This incredibly simple yet flavorful pumpkin soup has been one of my staple recipes for years. It’s super easy and comforting, which is perfect for when you just need something warm to fill your belly, but you don’t have a lot of time or energy. …Which is kind of all time time, ammiright?? This pumpkin soup recipe is the perfect way to welcome in the fall season. Easy, simple, and comforting.
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Ingredients for Pumpkin Soup
This incredibly simple yet flavorful soup only requires a few simple ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need to make pumpkin soup:
- Butter: A little butter helps gives this pumpkin soup a little richness. Plus, there’s no better way to start a recipe than sautéing onions in butter!
- Onion: Diced onion gives the soup depth of flavor and a surprising subtle sweetness.
- Pumpkin Purée: A humble can of pumpkin purée gives the soup its signature color and flavor, plus it gives the soup body and thickness. Make sure to buy pure pumpkin for this recipe, not canned pumpkin pie filling, which is sweetened and has spices already added.
- Chicken Broth: A lot of the flavor in this soup comes from the chicken broth, so make sure to use a good quality or flavorful broth. I love using Better Than Bouillon because I can make as much broth as needed whenever I need without leftovers, and it has a very bold flavor profile. If you want to make this soup vegetarian, simply substitute with vegetable broth.
- Spices: We keep the spices simple here to let the pumpkin flavor shine through. Just a little chili powder, nutmeg, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. This soup really is a blank slate for flavor, though, and you can experiment with different spice profiles, like curry or harissa.
- Garnishes: I like to add a little something special on top of my soup to give it more texture and visual appeal. Try roasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas) and a swirl of sour cream or plain yogurt.
What to Serve with Easy Pumpkin Soup
I love this pumpkin soup as a tomato alternative to the classic grilled cheese and tomato soup combo. Even just having some delicious crusty bread to dip into the soup or homemade croutons to sprinkle on top would be awesome. Because the soup is so light, it also makes a great starter for a larger, heavier, or multi-course meal. I also found myself reheating a mug full of this pumpkin soup as a light between-meal snack.
How to Make a Thick Pumpkin Soup
This pumpkin soup is more on the brothy side, but if you’d like a thicker pumpkin soup (akin to potato soup or a bisque), use two cans of pumpkin purée and double the spices and salt. 🎃
Pumpkin Soup Variations
There are a lot of fun things you can do with this basic pumpkin soup recipe, when you are feeling comfortable and want to branch out. You can make it a creamy soup by replacing some of the chicken broth with heavy cream or full-fat coconut milk. Change the flavor profile by adding curry powder, Cajun seasoning, or even Thai curry paste.
You can have a lot of fun with add-ins and toppings, too. I kept it simple with pumpkin seeds and sour cream, but you could do sriracha, Tabasco, add spinach, crispy chickpeas, shaved parmesan, croutons, or crumbled bacon.
Try these other pumpkin soups: Spicy Coconut and Pumpkin Soup, Curried Red Lentil and Pumpkin Soup, and Chicken and Pumpkin Soup.
Easy Pumpkin Soup
Servings 4 1.25 cups eachIngredients
- 2 Tbsp butter ($0.26)
- 1 small yellow onion ($0.32)
- 1 15oz. can pumpkin puree ($0.79)
- 3 cups chicken broth ($0.39)
- 1/2 tsp chili powder ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg ($0.03)
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper ($0.02)
- freshly cracked black pepper ($0.02)
- salt to taste ($0.02)
Toppings (optional)
- 4 Tbsp pepitas (pumpkin seeds) ($0.60)
- 4 Tbsp sour cream ($0.11)
Instructions
- Dice the onion then add it to a medium sauce pot with the butter. Sauté the onion over medium heat until the onion is soft and translucent (about 3 minutes).
- Add the pumpkin purée, chicken broth, smoked paprika, chili powder, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, and some freshly cracked pepper. Stir to combine the ingredients, then allow the soup to come up to a simmer.
- Simmer the soup for 10 minutes. Taste and add salt as needed (I added 1/4 tsp).
- Serve the soup topped with pepitas and a swirl of sour cream.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Pumpkin Soup – Step by Step Photos
Dice one small yellow onion and add it to a medium sauce pot with 2 Tbsp butter. Sauté the onion over medium heat until the onion is soft and translucent (about 3 minutes).
Make sure to read the label on your can of pumpkin purée very carefully. Pumpkin purée is not the same thing as pumpkin pie filling, and they usually have very similar looking labels. Pumpkin pie filling is sweetened and has pumpkin pie spice, neither of which will be good in this soup! Ha!
Add one 15oz. can of pumpkin purée and 3 cups of chicken broth to the soup pot.
Also add 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, and some freshly cracked pepper. Stir to combine.
Allow the soup to come up to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Finally, taste the soup and add salt as needed. I added 1/4 tsp. Remember, a little salt can really make flavors pop!
