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.
Just made this today. It’s delicious! Thank you!
You’re welcome, Shelley!
Absolutely delicious even if I had to substitute a couple of ingredients for the honey/maple syrup I used light brown sugar and had to switch the the spices for store bought pumpkin spice it still turned out better than i expected
Delicious!! I used a Halloween pumpkin and left out the nutmeg and cinnamon and substituted paprika instead of cayenne pepper.
Can’t wait to make this again every year with Halloween pumpkins
I love this recipe! We were out of onions so I did a shallot instead and omitted the maple syrup and it was amazing! Thank you!
Do you have to quarter before roasting?
Made this recipe for the first time. I used a 4 lb kabocha squash, done roasting at 35 minutes. My first time using kaocha squash. The squash looks like a small pumpkin, has dark orange color, easy to cut into quarters, delicious roasted. Made the soup vegan using coconut milk. Thank you for the recipe options in your notes.
This soup is delicious!! I plan on serving it as a first course at Thanksgiving.
I loved the outcome. also at the time of adding the coconut milk I added some ground (walnut, almond and sunflower seed) it was fabulous. Thanks for the recipe.
This year I bought two large pumpkins for the front porch. One I left uncarved so that I could use the flesh for recipes. I used a regular pumpkin that was probably about 16 pounds and I am wondering if a pumpkin that large is not as sweet as a sugar pie pumpkin. Still, though, this turned out pretty good. I cut up the pumpkin in a lot of segments and roasted all of it to use in multiple recipes. I used enough segments to approximately equal 4 cups and there is a lot leftover to make puree for other uses.
I essentially did all of this as is but I made two additions. Also, instead of cloves, I used allspice. I have whole cloves but was too lazy to grind them up. I also added kale and gnocchi. When the soup was all blended and lightly simmering on the stove, I put some kale on the top to soften up a bit. While that was going, I put 1 pound of gnocchi that had a light coating of EVOO on a sheet pan with parchment paper into an oven that was preheated to 450°F. I usually cook gnocchi this way because I prefer it to be a little crispy. When the gnocchi was ready to come out of the oven, I stirred the kale into the soup and then stirred the gnocchi. I also adjusted the seasoning a bit and added a bit more cinnamon, allspice, cayenne, and some sea salt. I put a sea salt grinder at the table for anyone that wanted more.
Thank you for sharing, Ken. I’m glad you were able to get creative!
Thanks for the information about using a regular size pumpkin. I have 3 of them because friends know I have a horror of food waste. And, they know I will share.
And, the dog likes the roasted pumpkins skin treats!
Love this idea. More like a meal. I am thinking of crisping up the kale with the gnocchi for texture. Can’t wait to try!
I am using a big stringly pumpkin, will it work? If yes, how many cups should I use?
Delicious! I had a delicata squash that I needed to use so I roasted that as well and added it in with the pumpkin and it was scrumptious. I will totally make this soup every fall!
Thanks for this, a great hit with my family. Deceptively simple but spicing and hence the resulting flavour is superb. How do you manage this? Another winner Kate!
Made the soup with squash and sweet potato, Had no pumpkin.
Used almond milk, don’t use milk products. Its delicious..
10 star rating.
Love your newsletters
I had a pumpkin sitting around following Halloween and got a sudden urge to make pumpkin soup. I had all the ingredients minus vegetable soup so I used chicken broth & heavy cream. This is so good. It was my first time ever! I’m feeling mighty accomplished for not being a domestic goddess in the kitchen. Thank you for sharing!
You’re welcome, Wendy! I appreciate you taking the time to review.
I forgot the garlic and substituted the syrup for a spoonful of my homemade jelly jam. Turned out beautifully!
Thank you so very much for the recipe xxx
Great recipe!! Turned out very nice and i really thick it was better than my mum’s!!
I’m glad you hear that, Victor! I appreciate your review.
I made pumpkin soup for the first time in my life and it turned out amazing thanks to this wonderful recipe!
Thank you
You’re welcome, Irem!
I’m roasting 3/4 of my pumpkin right now, but I peeled and cubed and shook the other 1/4 last night in a baggie with olive oil, paprika, salt and garlic powder, and pepper and roasted it for 25 minutes at 425. It went very well with the baked salmon. Tonight’s pumpkin soup, (lucky me, I have all your suggested ingredients) will go with my “nanny fingers”, strips of boneless skinless chicken thighs shaken in s&p and paprika, garlic powder, cumin, ginger and turmeric in my hot air fryer for 10 minutes.
