This Spicy Coconut and Pumpkin Soup is a keeper! It’s super quick to make and insanely delicious—my favorite combination. It’s light enough to act as a starter or side for your meal, or you can pair it with some naan bread for a light lunch. Want to bulk it out a little and turn it into a full meal? Add some shredded rotisserie chicken and you’re good to go. This bones of this super are very simple, so once you learn them you can start making modifications and adaptations to give it new life every time you make it!
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This soup is creamier than my easy pumpkin soup recipe but not overly heavy, which makes it doable despite the strong summer heat. It’s also spicy, thanks to the crushed red pepper flakes, but the heat is completely customizable. If you’re a little sensitive when it comes to heat, start with half the amount of red pepper flakes and work up from there. OR season it up with a mild curry powder, in place of the cumin and crushed red pepper, for maximum flavor without the heat.
I garnished my Spicy Coconut and Pumpkin Soup with a little plain yogurt, sriracha (because I need even MORE heat, duh), and a few pepitas that I had left in my cabinet. The cool, tart flavor of the yogurt was a nice contrast if you have some on hand, but the soup is just as awesome on its own without any fancy toppings. :)
Spicy Coconut and Pumpkin Soup
Servings 6 about 1.25 cups eachIngredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.12)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.25)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1 Tbsp fresh ginger, grated ($0.16)
- 1 tsp ground cumin ($0.10)
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper ($0.05)
- 1 15oz. can pumpkin puree ($2.37)
- 1 14oz. can coconut milk ($1.99)
- 3 cups chicken broth ($0.39)
- Salt and pepper to taste ($0.05)
- 1/4 bunch fresh cilantro ($0.20)
GARNISHES (optional)
- 3/4 cup plain yogurt ($0.37)
- 3 Tbsp Sriracha ($0.15)
- 3 Tbsp pumpkin seeds (pepitas) ($0.59)
Instructions
- Mince or grate the ginger using a fine-holed cheese grater. Finely dice the onion and mince the garlic. Add the ginger, garlic, and onion to a pot with the olive oil and sauté over medium-low heat until soft and transparent (about 5 minutes).
- Add the cumin and red pepper to the pot. Stir and cook for about 1-2 minutes to allow the spices to toast just slightly.
- Add the pumpkin purée and coconut milk to the pot and stir to combine. Add the chicken broth and stir to combine again. Turn the heat up to medium and allow the soup to heat through. Once heated, taste and add salt and pepper to your liking (I added 1/4 tsp salt and 10 cranks of the pepper mill).
- Rinse the cilantro, pull the leaves from the stems, and then give them a rough chop. Stir in a handful of the chopped cilantro just before serving. If you want a smooth soup with no chunks of onion, use an immersion blender prior to adding the cilantro.
- If desired, garnish each bowl with 2 Tbsp plain yogurt, a drizzle of sriracha, and a sprinkle of pepitas.
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Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Love savory pumpkin recipes? You should also try our Curried Red Lentil and Pumpkin Soup, Chipotle Pumpkin Pasta, or Easy Pumpkin Soup.
How to Make Spicy Coconut and Pumpkin Soup – Step By Step Photos
Grate about 1 Tbsp fresh ginger using a small-holed cheese grater. Grating ginger is a LOT easier when it’s frozen, so I usually keep a knob in my freezer. As long as you make sure the skin is well cleaned, you don’t need to peel it first. If grating is difficult, you can mince the ginger instead.
Also mince two cloves of garlic and finely dice one onion. Place the onion, ginger, and garlic in a soup pot with 1 Tbsp olive oil. Sauté over medium-low heat until the onions are soft and transparent (about 5 minutes).
Then add 1 tsp cumin and 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes. If you’re sensitive to heat, start with half the red pepper flakes and add more at the end if you want to increase the heat. Continue to stir and cook for about one more minute.
Next add one 15oz. can pumpkin purée, NOT canned pumpkin pie filling. ;)
And one 14oz. can of coconut milk. Stir the coconut milk and pumpkin together until they’re well mixed. The first time I made this recipe I used Thai Kitchen brand coconut milk and it was much thicker than this Goya brand, so my final soup was also a bit thicker. Both soups tasted great, but the different brands of coconut milk did give the soup different textures.
And finally, add 3 cups of chicken broth. I use Better Than Bouillon soup base to make my broth because it’s super convenient, inexpensive, has less packaging than 38 cups worth of canned or boxed broths, and lasts just about forever in the fridge. This also comes in organic or low sodium versions, BTW. #notsponsored
Turn the heat up to medium and allow the soup to heat through. Taste the soup and adjust the salt as needed, and add a little freshly cracked pepper. The amount of salt you’ll need will depend on the type of broth you use. I only added 1/4 tsp, but it really helped the flavors pop.