Serve the Easy Pumpkin Soup with a few pepitas (pumpkin seeds) sprinkled over top and a swirl of sour cream!
I rarely give poor ratings but our family strongly disliked this soup. I am a very good cook so I double checked the ingredients to make sure I didn’t miss something. I tasted as I went along and didn’t like it much but figured it would all come together after simmering longer. Nothing helped, it tasted strongly of only onions (which I went easy on and cooked them well before adding anything else). I absolutely hate throwing food away but nobody could eat it.
I love the quickness and ease of this recipe! I have a sore throat and leftover pumpkin in the fridge, and I wanted a hot and healthy soup fast. This recipe was perfect! I did feel it needed some acid, so I added a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar at the end. Next time I may try subbing some of the chicken broth for apple cider or juice for a bit of sweetness.
Hi, Danielle! I bet ACV was a great addition! It is one of my favorite flavors with pumpkin. Just a word of caution that swapping out the chicken broth for apple cider would make the recipe decidedly sweet (but go for it, if that’s what you’re looking for!). However, if you’re into making your own chicken broth/stock, I’d highly suggest throwing in a few chunks of fresh apple next time — it’s delish!
— Marion :)
this was so easy and delicious! i didn’t realize until i started cooking that my sour cream went bad so i had it without any toppings and it paired excellently with the grilled cheese :)
With the first cold of the season making its way through the house, I wanted to make something quick, easy, comforting, and healthful for the family. This fit the bill! I can see how it would be good with added curry and ginger, so I might try that next time. I may also try blending it before serving because I’m just not a fan of the onions floating about. But on the whole, a satisfying recipe that I’ll keep in mind for sick days and cold weather.
Delish! great little recipe with lots of room to play around with. decided to play around with the spices. added some yellow curry, garlic (duh), dahs of powdered ginger, and some honey miso butter i had hanging around. also had some frozen cauliflower and corn i wanted to use up. perfect pairing. Thanks again for the great ideas :)
This recipe was just spicy and didn’t taste like pumpkin. Sad because it was so easy!
Made yesterday on a snowy cold day. Quick and easy. I added fresh rosemary. Delicious!
Is there a place to get pumpkin puree for cheaper as I buy it in the baking isle and its always $4.5 plus here in canda
Unfortunately, I’m not familiar with grocery store options in Canada, so I’m not sure where your best prices will be.
Hey Alexis, Not sure if this is still a concern for you, but this year we were able to find reasonably priced pumpkin on sale, and used Beth’s pumpkin puree recipe available elsewhere on Budget Bytes. It was incredibly easy to make, and we portioned it out into 15oz containers so we could use it in other BB recipes. I hope you are able to find a cheaper solution, with all the inflation happening now.
This was fantastic and really easy to throw together! I added and additional half a can to make it a little thicker. Next time I’ll probably reduce the broth to 2 cups and use 1 can of pumpkin.
It paired perfectly with a turkey sandwich.
Delicious! I rated four stars instead of five because it needed more spice. That’s an easy fix though! I pretty much doubled all the spices and it turned out amazing. I’m feeling a little under the weather and waiting on a Covid test, this was a great choice for healthy comfort food.
Just love it!!!
I will make it a thousand times.
I was worried this would be a little thin but the texture was perfect! I toasted my pepitas in a hot skillet for a few minutes since they were kind of old.
This site has inspired me to cook with meat every other day max and I love having so many meatless options.
Made this tonight & really enjoyed it. I made it vegan with vegetable broth & olive oil instead of butter—worried it might be too oily, but nope! It’s delicious. Paired it with homemade croutons from this site too!
Thanks Fiona!
Thanks for the vegan option. Excited to try!
Love the idea of using chicken broth! It gives a different and nice taste to the soup!
It really does!
Very good! I added a bit more nutmeg as well some cinnamon and brown sugar. very yummy! id say add sour cream as you go. dont mix it all in right away..the soup flavor is very good without it :)
We love all of your recipes and this one didn’t disappoint! Like one of your other readers, I was skeptical of a savory pumpkin soup but it was so smokey tasting and warm. Loved it!
Happy to hear it Jeremy!
Canned pumpkin isn’t a thing in Korea but we do have melon-sized pumpkins (greenish/brown on the outside, orange on the inside). Any suggestions/methods on how best to cook one of those in lieu of the canned stuff?
This was too spicy for me. Flavor wise, it just tasted spicy, not even pumpkin-y.
I’ve never made pumpkin puree from fresh pumpkin myself, but I’ve seen several tutorials online and it looks pretty easy (just roast the pumpkins then mash). You can do a quick Google to find some good tutorials.
Just love it!!!
I will make it a thousand times.
As with every recipe I’ve tried on this site, this pumpkin soup was absolutely AMAZING. I was a bit scared to try it at first, but I paired it with grilled cheese as suggested and it might be the most delicious fall meal I’ve ever had! You will not regret trying this!
Thank you Carlee!
