This Creamy Pumpkin Soup is one of the first meals I start craving as soon as the first properly chilly autumn days arrive. It is thick, silky and comforting, but it gets its creamy texture from tender fresh pumpkin and a splash of light coconut milk rather than lots of double cream. SO comforting.
Best of all, this takes just 20 minutes from pan to bowl.
I have kept the flavours fairly simple because I still want the pumpkin to be the star. Onion and garlic balance its natural sweetness, cumin adds warmth and the chilli gives it a little kick without overpowering everything else.
If we are all eating this as a family, I often leave the chilli out of the pan and add it to individual bowls at the end. It means everyone can have it exactly how they like it, and I don't have to make two versions of dinner. Chilli oil is nice drizzled over it too.
This is an easy pumpkin soup for a quick autumn lunch, but add some crusty bread, a cheese toastie or homemade croutons and it makes a really cosy dinner too.
Recipe update: This recipe was originally published on 9 November 2015 and was fully retested in September 2026 to check the cooking time and ingredient quantities. The original recipe still worked well, but I've expanded the instructions, tips and FAQs.
If you are new to cooking with pumpkin, why not try our healthy Pumpkin Bread, delicious Goats Cheese and Pumpkin Salad, filling Pumpkin Porridge or our easy Pumpkin Overnight Oats?
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Jump to:
- Why You'll Love This Pumpkin Soup
- Recipe Overview
- Ingredients and Substitutions
- Pumpkin Soup Flavours
- How to Make Pumpkin Soup
- How To Make Pumpkin Soup Really Creamy
- What is the Best Pumpkin for Pumpkin Soup?
- How to Cut a Pumpkin Safely
- Fresh Pumpkin or Pumpkin Puree?
- Is Pumpkin Soup Healthy?
- Serving Suggestions
- How To Roast Pumpkin Seeds
- How To Store Pumpkin Soup
- Dannii's Top Tips
- Troubleshooting Guide
- Frequently Asked Questions
- More Soup Recipes
- Recipe
- Feedback
Why You'll Love This Pumpkin Soup
- Ready in 20 minutes - No roasting is needed, so this is much quicker than most fresh pumpkin soup recipes.
- Thick and creamy - The pumpkin does most of the work, with light coconut milk giving it an extra silky finish.
- Made with fresh pumpkin - Perfect when cooking pumpkins start appearing in the shops in autumn.
- No double cream needed - It tastes creamy without being a heavy cream-based soup.
- Vegan - Use vegetable stock and the recipe is naturally dairy-free and vegan.
- Easy to adapt - Make it mild, spicy, curried or Thai-inspired.
- Freezer-friendly - I often make extra because it reheats so well for an easy lunch another day.
- Simple ingredients - Nothing complicated or difficult to find.
Recipe Overview
- Prep: 5 minutes
- Cook: 15 minutes
- Total time: 20 minutes
- Serves: 2 generous portions - approximately 600ml each
- Difficulty: Easy
- Main ingredients: Fresh pumpkin, onion, garlic, light coconut milk and cumin
- Taste: Savoury and slightly sweet with warming cumin and optional chilli
- Texture: Thick, smooth and silky
- Diet: Vegan and gluten-free when made with suitable vegetable stock
- Perfect for: Quick autumn lunches, easy dinners and batch cooking
Ingredients and Substitutions
A full ingredients list, along with US Customary and Metric measurements, can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- Fresh pumpkin - You need 400g of prepared, cubed pumpkin. Use a cooking pumpkin rather than one of the large pumpkins sold mainly for Halloween carving. Cooking pumpkins have denser, sweeter and much more flavourful flesh.
Butternut squash works really well too and can be swapped for the pumpkin in the same way. - Onion - Onion adds savouriness and stops the naturally sweet pumpkin from making the soup taste too sweet.
You can swap it for shallots if you want a slightly sweeter flavour. Frozen chopped onion also works when you need to save a little preparation time. - Garlic cloves - I use three garlic cloves because pumpkin can take plenty of savoury flavour. Fresh garlic gives the best flavour, but frozen chopped garlic or garlic paste works well for a quicker option.
- Vegetable stock - Stock gives the soup much more depth than using water alone. I recommend a lower-salt vegetable stock, particularly if you are serving the soup to children or watching your salt intake. Chicken stock can be used instead if the soup does not need to be vegetarian or vegan.
- Light coconut milk - Light coconut milk makes this a wonderfully creamy pumpkin soup without double cream. The coconut flavour is subtle rather than overpowering, especially once the garlic, cumin and chilli are added. You can use regular coconut milk for a richer soup, or swap it for milk or cream if you do not need the recipe to be dairy-free.
- Cumin - A little cumin adds earthy warmth and works particularly well with sweet pumpkin. You don't need much. The aim is to enhance the pumpkin rather than make the soup taste strongly of cumin.