While the soup is heating, rinse 1/4 bunch of cilantro, pull the leaves from the stems, and roughly chop them. Add the chopped cilantro to the soup just before serving.
And there you have it! A super fast and easy Spicy Coconut and Pumpkin Soup.
I sprinkled a little crushed red pepper on top, drizzled some sriracha and plain yogurt, and added some pepitas that I found in my pantry. :) Beautiful AND delicious.
This turned out very well for me! I added red lentils (cooked separately) and stirred in two cups of greens with the cilantro. I did find I wanted more crushed pepper flakes, black pepper, and salt so I upped each to taste. Topped it with hot sauce, avocado, Greek yogurt, and minced red onion. So delicious! I’m hoping the flavors will intensify overnight in the refrigerator too. :)
I like my soups to be a bit on the thicker side. What can I do to thicken the soup?
I would either reduce the broth by half or increase the pumpkin, although adding more pumpkin will probably change the flavor balance more drastically than reducing the broth.
Beth – this recipe is ridiculously good. I ended up modifying it slightly, and it was so delicious. I made it vegan (veggie broth, no yogurt) and added in carrots and potatoes as well as some slightly roasted delicata squash. Admittedly it’s more of a curry now, but man, tons of flavor. I”m not a cook by any means, but this was on par with something I would order at a restaurant.
This soup was a perfect find on a sick day while doing the whole 30. It was easy to make whole30 compliant, I had everything in the house and it’s totally comforting me right now! Thank you!! I’ve also made your pumpkin red lentil soup before and that was great as well!
Do you think substituting the chicken broth for veggie broth would make a huge difference in the taste?
I think vegetable broth is mild enough that it would still be really lovely in this soup. :)
We love your site – so many of our favorite dishes come from here! We like to add about 2 cups of Basmati rice (cooked with a few cardamom pods) and about 1 cup of your Chili Rubbed Pulled Pork to this soup to bulk it up! We also use coconut oil instead of olive oil for the saute to increase the coconut flavor. It freezes very well and is DELICIOUS!!! Thanks for all you do!
I haven’t made this YET (oh, but I will) and I wanted to suggest to others how I’m going to serve it. The naan recipe here is so good and easy – I’m going to make some stuffed with either roasted garlic and/or potatoes! I researched and looks easy enough to do – before you roll them up into balls, flatten a bit, add filling in the center, form into balls to rest before rolling out. I haven’t tried it yet, but it sounds failsafe!
How to do this with fresh pumpkin? We don’t really have canned pumpkin in NZ and the fresh stuff is really cheap at the moment
I’ve never made puréed fresh pumpkin, but I have seen tutorials online. Once you get it baked and puréed, just substitute the same volume for the canned version.
Is there an equivalent teaspoon measurement for the ginger?
If you mean for fresh ginger, I’d use about one tablespoon. If you mean dried ginger, the flavor is quite different, but I’d try maybe a half teaspoon and add more after tasting if needed.
just made this and I had everything in my pantry;0 VERY tasty. what I did I used my sift to make the soup smooth to leave the onions out and was perfect. Good and easy for after school, or old day. Thanks
Never before have I made a soup with this much flavour! This recipe raised the bar to a new standard in the soup world.
Next time, I plan on having sandwiches or wraps with the soup. Beth, is there a particular sandwich or wrap in your recipe collection that you think would compliment this soup?
Merci!
Maybe some curry chicken salad in a wrap?
If I was going to add meat, what would you suggest? I don’t want to overpower the coconut/pumpkin balance.
I think I’d do shredded chicken. Chicken and coconut go quite well together (like chicken coconut soup) and it doesn’t have a strong flavor.
I love this soup. I’ve made it few times and it is a big hit. I do add a little bit a soy sauce and some brown sugar and I think it deepens the flavours. This does not last long in my house.
Any thoughts on adding in some lentils to up the protein a bit?
Yes, you could probably do that! Brown lentils only need to be simmered for about 20 minutes, so you might be able to just simmer them right in the soup. Or, simmer them in a separate pot of water until tender, drain, and then add to the soup.
HI Beth,
I love your site- we’ve been cooking your recipes weekly since discovering your site over Christmas! We made this soup last night but didn’t feel like eating soup again tonight, so we threw it on top of some jasmine rice and added chickpeas, broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower for an instant curry. It was delicious!