This Hokkaido pumpkin soup is so cozy, warming and packed with delicious pumpkin, fragrant sage and nutmeg. It's perfect as a fall lunch or light dinner, and comes together in all simple recipe steps on the stovetop!
Fall is the season of cozy soups don't you think? Much like my chicken butternut squash soup and butternut squash leek soup, this recipe uses delicious seasonal produce to cook up a flavorful lunch or light dinner.
With similar flavors to my chicken pumpkin risotto, this colorful Hokkaido pumpkin soup combines fresh pumpkin, fragrant sage and nutmeg. It's a warming fall soup that comes together so easily on the stovetop!
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🎃 Ingredients
All the ingredients and their quantities are set out in the recipe card below.
Some notes on a few of them:
- Pumpkin - this recipe uses Hokkaido pumpkin, which is also known as red kuri squash, onion squash and uchiki kuri. It's sweet, nutty and full of fall flavor. Pumpkin scores 0 on the SIGHI list, but I understand it is rated higher elsewhere. My low histamine readers will want to follow the advice of their dietician.
- Potato - I suggest to use a russet potato or Yukon gold potato. Peeling is optional, but personally I tend to do so for ease of blending. Leaving the peel on will thicken the soup.
- Onion - my low histamine readers may prefer to use white onion, which scores 0 on the SIGHI list rather than brown onion.
- Sage - while you could use a pinch of dried sage (don't use too much, it's pungent!), fresh sage leaves will give a much better flavor.
- Nutmeg - for those fall flavors! Just to note for my low histamine readers that nutmeg scores 1 on the SIGHI list, with a note, 'small amounts are well tolerated'.
❔ Do you have to peel Hokkaido pumpkin?
It's not necessary to peel Hokkaido pumpkin to make soup as the skin is edible and will soften when cooked in your soup pot. The pumpkin will break down and is very easy to blend.
🔪 How to make Hokkaido pumpkin soup
Making this fall pumpkin soup is so easy, uses affordable ingredients and comes together in all simple recipe steps on the stovetop.
All the instructions are set out below, but these step by step photos should help guide you.
Step 1: Cook onion and garlic
Drizzle olive oil in your Dutch oven or soup pot and cook diced onion for a few minutes to soften (image 1). Add in the minced garlic and stir through.
Step 2: Add the pumpkin
Sprinkle in the nutmeg, then tip in the diced Hokkaido pumpkin and potato (image 2). Stir well and cook for a few minutes.
Step 3: Add vegetable broth
Pour in the vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook for 25 minutes, so the pumpkin is softened and fork tender (image 3).
Step 4: Blend!
Add in the finely diced fresh sage leaves, stir through and heat for a few minutes. Use an immersion blender to blend the soup, or transfer batches to a food processor (image 4). Season with salt and black pepper to preference, and ladle into your serving bowls. Garnish with pumpkin seeds, a drizzle of olive oil and more fresh herbs if you like!
💭 Recipe tips and notes
- Dice the vegetables into small pieces. For an even cook time, dice the pumpkin and potatoes into roughly similar sized pieces.
- Add more vegetable broth. This makes quite a thick soup, so pour in a little more broth to thin to get the consistency you like best.
- No need to peel the pumpkin! Hokkaido pumpkin may seem like it has a thick skin when you're dicing it, but it softens during cooking and is edible.
📋 Frequently asked questions
Hokkaido pumpkin has a nutty, slightly sweet but also savory flavor.
If you're using russet potatoes or Yukon gold potatoes then you don't have to peel them as they have thin skins, but they will give you a slightly thicker soup.
It's very easy to freeze this pumpkin soup. Simply allow to cool completely and ladle into freezer-safe containers. The soup can be frozen for up to three months, but my low histamine readers may wish to review the SIGHI advice on freezing. You may need to add a little vegetable broth or water when reheating the soup.
🥣 More soup recipes
Enjoy so many tasty soup recipes here including my broccoli zucchini soup and cauliflower potato leek soup, as well as these recent meal ideas:
I'm always in the kitchen, so come join me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest to be the first to hear of new recipes! And I love to hear from you, so please do leave a star rating ⭐⭐⭐ and comment if you've tried the recipe!
📖 Recipe
Hokkaido Pumpkin Soup
Equipment
- Dutch oven or soup pot
- Immersion blender or food processor
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 medium Hokkaido pumpkin seeds removed, diced (about 6 cups)
- 1 medium russet potato peeled, diced
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 3.5 cups vegetable broth
- 1 tablespoon fresh sage leaves diced
- pinch salt
- pinch black pepper optional
Instructions
- Drizzle olive oil in your soup pot or Dutch oven and cook diced onion for 3-4 minutes, until softened. Stir in the minced garlic.
- Tip in the diced Hokkaido pumpkin, potato and nutmeg. Stir well, and cook for a couple of minutes.
- Pour in the vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, then cook the pumpkin mixture on a very low simmer for 25 minutes. Stir in the diced sage.
- Use an immersion blender to blend the soup, or transfer batches to a food processor to blend. Season with salt and (optional) black pepper, and ladle into your serving bowls.
Notes
- There's no need to peel the pumpkin as the skin is edible and goes very soft when cooked down.
- Dice the pumpkin and potato into small pieces of roughly the same size for an even cook time.
- While you could use dried sage (reduce to at least a third of the quantity), I recommend to use fresh sage leaves for their delicious fragrant flavor!
- Nutritional information is auto-generated and should be understood to be an estimate.
- pumpkin scores 0 on SIGHI, but is rated as higher on another list. Please follow the advice of your dietician.
- garlic and nutmeg, which score 1. See notes on SIGHI for both.
- vegetable broth will depend upon ingredients used and preparation method.
- black pepper, which scores 2.
Meli says
Great, delicious 😋
Claire says
So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