Chipotle Pumpkin Soup (Smoky and Spicy)

This Chipotle Pumpkin Soup is for all you spice lovers, especially those of you who’ve been making LinsFood’s chipotle paste for years!

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Chipotle Pumpkin Soup in a black bowl with a glass of white wine and fireplace in the background
Chipotle Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin Soup

Autumn is my favourite season, with the changing colours, dip in temperatures and all that glorious food: soups, stews and game!

We’ve had a very mild and wet start to autumn so far in 2022. This is early November and it’s only these last few days that it’s been cool enough for me to want some soup. And what better way to start soup season than pumpkin soup!

Pumpkin soup is very easy to make, basic ones only require a handful of ingredients or so. You could even shorten the process by using canned pumpkin purée. Keep the flavours simple or add spices, whatever rocks your boat.

Chipotle Pumpkin Soup

So you know I like my chillies. And I do rather love my homemade chipotle paste, a pretty popular recipe according to Google search. I have so many recipes that use this chipotle paste, like the following.

Marmalade Chicken Traybake with Chipotle Paste
A spicy-ish Marmalade Chicken recipe. Super easy, one pot meal, all you need is some fresh bread, but just as nice with rice!
Get the Recipe!
Marmalade Chicken Traybake with Chipotle Paste
Chipotle Salmon with Vegetables
An easy recipe for oven baked chipotle salmon, complete with potatoes and vegetables. Spicy, smoky and aromatic, this salmon recipe is a complete meal.
Get the Recipe!
salmon with potatoes and vegetables
Chipotle Frittata with Marinated Vegetables and Scamorza
This chipotle frittata with marinated vegetables and scamorza is a deliciously spicy Italian omelette with deep flavours from the vegetables and spizzico di scamorza affumicata.
Get the Recipe!
slice of frittata on a dark plate

I picked up a couple of pumpkins last week for cooking up a tagine and some soup.

A couple of days later, I was running my weekly chilli recipes cooking class and we just happened to make chipotle paste and chipotles in adobo. Cue lightbulb moment, and I just knew it was going to be a winning combination!

The result: this Chipotle Pumpkin Soup is a smoky, spicy and creamy soup that I just couldn’t get enough of. Honestly, the best pumpkin soup I’ve ever tasted! I had it for lunch and dinner, it was so good!

The Recipe

Our chipotle pumpkin soup is pretty easy to make, the only hard part is the chopping of the pumpkin, one of my most hated jobs. But needs must and all that. Some grocers sell prepared pumpkin, whether in cubes or wedges, so you can use that to save you some time and elbow grease, if you like.

We start off with roasting our pumpkin, a step that adds smoky, caramel notes and depth to any pumpkin soup.

This is what we’ll be doing to cook up our Mexican inspired pumpkin soup today:

  1. chop up the pumpkin.
  2. season the pumpkin cubes with olive oil, salt and chipotle paste and roast for 30 minutes.
  3. sauté the aromatics, add the stock and cook for 10 minutes.
  4. add the pumpkin, heat through then purée.
  5. add the cream, heat through and check seasoning.

That’s it. You then dish it up and top with a small drizzle of cream and a tiny dollop of chipotle paste.

Don’t forget the pumpkin!

Ingredients

Let’s take a look at the 4 main ingredients: the pumpkin, chipotle paste, stock and cream.

Pumpkin

Fresh pumpkins are very easy to find in many places, once autumn comes around. You want to look for cooking or culinary pumpkins, sometimes also called pie pumpkins.

As mentioned earlier, feel free to buy prepared pumpkins, I’ve given you the weight for both in the recipe card below.

You could also use butternut squash, kabocha squash or anything that’s sold as winter squash. If truth be told, quite often, what’s being sold as prepared pumpkin flesh or pumpkin purée is actually just what’s generally called winter squash.

Can you use frozen pumpkins? Yes, absolutely. I believe that many will require you to cook from frozen, so just follow the instructions in the recipe card below to roast the pumpkin.

Chipotle Paste

If you want to cook up this chipotle pumpkin soup recipe, than the chipotle paste is non negotiable, right?

