The Best Spiced Pumpkin Soup with Coconut Milk

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Pumpkin soup with coconut milk will change your life. Let’s be honest — the pumpkin soup of your past was awful. It was bland, stringy, and either too soupy or too thick. You ate it because you love your mom. But good lord. What a batch of tasteless gloop.

But pumpkin soup with coconut is not that. It’s a divine puree of savory flavors tempered with a Thai staple, coconut milk. If you think Thai food sounds spicier and a little sweet, well, you’re right. You know, like pumpkin pie or pretty much everything from October to January — from lattes to air fresheners. So why not soup?

This recipe straddles the line between savory and sweet. It is a mash-up of a long-forgotten recipe from our old pal, the famous cookbook by the French Master Chef, Roger Vergé’s Vegetables (Flammarion, 1992), and contemporary recipes, especially Thai pumpkin soup. The source recipe may be more than 30-years-old, but it holds up.

This recipe is easily modified and customized for all kinds of palettes. Using coconut milk makes it vegan, but you can go with heavy cream if you want it more French. Make it from Jamaican Jerk Pumpkin, and you have an inspired island version your guests will Instagram like you poured them a bowl of Kardashians. More than anything, what you have here is a brilliant substitute for the ubiquitous seasonal pie.

Ingredients for Pumpkin Soup with Coconut Milk

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 two-pound baking pumpkin, peeled, seeded, and cut into quarters
• 1 Sweet potato, peeled and quartered
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 teaspoons of sugar
• ½ of a seeded, roasted red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of Allspice
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon of grated ginger or dried ginger
• 1 ½ cups coconut milk, divided
• 1 cup of water
• 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter, divided (substitute vegan butter or olive oil for a vegan version)
• Optional: pinch of Garam Masala
• Optional: 1 tablespoon of Bourbon
• Optional: 4 slices of your favorite bread, toasted or grilled (try a country French bread)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400°
2. Chop the onion
3. Place the pumpkin, sweet potato, and peppers on a foil-lined tray. Brush the pumpkin and sweet potato with one tablespoon of olive oil and bake for 15 minutes.
4. Check the peppers and remove them if charred or blistered.
5. Return to the oven for 10 to 15 more minutes until the pumpkin is slightly browned and a toothpick pokes into it easily. Baking times will vary. Remove and set aside.
6. Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a heavy saucepan or casserole and add the onion. Sauté until golden, but not brown.
7. Add the cooked pumpkin, sweet potato, and pepper to the saucepan and stir over medium heat with a wooden spoon so nothing sticks, for about 5 minutes.
8. Stir in the water.
9. Stir 1 cup of coconut milk.
10. Add salt, pepper, and remaining spices.
11. Cook for 30 minutes over low heat. Check occasionally to make sure the liquid remains. Add additional water if necessary.
12. Purée in a blender, food processor, or by the easiest way, by using a submersion blender
13. Add two tablespoons of butter and the remaining coconut milk and blend.
14. Return the pureed mixture to the pan on the stove. Add the remaining butter a bring to a boil Immediately remove from the heat, and serve with optional toppings and the toasted bread.

Toppings

Consider cleaning and roasting the seeds you scoop out of the pumpkin to use as a garnish. Toss them with a very light coating of vegetable oil, salt, and a pinch of cayenne, and roast for about five minutes in a 350-degree oven. Then top each serving. Good lord. (Store-bought roasted or raw pepitas are great as well.

If you love goat cheese, crumbling a bit on top of this soup is delicious along with the pumpkin seeds.

Expert Tip

Roasted bell peppers add a delicious smoky flavor, but for a little kick, roast a Serrano pepper instead. You can change the profile of this dish by swapping the pumpkin pie spices for Jamaican jerk spices. They are similar but also wildly different. Finally, Vergé’s book has a recipe for Pumpkin Purée with Olive Oil that is a real game changer. Roast the flesh of the pumpkin and saute it with two tablespoons of olive oil and two tablespoons of semolina (cornmeal will work in a pinch). When the pumpkin slumps into a purée, add five more tablespoons of olive oil, four cloves of minced garlic, and a pinch of salt. Serve with toast.

Pumpkin Soup FAQs

Serving Suggestions for Pumpkin Soup with Coconut Milk

While you can keep it simple and serve it with toast, as the recipe states, you can get fancy by cleaning out another pumpkin to use as a soup tureen. Or, clean out and bake an acorn squash per guest to act as edible bowls. This soup is thick enough to put into a bread bowl.

Storing Leftover Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin soup with coconut milk can be stored in a freezer-proof airtight container. Just add to the container, leaving room for expansion, then let cool to room temperature. Press plastic wrap gently onto the surface if you want, then freeze.

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