Made this recipe and my skeptical husband was pleasantly surprised with how good it was! It was comforting and delish!! He is even raving about it to others!
I’m happy to hear that, Sheila!
Love this soup! Made it with coconut milk, pie pumpkin and a couple of kobucha squash. Added a small amount of curry powder to the reheat and I think that is a huge win! And allspice instead of cloves, as I had none on hand. I did have some pepitas on hand, and that was a delicious garnish. So would broken up pieces of freshly puffed papadum-for a crunchy finish. Thank you!
I’m glad you loved it, Noelle! Thank you for your review.
When you say 4lb pumpkin do you mean 4lb of flesh? Or 4lb before opening?
Hi! 4lbs weighed prior to roasting I hope that helps.
I just made it on this cold, rainy day here in Greater Pittsburgh using the larger, 29oz can of Libby’s pure pumpkin. Delicious! I look forward to trying out your mujadara recipe next!
Thank you, Kate!!!
Delicious! Perfect for a cold PNW day!
Hi- when you say “Cut side down” – do you mean flesh side down? Thanks
Hi Laurie, yes! I hope you love it.
It is delicious! Thanks for the amazing recipe!
One more tiny question, I used ground cloves, but
the recipe doesn’t specify, is ground cloves intended,
or whole? I assumed since the other spices were ground,
it is intended. :)
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hi! Yes, you want ground cloves.
My first time making puree soup. It’s one of the best soups I’ve ever made. I used half and half for the cream. So good and has a nice kick from the cayenne. I’ll be keeping this recipe in my rolodex of suppers. Thanks!!
Hooray! I’m glad you liked it, Jessica.
Fantastic, everyone loved it!
I did butternut squash, as I couldn’t find any pumpkins, but kept everything else the same. Definitely making this with pumpkin next time they are in season.
That’s great, Rosie! I’m delighted you plan to make this one again.
The soup was good, but the cloves were too strong. I would suggest cutting them in half or eliminating them altogether.
Loved the recipe. I doubled the spices (+ 1/2 teaspoon of cumin) and added a dash of chili powder instead of cayenne. I also added a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to brighten it. At the end, I blended half of the soup for improved texture. The soup was awesome. I always appreciate a great recipe you can alter to personal tastes.
Yet another winner. Very delicious. Had it last night for dinner and this morning for breakfast.
Be sure to top with the toasted pepitas. Made with 2 cans of pumpkin, 1T maple syrup and heavy cream.
Wonderful recipe! I had Pumpkin that I had canned myself and wanted to make a tasty pumpkin soup. This came out lovely! Great flavors! I did add Cumin because my hubby and I are obsessed with Cumin our soups
I appreciate your review, Jacqueline!
So delicious! Made with canned pumpkin and half & half. Came out so good! Perfect for a sleety/snowy day in New Hampshire. Excited for the leftovers!
I hope you love the leftovers, too! Thank you for your review, Megan.
I just steamed my pumpkin rather than baking it and it turned out very delicious and creamy. Definitely recommend this recipe to anyone who would like pumpkin soup. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe with us.
The soup was tasty and easy. Thank you so much.
You’re welcome, Diane!
I wanted to make this with coconut milk, but my wife isn’t really into the coconut taste, so I used cream. Still tasted fantastic. My wife’s comment: “I can’t believe you can cook like this!” Thanks for the great recipe.
I made this recipe from a fall pumpkin on my front porch. This pumpkin soup was delicious and is a keeper. My family loved it, can’t wait for it to get cooler in Florida, so we can have the rest of the leftovers!So happy I found your website.
I’ve made this soup several times now.
I don’t like garlic or cloves so leave them out and add a pinch of 5spice and turmeric to make it warming instead.
Absolutely love it. Introduced it to few of my friends and they now make it too.
Have tried making it with both kabocha and sugar pumpkin, it’s great either way.
I keep bees so use my own honey.
Thank you for a great recipe.
Thank you for sharing, Sarah!
Made this recently using a large (not carved) halloween pumpkin and it worked very well and made a double batch.
That’s great! Thank you for your review.
Going to make this pumpkin soup tomorrow… I roasted the last of our white princess Halloween pumpkins for dinner tonight which turned out sooo delicious, and using the leftovers for this! Can’t wait!
Thank you!
Perfection!!! I made this while being shut in during a snowstorm and it was absolutely wonderful…. I added some garam masala also and Vidalia and Shallots … the maple syrup makes it shine with the after notes and taste…. everyone loved it too!!
I’m glad it was just what you were looking for! I appreciate your review.
