Autumn arrives, with its warm hues and falling leaves, temperatures start to drop and all we want is to get back home to cozy comfort food. To me, a warm pumpkin soup is quintessential to this season and the perfect dinner.
If you’ve been following me for some time, you will know that I’m quite a pumpkin fan, especially in soups. I love trying new combinations and matching this sweet orange vegetable with other ingredients, from potatoes to daikon.
This time, I tried something different. I made a soup using only pumpkin and a mix of herbs and spices. This is probably the easiest pumpkin soup I have ever made and since it was a big success at home with husband and son ending up licking their plate, I’m guessing it will be quite the craze this winter. Not only because it’s a truly easy, quick and budget recipe, but because it’s delicious!
Apart from probably the pumpkin, I’m pretty sure you already have all the ingredients already in your pantry or some herbs in your garden. Let’s dive into the recipe for this easy pumpkin soup and if you try it, let me know how it goes!
One-ingredient pumpkin soup – Ingredients
The ingredients of this soup are very easy to source. Actually, I’m pretty sure you already have everything at home and maybe the only ingredient you need to buy is the pumpkin itself. If you already have the pumpkin and are not sure what to do with it, here you go, the perfect recipe for a quick dinner!
Here are a few words about some of the ingredients:
- Shallot. I like the garlicky flavor of the shallot and how it combines with the pumpkin, but if you don’t have it, onion will do just fine.
- Garlic. We all love garlic in my family but if you don’t like it or don’t tolerate it very well, you can omit it.
- The herbs and spices. I think for this dish, they are all better fresh, but again, if you don’t have them in your garden, you can use the dried ones. Probably, I would stick to fresh ginger because I find that dried ginger has a whole different flavor. If you don’t have ginger, you can omit it but really I wouldn’t skip this because the ginger adds a lovely flavor.
- The pumpkin. I have used the Italian “delica” pumpkin because this is our favorite but if you can’t find it, pick your favorite type, including butternut squash.
One-ingredient pumpkin soup – Instructions
A few tips about the instructions below:
- I suggest peeling the pumpkin, but if yours has an edible peel, you can leave it. I peeled mine because it wasn’t from organic farming and also because the peel was a bit hard, otherwise I would have left it. You decide whether you should peel it or not. Keep in mind that if you don’t peel it, the cooking time will probably be some five minutes longer.
- When browning the garlic and shallot, stir from time to time to give them the time to brown but monitor them often. You want the garlic and shallot brown-gold but not burnt.
Check out also my daikon and pumpkin soup or my potato and pumpkin soup!
How to serve this easy pumpkin soup
In general, I suggest serving this pumpkin soup warm, but when it comes to additions, you can just go by your taste. For example, I like it just like this or maybe with a tiny drizzle of oil on top, but my husband likes to sprinkle fresh parsley and garlic finely chopped.
Here are a few serving suggestions:
- A sprinkle of black pepper
- With warm croutons or bread (better if homemade)
- A drizzle of oil
- Seeds of your choice: pumpkin or sunflower seeds, or even chopped hazelnuts
- Fresh cooking cream (if you are not dairy intolerant)
One-ingredient pumpkin soup – Full recipe
One-ingredient pumpkin soup
Equipment
- 1 Large pot
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Ginger grater
Ingredients
- 500 gr pumpkin
- 1 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 shallot (if you don't have shallot, a small onion works too)
- 1 cm fresh ginger
- 1 sprig of rosemary (better if fresh)
- 1 sprig of thyme (better if fresh)
- 1 pinch of salt (to taste)
Instructions
- Start by chopping the garlic and the shallot (or onion) and grating the fresh ginger
- Add the oil to the pot and when warm, add the chopped garlic and shallot (or onion).
- When brown, add the peeled pumpkin cut into cubes and mix with the rest.
- When the pumpkin is blended with all the flavors, add hot water just up to the level of the pumpkin, not more.
- After adding the water, you can add all together the thyme, rosemary, grated ginger, and salt to taste.
- Cook for some 20 minutes or until the pumpkin is soft.
- When you see the pumpkin has softened, turn off the fire and blend with an immersion blender directly in the pot.
- Taste and adjust the salt.
- Serve warm just like this or with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
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