How to Make the Perfect Vegan Pumpkin Soup for Fall

How to Make the Perfect Vegan Pumpkin Soup for Fall

Word Count: 1723

Time to Read: 9 minutes


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If there is one thing that screams fall, it’s pumpkin.

Yes, that’s right. With fall coming up, it’s time to start bringing out those plump orange gourds. If you’re like us, you love a mean pumpkin soup, but what about a vegan pumpkin soup?

That’s even better!

There are so many great dishes, drinks, and desserts to be made with pumpkin, but these three great recipes for vegan pumpkin soup are truly going to turn fall into your favorite time of year (if it isn’t already).

There are a lot of factors to consider when getting around to making pumpkin soup, like what kinds of pumpkins are best for cooking, what ingredients to include, and what to serve it with.

Whether you are planning a dinner party, making a meal for your family, or just wanting a nice warm soup for yourself, you are absolutely going to love these three quick and easy vegan pumpkin soup recipes!

What Kinds of Pumpkins Are Best for Cooking?

First thing first. When making vegan pumpkin soup, you must pick out the right pumpkin to use.

Now, if you’re like most people, the first thing you probably think of is a big ol’ jack-o-lantern. However, the kind of pumpkin you want for carving, is not the kind of pumpkin you want for cooking.

So that leaves the question, which pumpkins are the right pumpkins for vegan pumpkin soup?

  • Sugar pumpkin - This is probably the most common pumpkin used for cooking. It is small and sweet, hence the sugar in its names. If you’re going for a sweeter pumpkin soup, this is the one.
  • Cheese pumpkin - Also known as the Long Island Cheese Pumpkin, this pumpkin is the preferred choice for things like pumpkin pie. Don’t be fooled by the name, it doesn’t taste like cheese, but rather is said to have a sweet and earthy flavor.
  • Blue Hubbard - Has a more savory and nutty flavor than the others, and it’s quite a bit larger. These recipes will use a few different kinds, as they all have a potential to be wonderful for vegan pumpkin soup.

So What’s Wrong With the Carving Pumpkins?

Although carving pumpkins are edible – all pumpkins are – you typically wouldn’t want to use a jack-o-lantern for cooking.

This is because they have less flesh, which makes them great for carving, but not for soups or pies. On top of that, the little flesh they do have is stringy and has less sugar content.

Having a thinner wall of flesh means a much easier time getting your carving knife through the gourd, perfect for Halloween.

So even though it’s bigger than the pumpkins used for cooking, it doesn’t have the flesh needed to make a good meal.

If you are looking to make some roasted pumpkin seeds, however, these pumpkins are perfect. They come packed with tons of seeds inside, much more than these smaller, fleshier pumpkins.

What Ingredients Do I Need to Make the Best Vegan Pumpkin Soup?

This is a bit of a loaded question, because you can make pumpkin soup in a multitude of different ways. Sweet, salty, hardy, savory, you name it.

There are, however, some staples that you will use in most all vegan pumpkin soup recipes. Besides pumpkins, of course, that’s a given.

Almost all pumpkin recipes are going to call for onions, be it red, yellow, or white. Onions add amazing flavor, especially when paired with pumpkin, so onions are essential.

You’re almost always going to use some garlic as well, again, it’s full hardy flavor pairs perfectly with pumpkin, and basically everything else in the world too.

You will also need a broth of some sort. Since we’re making vegan pumpkin soup, we’ll be using vegetable stock, but you can also just use water if you don’t want to use broth or stock.

If you are looking at this recipe and aren’t planning on making it vegan, chicken broth is the best option for these recipes. Beef broth won’t really give you the desired flavor and color, so we wouldn’t recommend using it.

Aside from that, any ingredients you decide to add will depend on what kind of flavor or style you are going for. We’ll be showing you how to make three different flavors and styles of vegan pumpkin soup, so you can pick your favorite after that!

Getting Started

There are a few different kitchen items you’ll need to round up for making these vegan pumpkin soup recipes. These items include:

  • Baking sheet
  • Standing or Immersion blender
  • Large soup pot
  • Saute pan.

We’ll be using the baking sheet for the gourds, the blenders for pureeing the soup, and saute pan for the onions and garlic.

These recipes are super simple, they don’t require much prep, and they don’t require many ingredients. It is a perfect meal for all occasions, so let’s get started!

Roasted Pumpkin Soup

This one is super simple, and of course, delicious! Ingredients you’ll need are:

  • 1 Blue Hubbard
  • 1 Yellow onion
  • 3 Cloves of garlic
  • 1 Large carrot
  • Homemade vegetable broth (you can use store bought too)
  • Seasonings of your choice

Start off by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. While that’s going, go ahead and grease your baking sheet with some extra virgin olive oil.

