Mum’s Pumpkin Soup

A simple version of an Australian classic recipe, my easy and creamy dairy-free pumpkin soup is the perfect healthy weeknight lunch or dinner. 

I have a few specific food memories from my childhood, and something I have always associated with home is pumpkin soup. Mum would make big pots of soup from the pumpkins grown by my uncle. It was smooth and creamy, heavy on the nutmeg, and warm and comforting.

To this day, I cannot have pumpkin soup without thinking of Mum. So in that sense I thought it was fitting that with Mother’s Day coming up on Sunday, in celebration of Mum’s everywhere, I shared her pumpkin soup recipe.

Now it’s not a secret recipe filled with family secrets that is going to get me exiled from the family for sharing on the internet. Unless you count recipes that are super easy and use simple ingredients but taste fantastic as a family secret, because that’s definitely something I think I got from Mum.

She taught me how to cook instinctively, knowing what flavours go together, how to measure with approximate values and how to trust look and feel over a recipes instructions. But she definitely didn’t fuss around with fancy ingredients or unnecessary steps. It was about good techniques and simple home cooking.

For that reason, when I found the handwritten recipe I had scrawled on a piece of paper after asking mum for it many years ago, it was basically just an ingredient list – no real quantities. But I think this recipe is really forgiving in that sense.

The only change that I have made to mum’s recipe is to make it dairy-free. As my allergy to dairy only came in adulthood I didn’t have an issue with a soup made with cream or milk. Now I do, so we use coconut milk instead. And woah, can I say I think it makes it better than Mum’s? No? Well it’s definitely just as good!

How to Make Pumpkin Soup

To make this soup you first saute an onion in some butter or margarine (I used my regular dairy-free spread), however you could use olive oil, but the butter adds a bit of extra flavour. Next you add the sliced pumpkin and potato. Why is it sliced not diced? Because Mum said so. But if I had to guess I would say that it assists with quick, even cooking.

Add stock, I use good quality chicken stock for flavour but if you want this to be all about the veggies, a vegetable stock will work fine. Use enough stock to cover your veggies, add your nutmeg (freshly grated is the only acceptable nutmeg in pumpkin soup) and bay leaf and then let simmer for around 30 mins until the veggies are super soft and falling apart and everything smells amazing.

This is where I wish I had an immersion blender – it may very well be my next kitchen purchase purley for soup making and mess elimination. Either use an immersion blender to make everything creamy in the pot or transfer to a standard blender and blend until everything is smooth and there are no lumps. You will probably need to do this in batches depending on the size of your blender.

Once done, add the creamy soup back to the pot and on low heat, mix through coconut milk. Cook for a few minutes to thicken before serving with a thick slice of freshly toasted bread.

This is the perfect, easy meal to make at home now that the weather feels like it is finally starting to cool down here in Brisbane.

While this might not be the fancy meal you want to make on Mother’s day, for me it is the perfect celebration of remembering my childhood and saying thank you Mum for feeding me and all the other things as well.

Happy Mother’s Day.

If you do make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and rating below! And tag any of your creations on Instagram with #eightforestlane as I would love to see.

5 from 4 votes

Mum's Pumpkin Soup

A simple version of an Australian classic recipe, my easy and creamy dairy-free pumpkin soup is the perfect healthy weeknight lunch or dinner. 

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Total Time40 mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Australian

Servings: 4 people

Calories: 181kcal

Author: Sally

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Ingredients

• 1/4 piece of pumpkin
• 2 potatoes
• 2-3 tablespoons dairy-free butter* or margarine
• 1 onion
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 2 bay leaves
• pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (to taste)
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• salt & pepper

Instructions

• Peel pumpkin and potatoes and slice into thin pieces. Set aside.
• Heat a large, heavy based pot on the stove. While this is heating up, finely dice the onion. Add dairy-free butter to the pot until melted before adding the onion. Fry for 2-3 minutes until soft and translucent. 
• Add sliced pumpkin and potatoes to the pot and mix for about a minute until covered with the butter and onion mixture. Add chicken stock so that the vegetables are covered. Add bay leaves and freshly grated nutmeg and stir. Turn down heat and simmer for 30 minutes until the vegetables are soft and beginning to break down. 
• Turn off the heat and let the soup cool for about 10-15 minutes before blending. You can either use an immersion blender or transfer to a regular blender in batches and blend until smooth and creamy. 
• Transfer blended soup back to the pot and place back on the heat. Add coconut milk, nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste, and stir until combined and the soup is thick and hot. Serve with a slice of freshly toasted bread. 

Notes

Vegetarian/Vegan Option: Instead of chicken stock, swap out for your favourite vegetable stock. 

A note on the freshly grated nutmeg. Please buy whole nutmeg and grate this into your soup. The flavour is so much better than by using the ground nutmeg and is really the key to making this soup delicious. It is really inexpensive and you will find it in the spice isle at your local supermarket. Thank me later! 

*I use Nuttelex Buttery to replace butter in most of my recipes as it is dairy-free and gives a 'buttery' flavour without being greasy. As this is an Australian product, the closest US alternative I believe is Earth Balance. Otherwise any dairy-free spread will work.

Not from Australia? Check out my US Conversion Guide. 

More easy soup recipes:

Golden Turmeric Sweet Potato Soup
Dairy-Free Potato and Leek Soup with Bacon Crumb
Easy Tomato Soup
Healthy Vegetable Soup with Lentils and Barley
Pressure Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup

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