Homemade chipotle paste is so very easy to cook up. All you need is the chipotles which should be found easily in shops that sell south American produce. I get them online, often from Amazon Prime when I need them urgently, as 2 of my favourite sellers have Amazon storefronts. Here’s my global affiliate link for them:

Can you use shop bought chipotle paste? Sure, but thousands of LinsFood readers will tell you that nothing beats the homemade version. I’ve even had a couple of brands telling me that they’ve used my recipe as inspiration for their version!

If you can’t get your hands on chipotles, use 1 tsp of hot smoked paprika, as the best substitute to make our spicy pumpkin soup. Replacing it with a regular chilli paste or fresh chillies may give you the heat, but it won’t really have that signature smoky aroma.

Chipotle Paste
Chipotle Paste

The Stock

You can use vegetable stock (vegetable broth) or chicken stock (chicken broth) to make our chipotle pumpkin soup. I suppose it makes sense to keep it vegetarian and use the former. Having said that, given the choice, I always opt for chicken stock, as to me, it has more depth.

1 stock cube or stock pot should suffice for the recipe amount here. You can make up the seasoning with salt at the end of cooking, if you need it.

Cream

Pumpkin flesh is naturally sweet and creamy. When making pumpkin soup, we take this further by adding some form of cream.

The most popular choice is double cream (heavy cream), what I’m using here today. Double cream gives you a very creamy soup. If that’s not your thing, you could also use single cream for a slightly lighter affair, in flavour and calories and fat.

Make this a Vegan pumpkin soup by using a dairy-free cream, or coconut milk. The latter produces an absolutely delicious pumpkin soup and is very popular even amongst non vegans, especially when using spices like cumin, turmeric or just the good old curry powder.

Chipotle Pumpkin Soup in a black bowl with swirls of cream
a swirl of cream, a dollop of chipotle paste – perfect!

How to Serve?

This is easy, right? With some crusty bread on the side and lots of butter for the bread! Because butter makes everything taste better? I know, I know, I say that about chilli, lime juice and black pepper too! And cheese!

Once you’ve ladled your soup into bowls, drizzle a little of the cream over and top with a tiny blob of chipotle paste. Or, just leave the chipotle paste in a small dish on the side for the daredevils.

How long will Pumpkin Soup Last?

Store any leftover pumpkin soup in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

It also freezes well. Place a cling film that touches the surface of the soup before freezing it.

And that’s it. Shall we get our aprons on?

If you enjoy the recipe, drop me a comment and let me know. And if you are feeling like a star, don’t forget that 5-star rating!😉

If you make this recipe, post it on Instagram and tag me @azlinbloor and hashtag it #linsfood.

Lin xx

More Pumpkin Recipes

Pumpkin Risotto (Risotto alla Zucca)
Deliciously easy pumpkin risotto recipe, cooked in 20 minutes, and taken up a notch with a spicy, balsamic pumpkin topping.
Get the Recipe!
yellow risotto on grey plate
Eggless Pumpkin Pie
A deliciously creamy, sweet and smoky eggless pumpkin pie, with homemade all butter shortcrust pastry. Perfect for an egg free Thanksgiving!
Get the Recipe!
Eggless Pumpkin Pie on black plate
Eggless Pumpkin Cheesecake
Easy Eggless Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe, perfect for Halloween and Thanksgiving, with sweet, creamy and smoky flavours. A make ahead dessert.
Get the Recipe!
Eggless Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe

More Soups on LinsFood

Smoked Fish Solyanka – Russian Smoked Fish Soup
Smoked Fish Solyanka is a much loved Russian Smoked Fish Soup, with bold, sour flavours guaranteed to warm and fill you up!
Get the Recipe!
Eshkeneh, Persian Onion Soup with Egg and Fenugreek
Eshkeneh recipe, popularly known as Persian Onion Soup, is made with eggs and fenugreek. You can make Vegan Eshkeneh very easily, by leaving out the eggs and using only olive oil.
Last Updated April 2023.
Get the Recipe!
Eshkeneh, Persian Onion Soup
Homemade Oxtail Stew (it’s so much easier than you think!)
Homemade Oxtail Stew is a rich, flavoursome stew, slow cooked, resulting in meltingly tender, falling-off-the-bone meat.
Get the Recipe!
Dark oxtail stew in grey bowl, with glass of red wine and peppe mill in background
Chipotle Pumpkin Soup in a black bowl with swirls of cream

