Recipe: creamy pumpkin soup with crunchy croutons and toasted seeds
Silky, golden and ready in 45 minutes: a classic autumn pumpkin soup made with just onions, stock and a splash of cream, topped with crisp croutons and toasted pumpkin seeds. Serves six.
Pumpkins and winter squash are piled high in markets right now, and with Halloween ten days away there is no better time for a bowl of pumpkin soup. This version is based on a much-loved recipe from BBC Good Food: a few honest ingredients, gently cooked and blended until velvety, with a handful of crunchy toppings for contrast.
Any dense, sweet pumpkin works: kabocha, butternut, Hokkaido (red kuri) or the classic Romanian bostan or dovleac plăcintar. Cooking the pumpkin in the oil before adding the stock gives the soup a deeper, slightly caramelised flavour, and the croutons and seeds can be made a day ahead.
Ingredients: soup
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- 1 kg pumpkin or squash (kabocha, butternut or Hokkaido), peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks
- 700 ml vegetable or chicken stock
- 150 ml double cream
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Ingredients: croutons and seeds
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
- 4 slices wholemeal seeded bread, crusts removed
- A handful of pumpkin seeds
Method
- Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and cook the onions gently for about 5 minutes, until soft but not coloured.
- Add the pumpkin chunks and keep cooking for 8–10 minutes, stirring now and then, until they start to soften and turn golden at the edges.
- Pour in the stock, season with salt and pepper, bring to the boil, then simmer for about 10 minutes, until the pumpkin is very soft.
- Stir in the cream, bring back to the boil, then blend until smooth with a stick blender. For an extra-velvety texture, pass the soup through a fine sieve. At this point it can be frozen for up to 2 months.
- For the croutons, cut the bread into small cubes.
- Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the bread cubes until they start to turn crisp.
- Add the pumpkin seeds and cook for a few minutes more, until toasted. Croutons and seeds keep for a day in an airtight container.
- Reheat the soup if needed, check the seasoning, then serve topped with the croutons and seeds and an extra drizzle of olive oil.
Tips
- Watery carving pumpkins give a thin, bland soup; choose a heavy pumpkin with deep orange flesh. If the soup is too thick, loosen it with a little hot stock.
- For a lighter or vegan version, swap the cream for coconut milk or simply more stock, and use vegetable stock.