Easy Pumpkin Soup
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This creamy pumpkin soup is quick and easy to make with canned pumpkin, a flavorful vegetable stock, and a few basic pantry spices. It’s a cozy meal that’s delicious for a fall lunch or light dinner. It’s dairy free and gluten-free, and there are 3 different cooking options!
When fall weather kicks in, the cravings for creamy soup kick in! Typically creamy soups are loaded with lots of funky ingredients, heavy cream, and loads of cheese. This soup doesn’t have any of that, but still it’s absolutely full of fall flavor.
The key is to make pumpkin soup with canned pumpkin puree. Real pumpkin is naturally rich and flavorful, has no additives. As a bonus, using canned puree means you can cook a batch of deliciously creamy soup in just under 30 minutes.
The recipe is completely customizable, too! If you need to make this lower in sodium or vegan, there’s a substitution below! Plus, you can bulk up the veggies by adding more carrots, celery, or onions.
There’s nothing better than healthy pumpkin recipes in the fall! While the go-to for most people is a batch of pumpkin muffins, loaf of pumpkin bread, or a healthy pumpkin spice latte, this soup recipe is sure to be one of your new favorites!
ingredients
Substitutions
I’ve only ever made this recipe with canned pumpkin. I’m sure fresh pumpkin puree would be delicious, but it is so much work!
Olive Oil: You can substitute olive oil with melted butter, avocado oil, or vegetable oil.
Vegetables: Feel free to add more carrots, celery, or onions. You can chop the vegetables roughly because this soup gets blended up!
Pumpkin: You can also make this soup recipe with canned butternut squash, or check out our Butternut Squash Soup, Roasted Squash Soup, or Sweet Potato Soup. For a carrot base, try our Carrot Ginger Soup Recipe.
Spices: Feel free to add more or less of any of the spices to your taste.
Broth: Vegetable Broth keeps this recipe vegan, but if you want to substitute it for chicken broth, that could work.
Pasta: I haven’t tried adding pasta to this recipe. I would try this pasta fagioli soup recipe instead!
How to Make Pumpkin Soup with Canned Pumpkin
- Heat the oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot. To the hot oil, add diced carrots, celery, onion, and garlic. Sauté them for a few minutes, until they are just a bit soft.
- Stir in the remaining ingredients – the canned pumpkin, stock, spices, and honey.
- Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook it for 15 minutes.
- Blend the pumpkin soup with an immersion blender or in a regular blender until it’s smooth and creamy.
Liz’s tips for the Best pumpkin soup
- Be sure to use 100% canned pumpkin puree in the soup and not pumpkin pie filling! Pie filling has added sugars and spices that you don’t want in the soup.
- Use caution if you are using a blender to blend the soup. The mixture will be very hot, and can easily burn you if you aren’t careful.
Other Cooking Options
For a “set it and forget it” method, you can make this recipe in a crock pot, and if you want to get dinner on the table in a hurry, make the soup in an Instant Pot!
Instant Pot Instructions
- Set your Instant Pot to sauté for 5 minutes. Heat oil, then sauté carrots, celery, garlic, and onions for about 5 minutes, until they’re translucent.
- Stir in pumpkin purée, vegetable stock, spices, and honey.
- Lock on the lid and set the pressure valve to “sealing”. Manually set the IP to cook for 4 minutes at High pressure.
- Once cooked, allow the pot to naturally release pressure for 10 minutes, then quick release any remaining pressure.
- Use an immersion blender or regular blender to blend the soup until smooth.
Crock Pot Instructions
- Add olive oil to a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add carrots, celery, onion and garlic. Sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Add sautéed vegetables to the crock pot, then stir in pumpkin puree, vegetable stock, spices and honey.
- Cover with a lid and set to cook on Low for 4-6 hours or High for 3-4 hours
- Use an immersion blender or regular blender to blend the mixture until smooth.
- Serve as-is or top with coconut milk or heavy cream.
Serving Suggestions
Protein – Serve it alongside chicken tenders for a well-balanced meal
Bread – If you’re not paleo/whole30, a big loaf of crusty bread (or crackers) is the way to go 🙂
Salad – This Strawberry Avocado Goat Cheese Salad is wonderful with a creamy soup like this one!
For a heartier meal, you can serve it along with a fall dinner like Stuffed Acorn Squash.
Soup Toppings
Your soup can easily be taken to the next level depending on your toppings, garnish, or add-ins. Here are some of our favorites:
- coconut cream or heavy cream
- chives/green onions
- crackers
- bacon
- croutons
- toasted pumpkin seeds
- fresh herbs
storing and Reheating
Refrigerator: This soup will last for up to 5 days in the refrigerator. Store in an airtight container.
To Freeze: Let leftover soup cool to room temperature before transferring it to a freezer-safe storage container. You can freeze this pumpkin soup for up to 3 months. We like these containers for freezing soup.
We also have more tips on how to freeze soup!
Reheating: You can reheat the soup in a microwave or over medium heat in a saucepan on the stovetop.
Pumpkin Soup with Canned Pumpkin
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup diced carrots
- ⅓ cup diced celery about 2 stalks
- ½ cup diced yellow onion 1 small onion
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 30 ounces canned pumpkin puree two 15-ounce cans
- 4 cups vegetable stock low or no sodium
- ½ teaspoon black pepper plus more to taste
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 tablespoon honey
Instructions
- Add olive oil to a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add carrots, celery, onion and garlic. Sauté until translucent – about 5 minutes.
- Add pumpkin puree, vegetable stock, spices and honey. Stir to combine and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Once boiling, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Use an immersion blender or regular blender to blend the soup until smooth.
- Serve as-is or top with a drizzle of coconut milk or heavy cream.
Video
Notes
- For an even richer flavor, stir in 1/2 cup of coconut cream or heavy cream to the soup at the very end.
- To make the pumpkin soup vegan, substitute maple syrup for the honey.
- You can find instructions for making the soup in an Instant Pot or crock pot in the blog post.
Nutrition Facts
Other healthy soup recipes
We love healthy soup recipes. You can get our free Healthy Soup Ebook here, or check out these 40+ Heart Healthy Soup Recipes. Here are some other healthy soup recipes you may like:
I love your ingredients for this soup! I just made a pumpkin soup recipe that I was not so thrilled with, since it turned out too thin. I like that you used 2 15 oz cans of pumpkin, not just one, and added carrots, with great spices like paprika, cinnamon, ginger, turmeric and thyme also. I love adding honey for a warm sweetness, that’s also very mild. I’m looking forward to seeing what other soup recipes you have, as I’m a soup enthusiast! My family likes soup, but they also like other things more often. I could eat soup every day and be happy, but I’ll also be interested in your other recipes. Thank you for sharing them online.
Yummy flavour!
Made this tonight 🙂 easy and yummy .
Her recipes are always easy , with directions , substitutions and tips . Thanks again Liz for a great recipe .
So glad you liked it, Paula! Thank you!
I am SO excited to try this recipe! Question, I know honey is usually not part of the Whole30 meal plan (I’m a newbie with this food plan!) What would you recommend in substituting the honey for? Apple sauce or fruit juice, maybe? My apologies if you addressed it above and I missed it!
I would just skip the honey if you’re doing Whole30. You could actually add 1/4 cup chopped apples with the onion/carrot/celery for sweetness!
Loved this recipe. Perfect for fall. I topped mine with pumpkin seeds which added a nice crunch and ate it with side green salad with light blue cheese dressing which I thought was a nice combo.