Pumpkin Curry Soup

How to Make Pumpkin Curry Soup

As with the ingredients, you'll find specific instructions in the printable recipe card at the end of this post. You can use the "jump to recipe" button to skip right on down, or, let's walk through it together with pictures.

First things first, let's get chopping! You'll want to start by cutting your pumpkin in half and scooping the seeds out. Then, slice the pumpkin into sections.

I find these sections are easier to slice the skin off of than trying to tackle peeling an entire pumpkin, but you can do whatever works for you. The goal is to have about 10 cups of cubed pumpkin when you're done. 

Take the opportunity to chop your onion, crush your garlic, and grate your ginger now as well. Then you're ready to make some soup!

Now we're going to heat up some oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot. I like to use my Le Creuset Dutch Oven for making soups like this one. Onions, garlic, and ginger go into the pot and get all sweaty and slightly brown. Just a light tan, if you know what I mean.

Then you're going to add your cubed pumpkin. Give it a stir and let it hang out with the onions and garlic for a minute or two to let their flavors combine, and then add your vegetable broth.

It should just barely cover the pumpkin (see photo above). I also like to add the curry paste now because I want the flavour to get into the pumpkin as much as possible.

Cover and simmer until the pumpkin is tender - I like to check this by stabbing a pumpkin chunk with a fork. I find this takes about 15-20 minutes of simmering time.

At this point you're going to want to purée your soup. To get it velvety-smooth, I like to purée the soup in batches using my Vitamix. Otherwise, you can use an immersion blender for this job, and purée the soup right in the pot.

Once the soup is blended up nice and velvety smooth, add your coconut milk and a good squeeze of lime. Taste the soup and adjust the seasonings if you like. Maybe a bit more lime? Perhaps a tad more curry paste? Choose your own adventure!

And that's it! Your soup is ready to serve. I like to top it with cilantro, chili flakes, and toasted pumpkin seeds if I'm feeling fancy.

Storing, Freezing, and Reheating Soup

Leftover soup will last 3-5 days stored in an airtight container in your refrigerator. Or, to freeze, transfer cooled or room temperature soup into freezer-proof containers and ensure there's enough head space for the soup to expand as it freezes. I often reuse yogurt containers for freezing my soup, but I also love these reusable silicon freezer bags or Souper Cubes for freezing in single servings. 

To re-heat soup I most often use my microwave. 
If the soup is frozen, I'll drop the frozen block of soup into a pot and heat on low heat, covered, on the stove top until the soup has melted and warmed up. 

Hey Nutrition Lady, is pumpkin healthy?

Pumpkin, and other yellow fleshed winter squash, are jam packed full of carotenes, including beta-carotene, alpha-carotene and other carotenoids. These are the compounds ultimately responsible for their bright yellow and orange colours, and also is a pre-cursor to Vitamin A (you need that so you can see).

Winter squash (including pumpkins) are also rockstars in the B vitamin department, with high amounts of vitamin B6, and a good amount of vitamin B2, vitamin B3, folate, and pantothenic acid. Pumpkin also contains a good dose of dietary fibre, potassium, vitamin C, and manganese.