I am afraid I won’t like sweet flavored soups, so I added a teaspoon of thyme, a dash of smoked papkrika, a little coriander, and some black pepper. I used the coconut milk. It was a really nice soup and very easy since I didn’t bother to blend it, but munched on the finely chopped onions.
I made used this recipe last night and it’s probably the best pumpkin soup I’ve ever made. Thank you Kate :) I added 1/2 tsp smoked paprika because I like the flavour it bring
I always get compliments when I make this! I substitute flax milk for the coconut and it works very well.
I made this delicious soup today! It is fantastic!
Delicious and healthy. We did not add any cream (coconut, dairy) and loved the rich flavour of the pumpkin blended with spice.
This soup was delicious. Pumpkin soup is very popular here in NZ and I have made many and this was up there with the best. I added sour cream as we don’t like food too rich. I am always happy to refer to your recipes for inspiration. Thank you
Never using another recipe for pumpkin soup anymore, this soup is so tasty! My toddlers liked it, my ‘soups are not cool’ teenager liked it, overall winner. I used butternut squash, off-season but available in the Netherlands.
Hooray! I love to hear that. Thank you for taking the time, Mandy.
Followed recipe except I didn’t have any cloves. It was delicious. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Marian!
Great recipe. I did slightly alter it though.
I didn’t use the coconut cream/ heavy cream, or the maple syrup/ honey, or the pepita seeds.
I used butternut pumpkin (I live in Australia) and also baby microwaveable potatoes to help thicken it up.
Instead of baking/ roasting the pumpkin in the oven, I peeled the pumpkin and cut it up into smaller pieces before transferring it to a big deep hot pan with vegetable oil and frying it to caramelise it, along with the potatoes, onion, garlic and spices. I think cooking it for a few minutes in oil adds a bit of sweetness by caramelising the pumpkin.
Then I put the vegetable stock/ broth in and let it simmer for half an hour or so and then used a stick mixer (immersion blender) to mix it all up to soup consistency.
I served each bowl of pumpkin soup with a dollop of sour cream and some cracked pepper. Maybe next time I’ll be adventurous and add the maple syrup, and pepita seeds etc.
I think one of the ‘tricks’ to this recipe is to not overdo it with the spices. I found adding just the suggested amount really enhances the flavour while letting the pumpkin be the hero of this dish.
Thank you for sharing how you made it, Cameron!
Great recipe! I’m in Australia so couldn’t get the type of pumpkin you used, but used a combo of butternut and jap pumpkin and amped up the sweet spices a bit with a really good quality aged maple syrup. It’s delicious!
Great to hear it worked with what you had on hand! I appreciate your review.
This recipe looks amazing! I’m eager to try it out although I can’t find sugar pie pumpkin where I’m from, could I use a crown pumpkin for this instead?
Hi Alexa, I haven’t tried it. But it may work! Let me know what you think.
This was a hit, thanks for the recipe.
You’re welcome, Alma! I appreciate your review.
This is a delicious pumpkin soup! I used half of a long island cheese pumpkin that we grew in our own garden and choose the coconut milk and maple syrup option. I also used Better Than Bouillon’s No Chicken Broth Paste. I will definitely make this again!
It was so delicious and both my kids absolutely LOVED it. I used a Jarrahdale Pumpkin and added an apple to the recipe, yum! Thanks a lot and this will be a staple item in our fall kitchen!
Made this for holiday (Rosh Hashanah) with a GF dairy free guest in mind. Fabulous! Used Libby’s pumpkin purée and Aroy-D coconut milk. Also Carrington coconut oil cause all were recommended for a creamy soup. Everyone LOVED it! So easy and delicious. Followed the recipe exactly, and the spices were great for our all ages crowd. Freezes well. Pepitas a great finish – they are different than pumpkin seeds so glad I noticed that regarding brown sugar. Dry pan for pepitas. Thanks for a wonderful starter that everyone will want next year!!!
Hi I have never heard of a sugar pie pumpkin? Those are different than regular pumpkins we use to carve faces into?
Any idea where I can get one? This recipe looks fantastic and I would love to make it
Hi! Yes, there are ones meant for cooking or baking. You can find one at your local grocery store.
This is the recipe I have been searching for! A local restaurant serves a great pumpkin poblano soup and I wanted to replicate it, but yours is so good that I couldn’t bear to add the poblano pepper to it. Maybe next time
Thank you for a wonderful new favorite soup recipe!
I’m glad you loved it, Linda! I appreciate your review.