Useful. What a boring word to describe a recipe.
I can’t help it though. This Thai Pumpkin Soup recipe is useful. It’s one of those recipes that you need to have so that you can get dinner on the table in 15 minutes. Because life.
I mean, I could have really gone to greater lengths with this soup. I could have added in some fancy garnishes and swirls of creamy such and such. Or broken apart a pomegranate and sprinkled the arils on top. Heck, I could have even cooked the pumpkin from scratch.
But I set out with one goal when I developed this recipe. I wanted it to be useful. It’s made from stuff you can keep in your pantry- canned pumpkin, vegetable broth, coconut milk. Even the Thai curry paste, which I admit is kind of a wild card ingredient, is something that you can buy once at any grocery store and then keep in the door of your fridge for the next 40 years and it will only take up 2 cubic inches. And then it will be there for you when you’re ready to make this pumpkin soup again. Which will probably be more often than you think.
Because, not only is it ready in 15 minutes, but because as far as the taste, that’s where I can use the interesting adjectives!
Enigmatic. Intensely flavorful. Creamy. Sweet and savory. Bomb. {Side-note- someone, who is much younger than me, called one of my recipes on Instagram “Baller” and though I have no idea if that is a compliment or not, I am not sure I am ready to google it. Cringe! Hopefully it is a positive thing.} Delicious! In other words, you’re going to be surprised how yummy this recipe is, with such minimal effort.
Please let me know if you try this recipe by coming back and leaving a comment below. Or give a shout on social media. I’m always on Instagram, so if you tag me @healthyseasonal I’ll be sure to see what you’ve been cooking up!
This Thai Pumpkin Soup recipe is useful. It’s one of those recipes that you need to have so that you can get a yummy weeknight dinner on the table in 15 minutes during this crazy Fall season. Bonus that it’s vegan, too!
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons coconut oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons Thai red curry paste
- 2 cups vegetable broth such as Imagine No-chicken Broth
- 2 15-ounce cans pumpkin puree
- 1 14-ounce can light coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup, dark or amber or brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
- ¼ cup chopped scallions
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large heavy-bottomed soup pot over medium-high heat. Add garlic, and cook, stirring until the garlic is fragrant but not starting to turn brown. Stir in curry paste until hot and then immediately add broth to stop the garlic from toasting too much. Add pumpkin, coconut milk, maple, lime juice and salt and whisk until smooth. Increase heat to high and bring to a simmer, stirring often. Serve hot garnished with cilantro and scallions.
I can’t wait to try this! The flavors sound amazing!
Thank you Rachel. I love this combo of flavors too. If you do try it please let me know.
This sounds amazing, perfect for a rainy day like today!
Thank you Marye. Fall is here for sure!
This is a great dinner to have after a busy day! You can’t beat 15 minutes! Looks delicious!
It’s hard to argue with 15 minutes! Thanks so much for coming by Taylor.
Such a great soup that’s so easy to make! I can definitely imagine breaking this out for dinner after a busy day!
It is really a useful (there’s that word again) recipe to keep on hand. Thanks so much for coming by Patricia.
Hi!! This looks and sounds super delicious! Just wondering how spicy it is, as my husband and kids don’t do well with spicy foods ☹️ Can less curry paste be used?
Hi Karen, On a scale of spiciness from 1 to 10, I call this a 5. My kids loved this. That said, you can definitely try it with 1 teaspoon of the curry paste and taste it. Then add more if you think it needs to be more spicy. Please let me know if you do try it!
Gorgeous looking soup – fantastic flavors! I can’t resist any dish with Thai flavors in the mix.
Thank you so much! Nice of you to come by today. Hope you’re well. 🙂
Love the comment about being able to make it from your pantry. That is primarily why I don’t use gluten free flours even though my hubby does better with gluten free. I think sometimes those speciality flours are intimidating and not something we keep on hand! This looks absolutely gorgeous, I’ve been slowly but surely implementing some of the photography tips you taught us! Long way to go though!
Glad to hear this is not intimidating. 🙂 It is super easy. Though I have to say those flours shouldn’t be either. Once you try them you’ll see that they are just like any other baking ingredient. And also glad to hear about the photo demo I did. I am so excited to watch everyone from Blog Brulee now share their work online now.
Pumpkin and coconut are like my two favorite foods!