- Red chilli flakes - This is completely optional. Add it to the soup if everyone likes some heat, or leave it out and serve it at the table so people can add their own.
- Olive oil, salt and pepper - These bring all the flavours together. Go carefully with the salt until you have tasted the finished soup, as different vegetable stocks can vary a lot in saltiness.
Pumpkin Soup Flavours
The flavour of the pumpkin really shines through in this soup, but there are lots of options when it comes to flavouring it. You never have to make it the same way twice. Here are some ideas:
- Mexican - Add a little chipotle paste and finish with chopped fresh coriander (cilantro). The smoky chilli is particularly good with the sweetness of pumpkin.
- Thai pumpkin soup - Add Thai red curry paste when sautéing the pumpkin, onion and garlic. The coconut milk already in the recipe works really well with the curry paste. Finish with fresh coriander and a squeeze of lime.
- Curried pumpkin soup - Add curry powder with the cumin for a warming curried pumpkin soup. Start with a small amount, then taste after blending and add more if needed.
- Pumpkin and ginger soup - Add some finely grated fresh ginger with the onion and garlic for a warmer, slightly sharper flavour.
How to Make Pumpkin Soup
- Soften the vegetables: Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium-low heat.
Add the cubed pumpkin, diced onion and crushed garlic and gently cook for 5 minutes, stirring regularly.
This short sauté gives the onion and garlic a little time to soften and makes the finished soup taste much more savoury.
- Simmer: Add the vegetable stock, light coconut milk, cumin, chilli if using, and a little salt and pepper.
Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 10 minutes, or until the pumpkin is completely tender.
💡 You should be able to press a piece of pumpkin easily with the back of a spoon.
- Blend until smooth: Use an immersion blender to blend the soup directly in the saucepan until completely smooth.
- Check: Taste and adjust the salt, pepper and chilli before serving.
💡 If the soup is thicker than you like, add a splash of hot stock or water. If you want an extra-thick pumpkin soup, see the tips section below.
How To Make Pumpkin Soup Really Creamy
You don't actually need lots of cream to make pumpkin soup creamy. Pumpkin naturally blends into a thick, velvety purée, which is why this recipe can stay relatively light while still tasting rich.
There are three things that make the biggest difference.
First, make sure the pumpkin is completely tender before blending. If it is still firm, the soup can feel slightly grainy rather than silky.
Second, blend for longer than you think you need to. I use an immersion blender because it means one less jug to wash, but a heat-safe jug blender can make the soup exceptionally smooth.
⚠️ If using a jug blender, allow the soup to cool first and never overfill it with hot liquid.
Finally, control the amount of liquid. For an especially thick and creamy pumpkin soup, hold back around 100ml of the stock at first. Blend the soup, then add as much of the remaining stock as you need to get the consistency you like.
What is the Best Pumpkin for Pumpkin Soup?
For the best flavour, choose a cooking pumpkin rather than a pumpkin grown mainly for carving.
Good varieties for pumpkin include kabocha, Crown Prince, red kuri/Hokkaido and small sugar or pie pumpkins. Butternut squash is also an excellent alternative and is available much more consistently in UK supermarkets.
Whatever variety you choose, look for a pumpkin that feels heavy for its size and has firm skin without soft patches or bruising.
Large Halloween carving pumpkins are edible, but their flesh tends to be more watery and less flavourful, so they won't give you the same rich pumpkin soup.
How to Cut a Pumpkin Safely
- Put the pumpkin on a stable chopping board and slice a little from the top and bottom if necessary so it cannot roll around.
- Cut it in half, then into manageable wedges.
- Use a metal spoon to scrape out the seeds and stringy centre. Keep the seeds if you want to roast them for a crunchy soup topping (see below).
- Carefully remove the skin with a sharp knife or vegetable peeler, then cut the pumpkin flesh into roughly 2cm cubes.
- Try to keep the pieces a similar size so they soften at the same time.
Fresh Pumpkin or Pumpkin Puree?
I recommend fresh pumpkin for this particular recipe because it gives the soup a lovely fresh flavour and texture.
If what you actually have is a tin of pumpkin purée, don't complicate this recipe trying to convert it. I have a separate Canned Pumpkin Soup recipe made specifically for pumpkin purée, so the liquid and cooking time are already balanced for it.
That is the one I use when I want a really easy pantry version with no pumpkin peeling or chopping.
Is Pumpkin Soup Healthy?
If you are looking for a healthy pumpkin soup, this is a simple vegetable-based recipe made from pumpkin, onion, garlic, vegetable stock and light coconut milk.
It doesn't rely on butter, flour or lots of double cream to give it a thick texture.
