This pumpkin soup is coziness and well-being served up in a bowl. The Mediterranean flavor of fennel bulb adds an irresistible quality to the warmth of roasted pumpkin. Serve with crispy artisan bread drizzled with good olive oil, and you have everything you need for a highly satisfying meal.
The days start getting crisp, we put on extra layers, pour ourselves hot beverages and bask in the beautiful golden colors of fall. Of course, what we need now is an equally beautiful and warming bowl of pumpkin soup.
Pumpkin soup is cool weather comfort food at its best. Despite its simplicity, this soup delivers high rewards. Deeply flavorful, warming and nourishing, it’s a great recipe to have in your repertoire for the autumn and winter season.
Ingredients
Pumpkin (winter squashes) and fennel co-star in this pumpkin soup recipe, with aromatics playing an important role. Dairy isn’t needed at all, as the soup becomes silky and velvety by blending. It’s a relatively light soup for being so substantial and filling!
Pumpkin
You can use any good eating pumpkin or winter squash for this soup. We use butternut here (left photo), so you could call it fennel and butternut squash soup, or butternut pumpkin if you will. But you can use small sugar pumpkins, kabocha squash/Japanese pumpkin (right photo), buttercup, or your favorite winter squash.
Is Squash Pumpkin?
Some say pumpkin, some say squash.
It depends on where you live and what language you speak. The term pumpkin, in the Mediterranean and other parts of the world, includes all winter squashes.
They’re both curcurbitas — gourds. Pumpkin comes from Pepo (pepos also include melons and cucumber type fruits, all with lots of seeds and thick rinds), from Latin and Greek Pepon.
Cutting Pumpkin Open
Cutting hard pumpkins and squash open is not the easiest of undertakings. Tool Tip: I like to use a triangular parmesan knife or oyster knife because I find them easier to control.
Removing the Pumpkins Seeds
Helper tools for removing pumpkin seeds: a dinner spoon, grapefruit spoon, your hands — all work to remove the stringy membrane and seeds from the squash. The point on the end of a potato peeler can be of help too in places where nothing else works.
Tip for Cutting the Rind Off
Peeling the tough slippery skin from squash can be tricky and dangerous. How to make peeling the squash safer? Roast it first. By roasting the squash with the skin on, we can skip the arduous task of cutting the peel from the super hard raw squash rind. So do yourself a favor and wait to cut the skin off of pumpkins/squash until after cooking them.
Fennel
With its subtle, yet distinct licorice or anise aroma, and mildly sweet bulb leaves, fennel provides the perfect flavor balance for squash soup.
For more on fennel, check out the Taste for Fennel guide, How to Cut Fennel, and Caramelized Fennel recipe.
Thyme
This is a pretty nourishing and wholesome soup. You may think thyme is added just for it’s gorgeous aroma and flavor. And it is! But did you know that besides taste, herbs kick up nourishment? It’s another reason why I love to grow my own thyme (besides being able to stroke the leaves on a daily basis to inhale their beautiful aroma).
Thyme leaves add a delightful kick of Vitamin C, iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium and folate, as well as other nutrients. Dried thyme too. And thyme flowers, besides being so beautiful, are perfectly edible and nutritious as well.
Hot Pepper
I like to add a little kick of powdered hot chili pepper, and have found that 1/16 of a teaspoon works well in fennel pumpkin soup. I would recommend to start with that amount and see how you like it, since there is no undo button to fall back on.
Broth
Chicken broth enriches the soup’s depth and flavor. Make it vegan, if you like, with vegetable broth or plain water. The flavors of the soup, you will find, will still be intense and deeply satisfying.
Marsala Wine
Entirely optional, but highly recommended, Marsala adds another layer of pleasure and complexity to the soup, bringing hints of nuttiness and dried fruit to the palate. Marsala is a fortified wine from Sicily with qualities ranging from dry, semi-sweet and sweet. Any inexpensive dry Marsala wine will do.
If needed, you can substitute the Marsala with other fortified wines like dry sherry, dry vermouth, port, or even a dry white wine. Sometimes we mix Marsala with a little white wine when the Marsala bottle runs dry right in the middle of cooking. It’s great just the same! Brandy can be used as well — just cut it back to about 2 tablespoons for a recipe of 8 servings.
Alcohol-free – As a substitute for the booze, I once tried orange juice, and found it’s too sweet, covers the perfect flavors and throws off the balance. Better off with a tiny squeeze from a small lemon wedge, or just plain water.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Since we’re drizzling the olive oil on fresh, as a finishing ingredient, we want it to be the best we can get, with great aroma and flavor.
I know, it can be hard to find good olive oil, and it can be expensive! That’s why we tend to save our very best extra virgin olive oil just for drizzling. If you’re looking for a good inexpensive olive oil source, check out Trenette al Pesto – Secrets to the Best Pesto Sauce.
Making Roasted Fennel Pumpkin Soup
Secret to Extra Depth of Flavor in Pumpkin Soup
Roasting the squash and fennel, in my opinion, is the best way to get the maximum depth of flavor without relying on other ingredients. It intensifies their taste with caramelization, bringing out the naturally sweet nutty flavor that makes this soup delicious. (It also makes it much, much easier to cut the tough skin off!)
