Easy & Creamy Pumpkin Soup (plant-based)
This creamy pumpkin soup recipe is easy to make, plant-based/vegan and absolutely delicious. With only 7 simple ingredients plus garnishing it doesn’t get much easier than this. It is the the perfect recipe if you love homemade food but are short on time, or if you are making pumpkin soup for the very first time.
In the fall and winter when the temperatures are low and blankets are in high demand, soup is my favorite go-to food on a cold day. A homemade pumpkin soup does just the trick to keep me warm. Serve it up with some crusty bread and delicious and decorative garnishing and you`ll have the perfect dish for a cozy evening at home. You can also serve up this soup as an impressive and colorful appetizer at a dinner party.
Do I need to peel the pumpkin for this soup?
No. Just make sure to wash the pumpkin before cooking it and preferably buy an organically grown pumpkin. The skin of the Hokkaido pumpkin is perfectly edible and does not need to be removed before cooking. Another benefit of using the skin is that this is where we find most of the pumpkin`s beta-carotene. So, not only do you get more nutrients, but using this type of pumpkin also makes it a really easy recipe, and it saves us a tiny bit of time.
You can really show off with the right garnishing
I have two garnishing-style favorites for this pumpkin soup, and wish to share both with you. I describe them both here and if you want you can also see how to do it in the video below.
Create an impressive pattern on the soup using pumpkin seed oil and coconut cream. To do this, add a little bit of water to the coconut cream if it is too thick (it needs to be liquid enough to pour), then slowly and lightly pour a little bit of the coconut cream and pumpkin seed oil over the soup from left to right (as many rows as you like). Then, take a knife and drag it slowly through the oil and cream (as though you are making a cross) in two or three parallel rows.
Garnish with a slice of lime, fresh herbs like parsley, coconut cream and pumpkin seeds. First, lightly poor a little bit of coconut cream on one side of the bowl (towards the edge). Be sure to add a little water to the coconut cream if it is too thick (it needs to be liquid enough to pour). Cut a thin slice of lime, and place this carefully onto the soup. Drop a few pumpkin seeds carefully onto the soup. And finally, chop fresh parsley and drizzle it over the soup.
Cook and eat healthy without stressing
This easy pumpkin soup recipe has a short ingredient list, and it is a really simple soup to throw together. It is the perfect soup if you wish to cook ahead and enjoy a stress-free time before dinner, and this is one of the reasons why it is my favorite pumpkin soup recipe.
You can make this soup the day before serving it – I sometimes even make it in the morning if I have time. I am a morning person though so if you are not, just plan to cook the soup when you can set aside the time. I find that cooking recipes that are this flexible is the best way to eat healthy and good food.
This recipe serves 6-8 people. If you don`t need this much soup then just simply cut the recipe in half. If there is leftover soup after your meal let it cool down in room temperature and store it in an airtight container somewhere cool. I love having leftover soup to enjoy for lunch or dinner the next day – so I often cook more than I know I`ll eat.
I hope you feel inspired and ready to cook this the next time you are making pumpkin soup. If you cook it I would love to hear from you! Please write a comment to let me know what you thought of it. If you snap a picture, tag me on instagram @by.linaelisabeth – I look forward to seeing your dish!
Easy & Creamy Pumpkin Soup
Ingredients
Soup
- 2 yellow onions
- 40 g fresh ginger
- 2 kg hokkaido pumpkin about 1-2 medium Hokkaido pumpkins
- 300 ml coconut cream
- 3 tbsp vegetable broth (powdered)
- 1 lime (juice)
- canola oil or coconut oil for pan frying purposes
Garnishing
- coconut cream
- pumpkin seed oil
- fresh parsley, slice of lime, pumpkin seeds (optional)
Extra
- Toasted wholewheat bread on the side is a great addition to this tasty meal
Instructions
- Roughly chop the yellow onions. Peel the ginger at cut it into rough pieces.
- Scrub your pumpkin with a vegetable brush if necessary and wash it with hot water. Remember, there is no need to peel your Hokkaido pumpkin. Remove the stem and cut the pumpkin in half. Use a tablespoon to clean out the pumpkin seeds. Then, cut the pumpkin into smaller cubes (approximately 2-3 cm wide).
- Find a large pot, big enough to fit at least 5 liters (1.32 gal). Add 2-3 tablespoons of the oil to the pot and turn on the heat.
- Once the oil is hot it is time to add the onion and ginger and let if fry at medium heat for about 2-4 minutes.
- Add the chopped pumpkin to the pot and let it fry together with the onions and ginger for another 2-4 minutes. This gives the pumpkin a slight roast and gives the soup a hint of roasted flavor.
- Mix the powdered vegetable broth with 1,7 liters of boiling water and add this to the pot (enough to cover the vegetables) and bring to a boil. The vegetable broth adds to and intensify the flavor of the soup.
- Let it boil on medium heat until the pumpkin flesh is tender. You know it`s ready when you can stick a knife into a chunk of pumpkin without any resistance.
- Turn down the heat. Open the coconut cream and set aside a couple of tablespoons for garnishing. Pour the rest of the coconut cream as well as the lime juice into the pot. Use an immersion hand blender to purè the soup completely. Take your time and purè until you get that desired consistency – the soup is to be creamy and smooth, but not too thick. There should be no chunks in the soup. Adding the cream at the end before mixing the cooked pumpkin and vegetables into a soup makes it even easier to get that creamy texture using an immersion blender. Plus, it also gives the soup that extra richness. If you don`t have coconut cream you can use full-fat coconut milk as a substitute. The lime juice gives your soup a hint of freshness.
Garnishing
- You can garnish each portion with coconut cream and pumpkin seed oil and make a great pattern, or garnish with coconut cream, a slice of lime, fresh parsley and pumpkin seeds.