The biggest nutritional variable is usually the stock, particularly the salt content, so choosing a lower-salt stock is an easy change if that matters to you.
It is also naturally vegan when made with vegetable stock and is gluten-free provided your stock is certified gluten-free.
This pumpkin soup is 210 calories per serving. Nutrition will vary depending on the exact stock, coconut milk and other brands you use, so treat nutritional information as an estimate. One serving is half of the finished recipe.
Serving Suggestions
Crusty bread is the obvious choice because this soup is made for dunking.
We love it with Slow Cooker Bread, warm homemade flatbreads, Garlic and Rosemary Focaccia or Cheesy Garlic Bread.
For an easy dinner rather than a light lunch, I sometimes serve it with a cheese toastie. The crisp bread next to the smooth soup is such a good combination.
Croutons are another easy way to add texture. Try Sourdough Croutons or Air Fryer Croutons.
For toppings, I like:
- Homemade croutons.
- Roasted pumpkin seeds (see below).
- A small swirl of coconut milk.
- Chilli flakes.
- Fresh coriander.
- Freshly ground black pepper.
- A drizzle of chilli oil or olive oil.
How To Roast Pumpkin Seeds
Don't throw the pumpkin seeds away. Remove as much of the stringy pumpkin flesh as possible, rinse the seeds and pat them thoroughly dry.
Toss with a little olive oil and salt, then spread them out in a single layer on a lined baking tray.
You can also add chilli powder, curry powder, smoked paprika or another favourite seasoning.
Roast at 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/Gas 6 for around 10 minutes, stirring once, until golden and crisp, keeping a close eye on them towards the end.
They make a brilliant crunchy topping for the soup as well as an easy snack.
How To Store Pumpkin Soup
Fridge: Allow leftover soup to cool, then transfer it to an airtight container. Keep it in the fridge for 3-4 days. I actually like making enough for lunch the following day because the flavours have even more time to come together.
Freeze: Allow it to cool completely, portion it into freezer-safe containers and freeze for up to 3 months. Leaving it in individual portions makes it much easier to defrost exactly what you need.
Defrost overnight in the fridge before reheating where possible.
Reheat: Reheat the soup gently in a saucepan over a medium-low heat until piping hot throughout, stirring regularly. You can also reheat individual portions in the microwave.
The soup may thicken in the fridge or freezer. If it does, just add a splash of water or vegetable stock while reheating until it reaches the consistency you want.
Dannii's Top Tips
- Use a cooking pumpkin rather than a carving pumpkin for the best flavour.
- Don't skip the onion and garlic. They balance the natural sweetness of the pumpkin.
- For a thicker soup, hold back a little stock and add it after blending only if needed.
- Keep the chilli mild in the main pan and add extra at the table if different people like different levels of heat.
- An immersion blender is the easiest option and saves washing up.
- Roast the pumpkin seeds rather than throwing them away.
- Double the recipe if you want leftovers, as it freezes and reheats really well.
Troubleshooting Guide
| Problem | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Soup is too thin | The pumpkin was particularly watery or too much stock was added | Simmer uncovered for a few minutes to reduce it. Next time, hold back around 100ml of stock before blending and only add it if needed. |
| Soup is too thick | The pumpkin absorbed more liquid or the soup reduced too much | Stir in hot vegetable stock or water a little at a time until it reaches the consistency you like. |
| Soup isn't smooth | The pumpkin isn't completely tender or the soup hasn't been blended for long enough | Simmer until the pumpkin can be easily crushed with the back of a spoon, then blend again until silky smooth. |
| Soup tastes bland | It needs more seasoning or the stock is mild | Add salt first, then taste again. A little extra cumin, black pepper or chilli can bring the flavours to life. |
| Soup tastes too sweet | Some pumpkin varieties are naturally very sweet | Add a little extra salt, black pepper or cumin. Chilli or a squeeze of lime can also help balance the sweetness. |
| Soup is too spicy | Too many chilli flakes were added | Stir in a little extra coconut milk or add more cooked pumpkin and stock. Serve with an extra swirl of coconut milk to soften the heat. |
Frequently Asked Questions
For the smoothest and most consistent result, I recommend peeling it for this recipe.
Some cooking pumpkin varieties have softer edible skin, but removing it means you don't risk finding tougher pieces after blending.
Yes. Roasting the pumpkin gives it a deeper, slightly caramelised flavour.
However, the whole point of this version is that it is a quick 20-minute pumpkin soup. Roasting adds considerably more time, so I only do that when speed isn't important.
Yes. Butternut squash is an excellent substitute for pumpkin in this soup. Use the same weight and follow the recipe exactly as written. It has a naturally sweet, nutty flavour and blends into a similarly smooth and creamy soup.