Best Way to Blend the Pumpkin and Fennel
Unlike in many recipes, we don’t have to blend hot ingredients in a bunch of hot steamy liquid here. The blending takes place after the squash and fennel come out of the oven, have cooled, and are safe to handle. Then, we only add enough liquid to facilitate smoothness. The rest of the liquid is added later in the soup pan.
A great thing about this is that you can put the purée in smaller containers to store in the fridge or freezer, and add the rest of the liquid when finishing the soup.
What Blending Gadget to Use
What gadget you blend your soup with depends on what texture you want.
I’ve got family members who like it as silky smooth as possible. I, on the other hand, happen to like a little texture, and often vote for rustic. If you’re in the middle, you can do what I like to do, and blend three quarters to silky smoothness, and just lightly pulse the remaining quarter.
- Use a blender for the smoothest creamiest soup.
- A food processor can work great too, if you have a good one. (When in Europe, it’s hard to find the quality of our beloved Cuisinart processor that we enjoy so much in the U.S.)
- Use the immersion stick blender if you want to make it super easy on yourself with less dishes to clean.
Dressing it Up
This pumpkin soup is already vibrant and gorgeous. All it really needs, right before serving, is a final Pollock-style drizzle of good olive oil. Play the part, give it your artistic touch! And perhaps a few shelled pumpkin seeds, pepitas, for crunch.
What to Serve with Pumpkin Soup
My favorite way to serve this soup is with crusty country bread along with a green salad dressed with olive oil, salt and a couple or rounds of black pepper. That’s it! The Mediterranean way: healthy, light, and very satisfying! Ok, along with some apple slices, maybe a few tastes of nutty Gruyère de Comté or brie type cheese.
Make it Easy on Yourself
- Pumpkin soup is begging to be made ahead. The easy roasting, the onion sautéing and the puréeing can all be done ahead of time. Then mostly relax before serving.
- Make extra and you’ve set yourself up for several effortless evenings or afternoons with a highly satisfying bowl of pumpkin soup.
- Storing and freezing: The soup can be enjoyed rewarmed from the fridge within a couple of days of cooking, or from the freezer for up to 3 months — if it stays in the freezer that long. In our house it never does.
Pumpkin Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 to 3 lb butternut squash, or other winter pumpkin/squash such as kabocha, buttercup or small sugar pumpkins, trimmed of base (or canned 2)
- 2 large bulbs of fennel, trimmed of base and stems, fronds reserved for garnish
- 1 large onion, halved and finely sliced into half-moons
- 2 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves (or 2 tsp dried)
- 2 bay leaves
- a pinch of powdered hot pepper (optional) (1/16 tsp for mild, 1/8 tsp for almost-hot)
- 6 to 8 cups chicken broth, vegetable broth, or water (6 cups = a thickness somewhat like applesauce)
- ½ cup Marsala (optional, or substitute3)
- extra virgin olive-oil (or butter for extra depth)
- fine sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
- 1 Tbsp shelled pumpkin seeds (pepitas) (optional but a beautiful crunchy addition), raw or roasted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C)
- Cut pumpkin in half lengthwise. Scrape out the seeds and stringy membrane. Cut into slices around 1-inch (2.5cm) thick (I find it easier to cut through with the softer cut-side facing up).
- Cut the fennel in half, then into slices around ½ inch (1.25cm) thick.
- Roast: Arrange the pumpkin and fennel on baking sheet/s, drizzle with enough olive oil to slightly coat them, and toss with your hands until evenly coated. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast until tender to the fork, about 30-40 minutes. Watch out for steam when opening the oven! Set aside to cool. Once cooled, slice the shell off the pumpkin and discard.
- Meanwhile, cook the onion: In a large heavy stew pot, toss the onion with a tablespoon of olive oil. Add a teaspoon of salt, freshly ground pepper, thyme leaves, bay leaves and optional chili powder. Cook over medium heat, stirring fairly often, until the onions are starting to caramelize, about 10-20 minutes.
- If using a blender or food processor: Purée the onion with the fennel and pumpkin in manageable batches, with only as much stock helpful to blend them. Purée about 1 minute or more per batch, depending upon how rustic or refined you want the soup to be. Transfer the purée to the stew pot. (Or see Note 1)If using an immersion blender: Add the fennel and pumpkin to the onions in the stew pot and purée with as much stock helpful to blend them to desired smoothness. (See Note 1)
- Finish the soup: Warm the purée over medium-high heat. Stir in the marsala and let cook a minute. Add the stock, and cook on high until begins to boil. Salt to taste (about 2 teaspoons of salt). Then reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes, or until desired consistency.
- To serve: Ladle into bowls, drizzle each with fresh fragrant extra virgin olive oil (or a dab of butter), sprinkle with fennel fronds or pumpkin seeds, and enjoy!
- Make ahead:
- You can roast the pumpkin and fennel earlier in the day, or a day ahead, and refrigerate. Same with sautéing the onion and puréeing.
- Once puréed, refrigerate or freeze in portions without the rest of the liquid. Then, whenever you feel like it, finish (step 7) and serve!
- Substituting canned pumpkin purée (not pumpkin pie filling): use 2 cans (15oz/425g each).
- Substitutes for marsala: dry vermouth, sherry, port, white wine; or 2 Tbsp/ brandy
