This Secret Ingredient Creamy Pumpkin Soup is full of vegan goodness and oh-so-creamy. It’s easy and quick to make this creamy bowlful of pumpkin heaven…and it’s a meal prep-friendly meal. My secret ingredient vegan pumpkin soup is surprisingly easy to make and requires only a few easy-to-get ingredients + two secret ingredients that take the soup to a whole new level.
It’s that tasty time of the year again when the world goes a little pumpkin crazy, and I’m right there along with them. Pumpkin is a weird, wonderful, and delicious veggie and I wait all year for pumpkin season (and as a weird side note, so does my dog – pumpkin is one of her favorite veggies).
This pumpkin soup is rich, thick, creamy, and full of flavor. Its lusciously creamy richness will make it your favorite pumpkin recipe. Add it to your pumpkin recipe rotation because you will be making this crowd-pleaser pumpkin soup on repeat.
What’s great about this amazing vegan secret ingredient creamy pumpkin soup recipe:
- Just about everything
- Loaded with creamy pumpkin flavors
- Easy to make
- Gluten-free
- Healthy
- Creamy and delicious
- Meal prep-friendly pumpkin soup
- Freezer friendly recipe
- Vegan
- A crowdpleaser pumpkin recipe
Secret Ingredients pumpkin soup
So, I’m sure you just want me to get to the point and reveal my secret ingredients. And don’t worry, I will. Adding these secret ingredients will take your regular pumpkin soup to a new level of deliciousness. It adds extra levels of depth and flavor…and makes this soup completely irresistible. What are they, you ask. My two top-secret pumpkin soup ingredients are adding tahini and vegan dark beer to the soup. You won’t believe how much flavor adding these two ingredients will give your dish…but I promise you it’s a must-try soup hack for getting extra flavors.
In this easy vegan pumpkin soup recipe post
Ingredients for making secret ingredient pumpkin soup
Tips and tricks for making the best pumpkin soup
How to make vegan pumpkin soup
What to serve with vegan pumpkin soup
Ingredients for making the best easy vegan secret ingredient pumpkin soup
Pumpkins – Peeled and chopped into large chunks (or purchase it pre-cut). If you don’t have pumpkins (Or think they’re too much trouble to prepare) you can replace the pumpkin with canned pumpkin purée. You will need 2 cans of pumpkin purée to make this with canned pumpkin puree. Add it in place of the fresh pumpkin and follow the recipe as is.
Onion and garlic – the key ingredients that give this easy pumpkin soup extra savory flavors. If you don’t have onions or garlic you can substitute with onion powder and garlic powder (but using fresh onions is recommended)
Carrots – carrots give the soup more color, extra nutrients, and a delicate sweetness.
Coconut Milk – coconut milk adds an extra depth of flavor, a rich creamy texture, and a hint of sweetness. It’s the secret to a super creamy vegan soup. If you don’t like coconut milk you can replace it with soy milk, oat milk, or your favorite plant milk.
Vegetable broth – for a tastier pumpkin soup, you can’t skip the vegetable broth! It makes all the difference to a luscious rich soup. If you don’t have vegetable stock you can use vegetable stock cubes dissolved in hot water in equal amounts.
Vegan dark beer – the vegan dark beer gives the soup depth, a hint of sweetness, and a rounded taste that’s sooo good. And as a surprising bonus, beer contains lots of vitamin B and healthy nutrients. If you don’t have a vegan beer in the kitchen, you can replace the richness by adding a tablespoon of vinegar, 2 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce, and a 1/2 cup extra vegetable stock.
Seasoning – bay leaves, ground nutmeg, cayenne pepper, thyme, black pepper, and salt. There’s so much flavor in this creamy soup.
Tips and tricks for making the best vegan pumpkin soup
Best pumpkin for pumpkin soup
You can use any type of edible pumpkin or butternut squash to make this creamy soup. My favorite pumpkin for making the creamiest pumpkin soup is sugar pumpkins or butternut squash. If you don’t have pumpkins (Or think they’re too much trouble to prepare) you can replace the pumpkin with canned pumpkin purée. You will need 2 cans of pumpkin purée to make this with canned pumpkin puree. Add it in place of the fresh pumpkin and follow the recipe as is.
How to add extra seasoning to jazz up pumpkin soup
Not that this tasty pumpkin soup needs any jazzing up, but just in case you’re craving EXTRA flavor here are a few simple ways to jazz up pumpkin soup.
Thai red curry paste – adding 2 tablespoons of Thai red curry paste is an amazing way to add extra flavor and irresistible richness to the soup. Just mix the paste in with the veggies before adding the vegetable stock and get ready to enjoy a creamy ultra-rich pumpkin soup.
Ginger – a tablespoon of freshly grated ginger adds extra spice and bite to the soup, plus it’s a great way to give your immune system a boost. Ginger is rich in antioxidants and has been linked to better immune system response.
Lime juice – adding 1-2 tablespoons of lime juice makes the pumpkin soup fresh, fragrant and so good.
Sweet chili sauce – try topping the soup with a drizzle of sweet chili sauce for extra sweet and spicy goodness.
How to make the best creamy secret ingredient pumpkin beer soup
Easy Pumpkin soup cooking Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a pot and add the diced onion. Let the onions cook at medium heat for a couple of minutes before adding the garlic and tahini. Stir together and add the diced carrots and pumpkin. Season with grated nutmeg, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and thyme and stir together to combine.
- Add the tomato paste and beer and mix. Let the beer come to a quick boil, before adding the coconut milk and vegetable broth. Stir together to combine and add the bay leaves. Let the soup come to a boil before turning it down to a simmer.