Hey Lynn, thank you. Just listened to your podcast with James Nord. So awesome. I’m embarrassed to admit, I had never heard of him, but after listening I had to look him up. What style! Loved your line of questioning. And the ritz crackers! Oh my goodness. Never thought I would have a craving for them until after listening to that! Ha ha. Thanks for coming by today, and psyched you like the soup. Take care.
Thank you for listening Katie! I would love to have you on the podcast one day too – we can talk all about Abe before I knew him!
Hi Katie!!
The hubby and I are carving pumpkins for Halloween
For the past years I’ve been throwing away the pumpkin meat (shame on me I knoooow!!) but this year I wanna give it a try and cook with it! I saw your recipe and it looks delicious!! But how would you replace the canned pumpkin purée by fresh pumpkin??
Thank you in advance for your advice!!
Typically jack-o-lanterns aren’t used for cooking. You can peel the skin off and steam the meat. Here is a more detailed answer on a post I did about how to make pumpkin puree. https://www.healthyseasonalrecipes.com/home-made-pumpkin-puree-and-brown-rice-pumpkin-risotto/
Can this yummy soup be frozen? I made it today and wondered if I could freeze it in individual servings so I can take it to work for lunches later in the week. It is such an unusual soup but I love it. I thought it would be like a butternut squash soup I make and love but this is entirely different. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Yes by all means it freezes really well. The coconut may “break” out of it when you thaw it, but once you reheat it, it will come back together really well. If you like this recipe, and butternut squash- I have another one coming later this fall that you’ll love- sweet potato! And it too is entirely different. Have a great week Diane.
Thanks for the quick and informative reply Katie! Can’t wait to see and try your sweet potato recipe! I am thinking that the next time I make this pumpkin soup I might try adding some turmeric paste I’m trying to incorporate into more recipes. I’m doing it for health reasons. Do you think that would harm the flavor?
Not at all! I think it would be lovely in this recipe. Great idea.
I’ll do it! Thanks!
The number one definition for “baller” on Urban Dictionary is as Cody describes: A thug that has “made it” to the big time. Originally referred to ball players that made it out of the streets to make millions as a pro ball player, but now is used to describe any thug that is living large.
I think the comment was a compliment!!!
That’s good to know! Thanks for telling me 😉 Have a great day Mary.
Can this be made with fresh pumpkin? I can’t buy tinned purée here in Australia.
Thanks.
Pauline
Yes absolutely. Use 2 cups of cooked pureed fresh pumpkin in place of the canned pumpkin. Here is how to make pureed pumpkin https://www.healthyseasonalrecipes.com/home-made-pumpkin-puree-and-brown-rice-pumpkin-risotto/ Enjoy the soup!
I made this today for my first “pumpkin fest.” I was so excited to try this and it did NOT disappoint! It was delish and i loved finding a pumpkin recipe that was not dessert. I am going to add more thai curry paste because i do like spicy but This soup is so tasty.
Hi Lisa. Thank you so much for coming back to let me know how it went. I am thrilled you liked it, and yay for more curry! I think I would be okay with that too since I love the heat. Have a great day.
We made this pumpkin soup yesterday and it was AMAZING!! It really does take 15 minutes!
Thank you so much for coming back to let me know Jessica. I really appreciate you taking the time to do so. Have a great day!
just made this soup today and is was perfect! My 2 year old loved it and he is normally not a soup person Made it with frozen puree from fall, since no canned pumpkin is to be found here in denmark. Thanks so much for a great recipe.
That is great news! Thanks so much for coming back to let me know you liked it! Have a great day.
I just made this soup this evening–including making the Thai paste from scratch. The soup is good (or “OK”) but not my favorite–so sorry to say. It was not very spicy (to me) so I added an extra tablespoon of the paste for more flavor. In my opinion, the dominant flavor is the garlic vs. pumpkin (or coconut). I was excited to make this soup so I “went in” being very hopeful. I probably will not make this soup again.
I haven’t made a Thai Curry Paste from scratch before. I wonder if possibly the flavor profile is more mellow than a store bought one? Thanks anyway for coming back to let us know Brenda. I appreciate it.
Katie, I wondered about that myself. (The recipe was one I found online…) Possibly if I used more of the red chile peppers it may have been more “potent”… After reading the raves by others it is very likely a “store-bought” paste is better. I just try to cook “from scratch” as much as possible, trying to avoid processed foods.
Hmm, good to know. It would be interesting to do a side by side taste test of the two Thai pastes. I agree home-made in favor of processed is preferable. Having the time is another story though for so many folks. Making condiments from scratch is next level. Good for you Brenda! I’m impressed.