Yes. You can replace the light coconut milk with milk or a little single cream if the soup does not need to be vegan or dairy-free. For a dairy-free alternative, an unsweetened oat-based cooking cream would also work. The pumpkin itself provides much of the creamy texture, so you only need a small amount.
More Soup Recipes
If you've tried this Creamy Pumpkin Soup, let us know how you got on in the comments below.
Tag us in your creations on Instagram @hungryhealthyhappy and use the hashtag #hungryhealthyhappy too.
Recipe
Creamy Pumpkin Soup
Recipe Video
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon of Olive oil
- 400 g (3 ½ cups) of Pumpkin - cubed
- 1 Onion - diced
- 3 Garlic cloves - crushed
- 600 ml (2 ½ cups) of Vegetable stock (low salt)
- 100 ml (½ cup) of Light coconut milk
- ½ teaspoon of Cumin
- ½ teaspoon of Red chilli flakes - (to taste)
- ¼ teaspoon of Fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon of Ground black pepper
Instructions
- Soften the vegetables: Heat 1 tablespoon of Olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium-low heat.Add 400 g of Pumpkin (cubed), 1 Onion (diced) and 3 Garlic cloves (crushed) and gently cook for 5 minutes, stirring regularly.
- Simmer: Add 600 ml of Vegetable stock (low salt), 100 ml of Light coconut milk, ½ teaspoon of Cumin, ½ teaspoon of Red chilli flakes (if using), ¼ teaspoon of Fine sea salt and ½ teaspoon of Ground black pepper.Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 10 minutes, or until the pumpkin is completely tender.
- Blend until smooth: Use an immersion blender to blend the soup directly in the saucepan until completely smooth.
- Check: Taste and adjust the salt, pepper and chilli before serving.
Recipe Notes
- Use a cooking pumpkin rather than a carving pumpkin for the best flavour.
- Don't skip the onion and garlic. They balance the natural sweetness of the pumpkin.
- For a thicker soup, hold back a little stock and add it after blending only if needed.
- Keep the chilli mild in the main pan and add extra at the table if different people like different levels of heat.
- An immersion blender is the easiest option and saves washing up.
- Roast the pumpkin seeds rather than throwing them away.
- Double the recipe if you want leftovers, as it freezes and reheats really well.
Nutritional Information
Where nutritional information is provided, it is approximate and calculated using online tools. Values can vary depending on the ingredients and brands used, but we endeavour to be as accurate as possible.
All timings are a guide and may vary depending on the ingredients, equipment and, where relevant, the appliance used. Changing the serving size may also affect the time needed.
Lis says
What is the portion size you used to calculate the nutrition info? It just says "1 portion," which could be any amount. Thanks!
Dannii Martin says
It says there in the recipe card "serves 2". So, if the nutritional information is for one portion, that would be half.
Kelley @ Chef Savvy says
I love pumpkin soup! Love the addition of coconut milk to this!
Anna @AnnaTheApple says
Some of my food photos (OK, ALL of my food photos) are dreadful...but then I'm not a super fancy recipe-creating guru like yourself ;-) Your recipe sounds right up my street. I actually made pumpkin soup the other night but sadly had no coconut milk so just added cream cheese instead. It worked! Nice and creamy with a slight cheesiness. Didn't look as nice as yours though!
Chloe says
It's so cold and horrible here today, I think I might give this a go. Could I use butternut squash instead?
I just took that heart test out of interest and I am very low risk. Nice to know I am doing something right :)
Grace says
What a change in your photos! I am fairly new to your blog, but I don't think that origianal photo would have attracted me to it haha. Sorry!
I like the idea of adding coconut milk to this.
Amy (Savory Moments) says
Pumpkin soup is so wonderful this time of year - healthy, delicious, and full of good for you vitamins!
Harriet Emily says
I love making pumpkin soup, especially at this time of year. This looks delicious Dannii! Such a great idea to add coconut milk too. Yum!
Lauren says
I have some old soup picture too and they are awful! I took them with my iPhone of all things :) I love serving pumpkin soup with rosemary bread. SO delicious!
Manali @ CookWithManali says
absolutely love pumpkin soup!
Annie @ The Garlic Diaries says
Pumpkin Soup! I'm in love. Can't wait to try it!! Pinned :).
Sara says
I love the colour of this. We eat a ton of soup through the winter, as its one of the only ways I can get my little one to eat vegetables.
Rebecca Gallet says
Would this keep in the fridge for a couple of days? I could make this for my lunch for the next few days.
Rach @ This Italian Family says
Aww hooray for a throwback recipe!! I've actually been doing the same thing. Re-photographing and updating old recipes that I shared on my blog before I worried too much about what the food looked like. It's incredible the difference!
Kelly says
So glad you are sharing this pumpkin soup again! It looks amazing -- so creamy and delicious! The coconut milk is the perfect touch :)