Made this Punkin Soup tonight! I used two cans of pumpkin puree to thicken it up, subbed vegetable broth, and found a chipotle smoked paprika seasoning that was super on point! My significant other walked in after work swooning over the amazing autumn smells! I also decided to add black beans in to my leftovers for a heartier soup for lunches in the days to come.
Before googling different recipes, i always check BudgetBytes first! I haven’t tried a recipe on this site that wasnt absolutely delicious and super customizable, to either my taste or whatever I have on hand. Love love love!
Thank you KC! Those additions sound amazing. I’ll have to try!
Made this on a whim yesterday for something to go with grilled cheese (as I don’t like tomato soup) and I was pleasantly surprised! I normally shy away from pumpkin or butternut squash soups because they’re always far too sweet for me and just taste like liquid pie filling. This was light, perfectly savory and just the right amount of warmly spiced. I will be making this again frequently when canned pumpkin is on sale for the holidays!
Happy to hear it Kristen!
YUM! Thank you for reposting this – just what I needed for a chilly, rainy Friday night in :) I did make a few tweaks – added two tablespoons of light brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger. I felt it needed just a little more layer of flavor and these did the trick!
Great additions Libbi!
I doubled this recipe to feed a group of 5 very hungry people, with slight alterations. I ended up with enough leftovers for one or two more servings. I used 6 cups worth of chicken bullion but only 5 cups of water so it would keep the flavor but stay a little thicker. I also went slightly less than double the cayenne, which was a good move as two guests were spice babies and managed to sweat through it (while thoroughly enjoying it). Some of us tried adding blue cheese but anything more than a light sprinkling completely overwhelmed the flavor of the soup. the pepitas added a pleasant crunch and the sour cream helped people get the soup down to that perfect level of spice for each person.. Everybody enjoyed it and it has been requested that I add it to my regular rotation :)
Happy to hear it Jennifer! Thanks for sharing.
Great idea to make a soup. I love how you come up with the ingredients and i love how it looks . thanks for sharing the recipe, I wanted to make pumpkin recipes to a different level. this really helps, plus it is healthy.
Thanks Regelyn!!
I tried this recipe this weekend and have been enjoying mugfuls of it as a quick work snack! I followed the instructions for doubling the recipe, but I would NOT recommend doubling the cayenne- I doubled it with the rest of the spices and it really overwhelmed the flavor of the soup. I’d also recommend sprinkling in some pumpkin pie spice, I did so and it added some nice extra flavor.
Oh no! Thanks for sharing Christina!
Amazingly simple and so tasty – the spices were perfect! I whipped this up in no time and followed the recipe exactly as written, except I topped with toasted walnuts instead of pepitas – the sour cream is also a must! Will make again and again. Thank you, Beth 😊
Happy to hear it Barbara!
I just made this for my kids and they loved it!! I added a about 8 oz more of the pumpkin and 2 TBS of flour to thicken it a little. We are planning on having it again next week but using it as the base for a mixed veggie, ham and potato soup.
I think I’ll try this with pumpkin pie spice for extra depth.
Chiming in late, but as a side note: chicken stock is not vegetarian
Oops, thanks for catching that. I must have clicked the wrong box when picking the categories! :)
Just made it and SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YUMMY :)
This soup is delicious! I am really surprised at how much of a kick the cayenne pepper gives it. This was super easy to make and filling. Thank you so much!!
Thanks so much, this is super easy, fast and delicious!
I added about 1/8-1/4 c diced cilantro. It adds a nice flavor and touch!
xo Melanie
i am officially in love with this blog! especially with all these pumpkin recipes i’m finding :)
I love your site! Unfortunately I’ve never has much luck with canned pumpkin in soup, and this was no exception – it was so bland I had to add garam masala and about 4T of lemon juice, then a dollop of yogurt on top to make it palatable. I guess I’m back to kabocha for fall soup bases.
Thanks for your site and this great post. The pumpkin soup looks great!
I do have one suggestion, though: show the cost of having to purchase *whole* items, not parts. I understand you probably can’t do this with spices, as people don’t usually buy 1 teaspoon of something at a time. In the pumpkin soup example, though, you can’t really buy half an onion, so your cost is not $0.42 but $0.84. While you can obviously use the other half of the onion, you *must* use it for the 1/2 onion’s cost to be relevant. Just a thought.
That’s a great idea! The taste and texture of this soup would be PERFECT for a sourdough bread bowl. yum… now I want some more :D
Haha that’s exactly what we did with ours! Only we took it one step further and then spread it on toasted sourdough. Yum!
I’m here because Mary Sue recommended your blog. I now have it in my favorites. And we’re working our way through your recipes, very tasty.
KAte
you’re welcome! When I was eating it yesterday, I actually added a bit of my leftover coconut rice and they were amazing together!
Enjoy!
Thanks for this recipe. I wanted to make pumpkin soup but didn’t have a recipe. Now I do.