Roughly chop up your onion, garlic, and carrots. Go ahead and add them to the baking sheet. Sprinkle whatever seasonings you see fit. We like to add salt, pepper, garlic powder, and some paprika.

Mix those around on the pan, then add your pumpkin. You can prep your blue hubbard by cutting it into quarters, spooning out the seeds and guts, and drizzling it with oil and seasonings.

Put the pan in the oven for about an hour, or until the pumpkin is soft. Once that is done, you’ll take out the pan, let it cool, and then scrape the flesh from the skin.

Now the Fun Part

Next, you will add the roasted vegetables to a soup pot. Add in the broth, and let simmer for about 25-30 minutes. The amount of broth you use will depend on the consistency you want. Feel free to season as desired.

If you are planning on using a standing blender, you’ll add in all the roasted ingredients, as well as the vegetable broth. Once you’ve added the ingredients, you can start blending.

If you are planning on using an immersion blender (which is a little easier in my opinion), you will follow the same directions, but instead of adding the mixture to the standing blender, you will simply use the immersion blender directly in the soup pot.

Once you’ve reached the perfect consistency, you can ladle the soup into bowls, and garnish with some full-fat coconut cream and cilantro.

Voila! You have yourself a savory delicious roasted pumpkin soup!

A great side to pair this dish with would be some sort of salad, perhaps a red cabbage pomegranate salad with kidney beans and peanut dressing! So tasty!

Sweet and Salty Pumpkin Soup

This one is one of our favorite recipes of all time, and it is also incredibly easy to make. The ingredients you will need include:

  • 1 Sugar pumpkin
  • 1 Onion
  • 3 Cloves of garlic
  • 1 Large apple of your choice
  • Vegetable broth
  • Full fat coconut cream
  • Maple syrup

The process is about the same for this recipe, only you have a different special ingredient— apple! The apple adds such a wonderful flavor to this dish.

Start off by pre heating your oven to 350 degrees. While that’s going, oil your baking sheet and prepare your sugar pumpkin. Cut the pumpkin in half, spoon out the guts, and drizzle it with oil and salt.

Next, roughly chop your onion, garlic, and apples. Throw them into a saute pan along with some extra virgin olive oil. Season as you’d like, but we suggest using some salt, and some cinnamon.

Once the pumpkin is soft and the vegetables and apple are sauteed, go ahead and add everything into a soup pot. This is when you will add in your stock, but if you want to obtain more of a sweet rather than salty taste, you can just add water in its place.

Add in a little bit of maple syrup to add a bit more sweetness to the soup. Let that simmer for about 30 minutes, then blend.

Bon apetit! One sweet and salty pumpkin soup that’s vegan!

Since this recipe is sweeter, pair it with a hardier side. Particularly, you can serve it with something like a mushroom and potato bake.

Coconut Curry Pumpkin Soup

If you’re like us, you absolutely love curry! And it just so happens that curry goes amazing with pumpkin. For this recipe you will need:

  • 1 Sugar pumpkin
  • 1 Onion
  • Curry of your choice
  • Vegetable Stock
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • Full fat coconut cream
  • Ginger

By now you get the process; roast the pumpkin until soft, brown the onion, garlic, and ginger, you know the drill. Only this time, instead of adding your regular seasoning, you’re going to add in some curry of your choice.

Curry comes in all types of flavors and levels of spiciness. If you like a more mild curry, we suggest doing a green curry powder.

Add in about a cup or so of the full-fat coconut cream, and you’ve got yourself a hardy delicious soup! Serve it with some homemade beet root chips for a satisfying meal everyone will love.

There You Have It!

With all these tips, tricks, and mouthwatering recipes, you’ll surely be the vegan pumpkin soup master! This fall, people will be wondering how you stepped up your pumpkin game so fast.

Whether you’re making these for your fall harvest dinner party, serving up a healthy vegan meal for your friends or family, or just trying something new for yourself, you and everyone else will fall in love with these soups.

So get on your fall themed apron, break out the pumpkins, and cook away!

Check out some of our awesome vegan recipes, vegan meal plans, and find out more information about how eating vegan can change your life!

Happy living, my friends!

About the author

Julia Ott
Hi! I'm Julia and I'm a vegan recipe inventor, furniture collector and mum to a little boy. I've been a vegetarian for 25 years, and a vegan for 4. I spend all of my spare time visiting farmers markets, searching for antiques at flea markets and cooking up a vegan storm in the kitchen! I co-founded Vegan.io to make the world a better place.

Want to try a vegan diet?

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