Spicy Pumpkin Soup

Have you noticed the pumpkin recipes I have been posting lately.  I am in good company as I lurk around the internet (and Pinterest).   There are a LOT of great pumpkin recipes out there.

That must mean one thing….Halloween is almost here and Thanksgiving will follow close behind.

We have had fewer and fewer Trick-or-Treaters the past few years.   When we moved into our house almost fourteen years ago, we had probably fifty.   Now, we are lucky to get five or six which leaves me in a predicament.

How much candy do I actually buy?    I have this nightmare that I will run out and have to search through the house for some peppermints leftover from a Sonic run or worse yet, hand out apples or oranges from the kitchen counter.

I can just hear the kids now, “Whoa, don’t go to that house.   They’ve got nuttin’!”

But, I compromised this year and have purchased individual packages of pretzels and little cute boxes of temporary Halloween tattoos.   Hopefully, if we don’t have many, we can eat the pretzels ourselves and save the tattoos for next year.

We had some fantastic spicy pumpkin soup samples during the last Farmers Market and I wanted to dupe it at home.   I found a great starter recipe at A Spicy Perspective.    (For the original recipe, click here.)    The version we sampled had a lot of chili powder and a little more heat.

Here is my version:

Spicy Pumpkin Soup

1T. olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1-2  jalapenos, seeded (optional) and chopped
1 1/2 T. ground cumin
1 1/2 T. Mexican oregano
1 T. chili powder
1 1/2 t. fine sea salt
8 c. vegetable stock
4c. puréed pumpkin
19 oz. can Cannellini beans
2 T. red wine vinegar
2 T. honey

Place a stock pot over medium to high heat.   Add the oil.   When oil is hot, add onions and jalapenos and saute for three minutes.   Add garlic and saute another two minutes, being careful not to burn the garlic.  Add the spices and stir.

These were pretty large garlic cloves and the jalapeno was a mild one from the garden so I didn’t seed it.

Add the vegetable stock, pumpkin and beans.   Simmer for 20 minutes, uncovered.   After 20 minutes, add the vinegar and honey and simmer another 3-5 minutes.

Using an immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth.    Simmer for 10 more minutes.

Serve with a leafy salad and a good “dipping” bread.

My soup was a bit thin so it really lent itself to a good bread to sop it up.   I added a bit more pumpkin which was probably a bit thinner than a canned pumpkin because I roasted my own.   I also added a large can of beans that I did not drain.

This would be a great soup to serve tomorrow for “Pumpkin Day”!    Those Trick-or-Treaters might want to come in and  sample some as the aroma wafts through the house.

 

18 comments to Spicy Pumpkin Soup

  • I was just thinking, “Oh, another pumpkin recipe, what’s this one???” Lol! This soup sounds very good. I definitely like the kick to it. Love me some spicy 🙂

  • Yay, a savory pumpkin recipe! There’s not too many of those, and I’m one of the guilty parties only making sweets with my pumpkin. I do love some heat and this sounds great!

    • I love the savory recipes but eat my fair of the sweet pumpkin treats this time of year. I would like to find a good pumpkin pasta recipe! Any ideas?

  • I’ve never had pumpkin soup but yours sure looks tasty!

  • Haha I’m a pumpkin sweet person but you may have converted me 🙂

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

  • I will never get tired of pumpkins! The soup looks super!

  • I love the beans in this!!! And I never tire of Pumpkin anything. WE use it all year round.
    Good luck with the kids tonight… ours is never regular either. Some years we get hoards, others, not so many. My extra bag this year is Butterfingers, just in case. I will use it if necessary, and eat it if not!

    • Yep, had nobody tonight but that was alright! It was nice to spend a relaxing evening at home with the doorbell not ringing every five minutes! 🙂 (Hope you had some extra Butterfingers for yourself.)

  • When I was living in Air Force base housing I used to spend a minimum of $100 on candy. We had so many trick or treaters that I would just sit on the front porch and hand it out. Since moving to Great Falls the candy purchase has gone done to only 4 bags and I still have leftovers. Not sure why there is such a huge dichotomy. Like Kim I buy extra butterfingers…love em and gobble them up if not enough come around. The soup sounds wonderful, love that it has a spice to it!

  • We had a record number of trick or treaters tonight!!We did run out of candy! We are both on the same wavelength here. I made a spicy pumpkin soup last night! Loved it. It was quite different from this recipe, but I think it’s the whole pumpkin and chile combo that we love! I’m going to have to try this recipe next. It sounds and looks delicious! Thanks for sharing it!

    • I will definitely check out your recipe! I have so much pumpkin still frozen from last year—I really need to use it up before sticking more bags in the freezer! Freezer is getting really full.

  • That soup looks awesome! I think the spiciness totally makes it. Pumpkin-inspired recipes are definitely a thing right now–there was a woman on “Fresh Air” on NPR a couple of days ago who had some fabulous ones, too.