Pumpkin Sweet Potato Soup
Inspired by several recipes, I tweaked this to create my own favorite for using up leftover pumpkin. This soup is not too sweet and has a different flavor than many holiday pumpkin recipes, making it good for a change of pace. The cinnamon adds a nice roundness to the flavor, but doesn't dominate.
Inspired by several recipes, I tweaked this to create my own favorite for using up leftover pumpkin. This soup is not too sweet and has a different flavor than many holiday pumpkin recipes, making it good for a change of pace. The cinnamon adds a nice roundness to the flavor, but doesn't dominate.
- Carbohydrate 38.7685183159139 g
- Cholesterol 0.91875 mg
- Fat 23.4352023492341 g
- Fiber 4.46040589008671 g
- Protein 6.9260174749489 g
- Saturated Fat 20.4371265947886 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (610g)
- Sodium 771.087932130122 mg
- Sugar 34.3081124258272 g
- Trans Fat 1.51641726860349 g
- Calories 364 calories
Step-by-step
- In a skillet, sauté onion until tender. Add garlic and sauté briefly, 30 seconds. Deglaze the pan with some of the stock to and transfer to the stoneware of a slow cooker.
- Add the pumpkin puree (or pumpkin cubes), cubed sweet potatoes, spices and remaining stock to the slow cooker. Cook on low heat for 8 hours until cobbled potatoes are tender.
- Remove the cinnamon stick. Using an immersion blender or working in batches with a normal blender puree the soup. Add the coconut milk and continue to process until very smooth. If you prefer very smooth soups, as I do in this case, process the pureed mixture through a fine mesh sieve. This is more important if using fresh pumpkin or pumpkin you have processed yourself as it can be quite fibrous.
- Serve garnished with plain yogurt and some parsley. Enjoy!
When relying on a slow cooker to break down dense roots and squash over an eight-hour period, understanding how moisture distribution works prevents scorching at the base of the insert. Sautéing the onions first in a skillet caramelizes their natural sugars, and deglazing that pan with stock pulls up the fond so those browned proteins transfer directly into the slow cooker vessel instead of staying behind in the pan. Aromatics like garlic burn easily if overheated, which is why they require only thirty seconds of contact before quenching with liquid. Utilizing whole spices, such as a single cinnamon stick, infuses the simmering broth with volatile aromatic oils without leaving behind the gritty texture that ground bark creates. Fresh pumpkin or winter squash contains fibrous strands and higher water content than canned purée, meaning fresh cubes demand a thorough pass through a fine mesh sieve after blending to catch any lingering stringy bits. Canned purée is already cooked down and homogenized, requiring less mechanical straining to achieve a velvety mouthfeel. Sweet potatoes add natural starches that thicken the broth naturally as they soften, but starchy tubers can sometimes absorb liquid unevenly if cut into mismatched dimensions; keep the cubes uniform to ensure everything turns tender simultaneously. When incorporating coconut milk and yogurt, add them after the puréeing stage rather than at the beginning of the long cook time, because high heat can cause dairy proteins to curdle or separate into unpleasant grainy curds. This formulation naturally avoids gluten and nuts while remaining adaptable for various dietary needs by swapping standard dairy yogurt for plant-based alternatives or vegetable stock for chicken stock without altering the core thickening ratios.