Chipotle Pumpkin Soup

Chipotle pumpkin soup recipe, smoky and spicy, is the best pumpkin soup you'll ever have! Make it vegan by using coconut milk.
5 from 8 votes
Print Pin Add to Collection
Course: Starter
Cuisine: Fusion
Keyword: autumn recipes, chipotle, fall recipes, pumpkin, soup
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Servings: 4 as a starter
Calories: 278kcal
Author: Azlin Bloor

Ingredients

  • 1 medium pumpkin (about 1.5kg/3.3 oz) prepped weight about 800g/1.7 lb
  • 2-3 Tbsp chipotle paste click for easy homemade recipe
  • 2 Tbsp EV olive oil you could also use salted butter
  • 1 large onion
  • 2 medium cloves garlic
  • 750 ml vegetable or chicken stock
  • 125 ml double cream (thick cream) single will work too, see article above
  • ¼ tsp salt if needed

To Finish

Instructions

Roast the Pumpkin

  • Pre heat the oven to 200°C/400°F.
    Cut the pumpkin in half with a very sharp knife.
  • Then scoop out the seeds and stringy bits with a spoon, and discard.
  • Lay the pumpkin cut side down, and start cutting down in wedges. You could, if you wanted, take the skin off first at this stage. I do this interchangeably.
    Lay your wedges down on their sides, and slice the skin off.
  • Chop the wedges up into cubes and place them on a baking tray.
  • Mix 2 Tbsp of the chipotle paste, 1 Tbsp of the olive oil and ¼ tsp of salt in a small bowl. Rub this paste well onto the cubes.
    Roast in the pre heated oven for 25 minutes until a knife glides through.
    Take them out and set aside.

Let's make the Chipotle Pumpkin Soup

  • Peel, halve and thinly slice the onion.
    Peel and roughly chop up the garlic.
  • Heat the olive oil in a saucepan on medium heat and tip the sliced onions in. Stir, then reduce the heat to low and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • Add the garlic, cook for 30 seconds, then pour the stock in. Bring the heat back up to medium and bring the stock to a simmer.
    Reduce the heat to low and cook for 10 minutes, uncovered.
  • Add the roasted pumpkin in, bring to a simmer on medium and cook for 2 minutes.
  • Take it off the heat and using a handheld immersion blender, purée the whole thing until you have a smooth soup.
    You could also pour the soup into your usual blender to blend it to a purée, then pour it back into the saucepan. Make sure your blender is heatproof.
  • Place the saucepan back on medium heat and pour in the cream, stirring. Bring it to a low simmering point (tiny bubbles) and cook for 2 minutes to heat it all up.
    Taste and add salt if necessary. I find that I usually need just a pinch more salt. Finish off with some black pepper if you like. I don't bother because of the chipotle paste.
  • Serve your chipotle pumpkin soup in bowls and drizzle a little cream all over and just a tiny dollop of chipotle paste on top.
    Have some chipotle paste on the side for those who want it hotter.
    Chipotle Pumpkin Soup in a black bowl with swirls of cream

Nutrition

Calories: 278kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 44mg | Sodium: 906mg | Potassium: 1254mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 14g | Vitamin A: 29914IU | Vitamin C: 34mg | Calcium: 109mg | Iron: 3mg
Did you make this recipe?Mention @azlinbloor and tag #linsfood!
Made it? Upload your photosMention @azlinbloor and tag #linsfood!

Share this with someone who'll love it!

2 thoughts on “Chipotle Pumpkin Soup (Smoky and Spicy)”

  1. 5 stars
    Something what I was looking for , have got chipotle paste and was wondering what all I can use it in and best that you have made a pumpkin soup from this, a good use of my homegrown pumpkins

  2. 5 stars
    Sweet, spicy, smoky, creamy – this pumpkin soup sounds like the ultimate comfort food for cold nights and a great choice to start any festive dinner.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating