! The cayenne pepper added a slight kick that really made the soup. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
You’re welcome, Wendy! I appreciate your review.
Made this tonight and yum!!! I did add a pinch of curry but the cinnamon was the star. Huge hit, kiddo is already asking for me to make it again!!
That’s great to hear, Lisa! Thank you for your review.
Love it! So tasty
Thank you for sharing, Christa! I appreciate your review.
This looks good so I will try it. The best way to get pumpkin puree is to roast the pumpkin until done, squeeze out as much juice as you can, cook the juice down until its greatly reduced and thick and then add it too the puree. This save a lot of time cooking to get the pulp to the dry stage and it really takes the flavour to another level. If you want it really smooth just boat motor it.
I made this tonight to go with our fancy grilled cheese (apple/apple butter/cheddar) and it was delicious! I didn’t use the maple syrup; our pumpkin was pretty sweet. Will make again, for sure!
Made this soup tonight and my husband and I loved it. Thank you for sharing.
You’re welcome, Mary! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Whole cloves or ground?
Ground! I hope you love it.
I don’t have a sugar pumpkin, but I do have homemade pumpkin puree from a sugar pumpkin. I can’t seem to find them anymore. I want to make this, but can I use my own puree and if so how much?
Hi Danielle, See the note on using canned pumpkin. That will help guide you. It’s below the recipe instructions.
OMG I think this is my new favorite pumpkin soup recipe, possibly favorite soup, possibly favorite winter comfort food! SO SO GOOD, wish I can recommend to everyone. I used carving pumpkins, omitted the maple syrup and cayenne, and it came tasting like if cosy and soup had a baby. Love love love!
Wonderful to hear, Adiel! Thank you for your review.
I made this soup yesterday, exactly following the recipe (with 4lbs of roasted carving pumpkin that was perfectly cooked after 45 mins, coconut milk and maple syrup). It looks exactly like the images in your article. I tasted it after pureeing, however, and found it rather bland. But I needed it for today, when I was expecting a friend with whose tastes I am not very familiar, so I made no modifications and hoped that flavour might develop overnight. I’m afraid I still found it disappointing. I supplied cream, grated cinnamon, maple syrup, pine nuts and cilantro plus salt and pepper grinders and let diners choose their own additions! For my taste, the salt was a necessity. The texture was great, a swirl of cream and some pine nuts added interest but the flavour simply wasn’t there. Will definitely experiment with the leftovers. The suggested addition of curry powder sounds like an interesting idea! And the recipe was clearly presented and easy to follow. Thanks!
Didn’t use maple syrup but added a bit of roasted butternut & used Rice milk instead of coconut cream. It tastes real good. Thanks for sharing the recipe
I used 1.5 6” pie pumpkins to get 4lb or 1.7kg. They took more like an hour to soften up but I wasn’t in a rush. Looking forward to a great soup dinner before the ghouls and goblins come knocking this evening.
This was the first time that I ever made pumpkin soup and wow, did this turn out great! Delicious. I followed the recipe exactly.
Thanks so much.
You’re welcome, Deborah!
This is a very very bland soup. I even put some chicken stock, extra garlic and onions to liven it up. Pretty tasteless. Would not make again
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it. Thank you for sharing your feedback.
I just made this and it is delicious. I used one roasted pie pumpkin and one can of pumpkin purée.
I am planning on eating half for lunch and freezing the other half for a Thanksgiving side dish. But then again it is so good it might all get eaten today.
That’s a great idea! I’m glad you enjoyed it, Eileen.
Omg, this soup is AMAZING!! I was cleaning out the garden for fall and made a couple of small pumpkins into this recipe.The seasonings are soooooooo perfectly tastylicious!! I also happened to make a batch of pesto that day with basil from the garden… next day we had butternut ravioli, and I mixed some of the leftover soup with the pesto and mama mia — it was also a super sauce! Highly recommend.
I’m glad you loved it, Sue! Thank you for sharing.