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Spicy pumpkin soup

Spicy pumpkin soup

It's sweet and spicy, this pumpkin soup is an autumn favourite and perfect if you're making soup for the first time, as well as for seasoned cooks. It works really well if you roast the pumpkin and sweet potato first. Delicious!
By Love Food Hate Waste
Serves 1
Prep/Cook time: 45-60 minutes
a vibrant creamy orange soup topped with pumpkin seeds

Ingredients

½ medium pumpkin or ½ butternut squash
Can be made with other roast veg e.g. parsnips, carrots
1 sweet potato
½ red pepper
1½ cups (375 ml) of water
1 cup (250 ml) full fat milk or alternative milk e.g. soya, almond
1 red chilli (optional)
Pinches of salt and pepper for seasoning

Perfect portions

Use our portion calculator for a quick and simple way to check how much food to serve with this meal.

Use portion calculator

Recipe

  1. Preheat the oven to 190ºC.

  2. Remove the pumpkin flesh with a spoon, and peel the sweet potato. Chop the pumpkin and sweet potato into 1 inch cubes. 

    Tasty stock from veg peel and ends: Place in a sealed container and freeze. To make the stock, simmer in water for 20 mins when required. Great for soups, stews and risottos.

  3. Slice the red peppers and put all vegetables on a roasting tray, with a drizzle of oil. Place in the oven to roast for 30-40 minutes, until soft.

  4. Allow all the vegetables to cool a little. Once cool enough to handle, add the pumpkin, sweet potato and peppers to a blender with the water, milk and diced chilli, and blend until smooth.

  5. Pour into a saucepan and heat until piping hot, adding more water if you like a slightly thinner soup.

  6. Season to taste with salt and pepper

  7. Chef’s tip: To give the soup a sweeter flavour, roast the pumpkin and sweet potato until they are dark and caramelised. It is important to allow the veg to cool before putting in the blender as the pressure of the steam could create a mess in the kitchen!

  8. Use up: Use up some uncooked veg that you may have left over from another dish.

  9. Variations: To make this a more balanced dish, you can serve with garlic croutons or a few slices of bread and butter. You can also vary the ingredients buy using butternut squash instead of, or as an addition to, the pumpkin!

  10. Extra flavour: Adding your own mix of herbs and spices can really enhance this dish, such as coriander, cumin, oregano or fennel seeds. 

  11. Vegan options: To adapt this dish for vegans, replace the milk with vegetable stock, alternative milk or coconut milk, all of which will create different flavours.

  12. Allergy advice: This versatile dish is easily adapted to avoid allergens and be suitable for most diets.

Make the most of your leftovers
Store in
Airtight container
Time
Fridge for 2 days, freezer for 3 months
Where to store
Fridge or freezer
Reheat
Oven or microwave until piping hot. Reheat only once.

Perfect portions

Use our portion calculator for a quick and simple way to check how much food to serve with this meal.

Use portion calculator

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Inside of the fridge with someone changing the fridge temperature dial

Keep your fridge at 5°C or below

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