Make some thick and creamy pumpkin potato soup from scratch in just 30 minutes! This luscious one pot soup also happens to be vegan and gluten-free. Plus, all you need is 5 simple wholesome ingredients.
We are keeping things simple here with this super creamy pumpkin potato soup! Although 5 ingredients is all you need to make this recipe, you will be surprised by how flavorsome and rich this soup is.
💚Why you will love this recipe
- Cozy, flavorsome and rich - This soul-soothing pumpkin potato soup is like a hug in a bowl! It is especially great for chilly evenings, where all you want is something comforting and warm.
- Easy and quick to prepare - The hardest part is to prep and cut your pumpkins, but you can also buy pre-cut ones, or simple use pumpkin puree instead. Other than that, you will breeze through the rest of the steps, and everything will be ready in under 30 minutes.
- Nourishing and healthy - This pumpkin potato soup only calls for wholesome plant based ingredients, and is packed full of fiber and nutrients. Plus, this soup is actually vegan, and is made without dairy or gluten!
- Stores and freeze well - Definitely make a large batch so you will have something to grab at times when you are too busy to cook! The ingredients can be easily doubled or tripled, just make sure to use a larger pot.
🎃Best pumpkin for soups
Whichever variety of edible pumpkin or butternut squash can be used in soups. But for the best results, it is highly recommended to use sweet pumpkins like sugar pumpkins or kabocha squash (aka Japanese pumpkins).
Craving pumpkin - Although craving pumpkins can be used, they are typically less tasty and rich when compared to those mentioned above.
Pumpkin puree - If cutting a pumpkin is too much work for you, you can actually use canned pumpkin puree instead! You will need 1 15 oz can. and add it in during the last few minutes of cooking your potatoes. Make sure to use unsweetened pumpkin puree, NOT PUMPKIN PIE FILLING!
🥔What you will need
📃Notes/substitutions
- Onions - White or yellow onions will work great in this recipe.
- Potatoes - Highly recommend using the starchy varieties like Yukon Gold or russet potatoes to make this soup extra creamy.
- Pumpkin - As stated above, use sweet varieties like sugar pumpkin or kabocha squash. You can also use a can of pumpkin puree instead.
- Oil-free - Use ¼ cup of broth or water to saute your onion and garlic instead of oil.
🔪How to make
In a large Dutch oven or soup pot, heat up a tablespoon or so of neutral oil on medium high heat. Once pot is heated, add in onion and saute for 3-4 minutes until translucent.
Next, toss in garlic and saute for another 1 minute until fragrant.
Place in the rest of the ingredients including vegetable broth, pumpkin and potato cubes. Bring mixture to a boil, then lower heat to a gentle simmer. Cook for 10-15 minutes, or until both potato and pumpkin cubes have softened.
Remove from heat and puree the soup either by using an immersion blender, or in a blender. At this point, you can serve your soup immediately, or heat it up further if you like yours to be boiling hot!
✔Helpful tips
- Use a sharp knife to chop your veggies, especially for dicing your pumpkin. For a more detailed instructions on how to cut pumpkin the right way, I recommend checking out this post on "how to cut a pumpkin" by Green Healthy Cooking.
- Dice pumpkin and potato into fairly equal cubes so that they cook at the same time.
- If you prefer your pumpkin potato soup to be lower is sodium, use reduced sodium stock or replace half the stock with water.
- Remember to use a large enough pot to ensure that your soup do not boil over and create a mess. I am using a 5.5qt Dutch oven.
- If you are using a blender to puree your soup, let it cool down slightly before blending. Or not, the heat might cause blender's lid to explode off while blending.
✨Variations/add-ins
Thai curry pumpkin soup - Add in a tablespoon of Thai red curry paste along with garlic and saute for a minute or so. Then, proceed on with the rest of the steps.
To make it extra creamy - Replace 1 cup of vegetable stock with coconut milk or other plant milk of choice.
Dried herbs - Add in a teaspoon or so of your favorite herbs like dried parsley, basil, thyme or even rosemary.
Spice it up - To give your soup more fall flavors, add in a pinch of fall spices like nutmeg, cinnamon and ground cloves.
For heat lover - Toss in a few teaspoons of chili flakes or red pepper flakes, or drizzle on some hot sauce before serving.
🥓How to serve
Toppings - For some extra flavor, top your pumpkin potato soup with some chopped herbs like cilantro and parsley, or red chili flakes. You can also top it with some roasted lentils, croutons or toasted pumpkin seeds for some texture and crunch.
Vegan bacon - For some additional protein, I really love chopping up and mixing in my seitan bacon. It also gives a nice smokiness to the soup too!
Bread - Of course, the classic and best way to serve your soup is with some of your favorite crusty bread. Other kinds of breads like flatbreads, naans and socca are some great choices too.
Salad - Lastly, you could pair your soup with a hearty salad like this vegan rice salad or some spicy quinoa salad to make a more filling meal.
❔Commonly asked questions
Leftover pumpkin potato soup can be refrigerated for up to a week. It is also freezable too, and can be frozen for up to 3 months. Portion soup out into individual containers before freezing so you will only be taking out what you need.
To reheat from frozen, let soup defrost overnight in the fridge, or on countertop for a few hours. You can then proceed on heating it on stove. For a quicker version, simply thaw soup using your microwave oven's "defrost" function, then heat it in 30 seconds interval until it is thoroughly warmed.
This pumpkin potato soup is naturally gluten-free as all ingredients used are free from wheat and gluten.
You definitely can, but your soup will turn out to be less flavorful and rich in flavor, as craving pumpkins tends to be a little tasteless. To compensate for the lack of flavor, throw in seasonings like dried herbs and spices. Dried parsley, thyme, bay leaf, cinnamon, nutmeg and ground cloves are some great additions.
🍽More cozy vegan recipes
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📖 Recipe
Creamy Pumpkin Potato Soup
Ingredients
- 1 medium yellow onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 18 oz fresh pumpkin diced *
- 2 medium potato peeled and diced (about 14oz/400g) **
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large Dutch oven or soup pot, heat up a tablespoon or so of neutral oil on medium high heat. Once pot is heated, add in onion and saute for 3-4 minutes until translucent.1 medium yellow onion
- Next, toss in garlic and saute for another 1 minute until fragrant.4 cloves garlic
- Place in the rest of the ingredients. Bring mixture to a boil, then lower heat to a gentle simmer. Cook for 10-15 minutes, or until both potato and pumpkin cubes have softened.18 oz fresh pumpkin, 2 medium potato, 4 cups vegetable broth
- Remove from heat and puree the soup either by using an immersion blender, or in a blender. Season soup with salt and pepper before serving.salt and pepper
Notes
- Use a sharp knife to chop your veggies, especially for dicing your pumpkin. For a more detailed instructions on how to cut pumpkin the right way, I recommend checking out this post on "how to cut a pumpkin" by Green Healthy Cooking.
- Dice pumpkin and potato into fairly equal cubes so that they cook at the same time.
- Remember to use a large enough pot to ensure that your soup do not boil over and create a mess. I am using a 5.5qt Dutch oven.
- If you are using a blender to puree your soup, let it cool down slightly before blending. Or not, the heat might cause blender's lid to explode off while blending.
Reheating - To reheat from frozen, let soup defrost overnight in the fridge, or on countertop for a few hours. You can then proceed on heating it on stove. For a quicker version, simply thaw soup using your microwave oven's "defrost" function, then heat it in 30 seconds interval until it is thoroughly warmed.
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