- Remove the soup from the stove and carefully remove the bay leaves. Puree the soup with a handheld blender until it’s smooth and creamy (be careful not to burn yourself). If the soup isn’t thick and creamy enough, whisk corn flour together with hot water in a small bowl and gently add a little at a time to the soup until you reach the desired thickness.
- Place the soup back on the stove and let it simmer for a few more minutes. Serve with a drizzle of fresh basil and pumpkin seeds and enjoy.
How to serve this creamy vegan pumpkin soup
You can serve this pumpkin soup as is with a side of garlic bread or flutes. It’s a one-pot bowl of heavenly pumpkin flavors that can easily stand on its own. And if you’re ever lucky enough to get any leftovers, this soup is also great as a quick healthy next-day lunch.
Try serving with
The best pumpkin soup toppings
Salsa – regular salsa, hot salsa, tomatillo salsa, or my easy tasty salsa (my favorite topping). You can never go wrong with a good salsa topping.
Crushed tortilla chips – crispy, crunchy and salty. Pretty much everything you need as a delicious topping you get in the humble tortilla chips.
Sour cream – whether vegan sour cream or regular sour cream, sour cream is always a great soup topping choice.
Hot sauce – because some people just need more spice in everything, all the time.
Sweet chili sauce – I would happily pour sweet chili sauce over just about anything…and that includes my easy vegan pumpkin soup. Yum.
French fried onions – crunchy, onion-y, and irresistible. French fried onions are an AMAZING soup topping.
Jalapeños and green chilies – if you want even more spice in your soup then this is the topping for you.
Shredded cheese – vegan or vegetarian shredded cheese melting into a hot bowlful of cozy soup? Yes, please.
FAQs – all your pumpkin soup questions answered
Well, it is a secret ingredient…but, that being said, if you don’t have a beer in the house or would rather not use it, you don’t have to. This soup is still delicious, decadent, and creamy all on its own, even without the beer. If you’re not using beer, you may need to add a little extra coconut milk to make up for the lost liquid…or more vegetable broth, if you prefer a lighter soup.
You can use fresh pumpkin, where you peel the pumpkin and dice it. The pumpkin will naturally cook in the soup and become lovely and creamy.
If you want a quick pumpkin fix and don’t have time to peel your pumpkin, you can easily use store-bought canned pumpkin meat. Just make sure to use canned pumpkin without sugar or sweeteners added (because the sugar will mess up the taste of the soup).
This pumpkin soup is my favorite for so many reasons, I can’t even name them all. The fact that it’s meal prep-friendly and freezer-friendly is just part of why I adore it. You can easily make this soup 1-2 days before because the flavors only intensify when the soup is made in advance. The same is true for when the soup is frozen. All the delicious pumpkin flavors seem to condense and intensify when the soup is reheated. It’s so tasty and can definitely be recommended.
Note: During the busy autumn I like to always have a batch of pumpkin soup ready in the freezer to be reheated whenever needed. It makes life a whole lot simpler.
Yes, you do. The skin is too tough and won’t puree properly so you’ll end up with hard bits in the soup.
Pumpkin soup making and freezing FAQs
Make the soup and set it to cool on the counter. Once the soup is at room temperature transfer it to a freezer-safe container – like a plastic zip freezer bag or another container – and freeze the soup. If you have made a large batch, you can freeze the pumpkin soup in smaller batches that would only serve 1-2 people.
Pumpkin soup can be frozen for up to 3 months. Just defrost and reheat completely before serving.
Yes. This easy vegan pumpkin soup is great as a Mediterranean diet meal. Eat it as a delicious filling dinner, and reheat leftovers for a healthy lunch the next day.
You can reheat pumpkin soup in several ways
The saucepan way: Reheat the cabbage in a saucepan covered at medium heat for 10-15 minutes while stirring occasionally, or until the soup is heated all the way through.
The microwave way: Place the soup in a microwave-safe container. Cover with a lid and reheat at a high temperature for 2 minutes. Check if the soup is heated all the way through, then reheat for 30 seconds one more minute if necessary. Check again, and continue heating in intervals until the soup is hot.
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Secret Ingredient Creamy Pumpkin Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 3 tbsp Tamari or Soy Sauce
- 1 Yellow Onion Diced
- 3 tbsp Garlic Minced
- 1 large Carrot Diced
- 4 cups Pumpkin Diced
- ¼ cup Cornstarch Only if soup is too thin
- 2 cups Coconut Milk or other plant milk
- 2 cups Vegetable Broth
- 1 12oz Vegan Dark Beer
- 2 Bay leaves
- ¼ tsp Freshly grated Nutmeg
- ¼ tsp Cayenne Pepper
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Black Pepper
- 2 tsp Thyme Fresh or dried
- 4 tbsp Tomato Paste
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a pot and add the diced onion. Let the onions cook at medium heat for a couple of minutes before adding the garlic and tahini. Stir together and add the diced carrots and pumpkin. Season with grated nutmeg, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and thyme and stir together to combine.
- Add the tomato paste and beer and mix together. Let the beer come to a quick boil, before adding the coconut milk and vegetable broth. Stir together to combine and add the bay leaves. Let the soup come to a boil before turning it down to a simmer.
- Remove the soup from the stove and carefully remove the bay leaves. Puree the soup with a handheld blender until it’s smooth and creamy (be careful not to burn yourself). If the soup isn’t thick and creamy enough, whisk corn flour together with hot water in a small bowl and gently add a little at a time to the soup until you reach the desired thickness.
- Place the soup back on the stove and let it simmer a few more minutes. Serve with a drizzle of fresh basil and pumpkin seeds and enjoy.
Looking for more delicious vegan soup recipes? Try some of my favourite soups like: