This Ginger-Apple Pumpkin Soup recipe makes a delicious creamy soup with coconut milk, ginger, and cardamom. It's perfect for fall.
It’s only October 1st and yet I feel like I’m already the last to post a pumpkin recipe. This time of year, pinterest is crazy for pumpkin. But don’t worry – if you’re too cool for pumpkin, you can just as easily make this soup with butternut squash.
This recipe comes together pretty easily and it doesn’t even require a pot. I roasted the pumpkin, an apple, an onion and a few garlic cloves all in the oven. I put it all in a blender and pureéd it into a creamy soup with coconut milk, ginger, and the special ingredient – cardamom. If you don’t have it you can sub in some curry powder, but cardamom (the hardest spice to describe), has a spicy-sweet sort of floral flavor that works really well here to create a nice balance with the sweet apple and savory roasted pumpkin.
For some texture – roast your pumpkin seeds until crispy and sprinkle them on top. (Or just snack on them and forget to put them into the picture like we did).
Ginger-Apple Pumpkin Soup
- 1 medium sugar pumpkin or 1 butternut squash (see notes)
- 1 small apple (or ½ a large one)
- 1 medium yellow onion
- drizzle of olive oil, salt, pepper, for roasting
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
- ¼ - ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne (more, to taste)
- 1 teaspoon additional salt (more to taste)
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Roast pumpkin or butternut squash. (I start by putting mine in the oven for a few minutes to soften so it's easier to cut). Cut in half and scoop out the insides (save & toast the seeds if you want). Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast cut side up for 20 minutes, flip and roast cut side down for 20-30 or until the flesh is soft. Remove from oven, let cool, then peel the skin away from the flesh.
- While the squash roasts, slice the apple and onion into wedges and arrange on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast for 20 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. During the last 10 minutes or so, add the whole garlic cloves to the baking sheet.
- In a blender, add pumpkin mash, roasted onion, apple, garlic (remove the skins), coconut milk, ginger, cardamom, cayenne and salt. Puree until smooth. If it's too thick, add a bit of water or broth to thin and blend again. Taste and adjust seasonings. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to a few days.
Handmade bowls by: RossLab on Etsy
…Can I use regular milk instead of coconut milk? or chicken stock/broth? I’m allergic to coconut 🙁 What do you think would work best?
Hi Sarah, I would use broth (any kind) and maybe add a splash of cream at the end. Hope that helps!
I wanted to love this, but I think the proportions were off. Two cups of pumpkin to one CAN of coconut milk resulted in an extremely rich soup that tasted predominantly of coconut.
I’m sorry you didn’t like this one.
This is one of my favourite combos. I substitute the pumpkin for acorn squash when I can’t find pumpkin. Great soup!
What size can of coconut milk please?
Hi Helen – 14.5-oz
I’ve made this soup several times now and I love the ease, flavor, and comfort of it! THANK you so much for the recipe!
Mmmm so many of my favorites all wrapped up in one! Can’t wait to try it 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
I absolutely adore all of your recipes! I loved the extra little kick with the cayenne in this one. The soup was soooo delicious!
Thank you, Brooke – I’m so glad you liked it!
This soup inspired me to roast pumpkin for the first time and it was so good. Delicious. Thanks for all your great recipes!
This soup inspired me to roast pumpkin for the first time and it was so good. Delicious. Thanks for all your great recipes!
This soup inspired me to roast pumpkin for the first time and it was so good. Delicious. Thanks for all your great recipes!
Why not canned pumpkin?? I would think it would be quick, easy, and smoothe.
you can give it a try – I (personally) prefer real pumpkin or butternut squash in soups, I just find it has more flavor. But let me know if you use canned pumpkin and it works out!
Just curious as to why you say not to use canned pumpkin. I’ve used canned pumpkin in similar soups before and it’s turned out quite well.
Hi Stephanie, you can try it if you want – I just haven’t (personally) had great results making soups with canned pumpkin (although I love it for baking!).
I find canned pumpkin has more moisture in it than fresh roasted pumpkin, so you have to reduce the amount of liquid you add. You might give that a try sometime when you don’t have fresh pumpkin or squash on hand.
And another soup recipe that will be going into my reserve for those chilly fall nights. Yum!
xx,
Elizabeth
http://www.adrian-james.com
This soup was fantastic, used light coconut milk and it worked great. Thank you for the recipe
Is the recipe made with sweetened or unsweetened coconut milk?
unsweet (the kind that comes in a can)
What a unique combination of flavours. I can’t wait to try this one.
We’re still in the dying faze of winter so still getting the cold nights. I made this soup last night – had it with focaccia bread …. oh, wow, it was gorgeous and the cardamom sure is the “secret ingredient”. Thanks!
Isn’t the cardamom so good? I’m so glad you liked it, thanks for letting me know!
Just made this for a early dinner. Was outstanding!! I swirled a bit of yogurt on top- delicious!
This looks soooo good and the pictures are amazing. Great combination with apple, ginger and pumpkin. And the cardamom is just perfect. We put cardamom in so many things here in Denmark, but I’ve never tried it in soup. It’s a must try now!
Thanks Julie! I just love cardamom, it spices this up nicely 🙂
Hi there –
You mention roasting the pumpkin as well as the apples/onions. This may be a dumb question, but at what temperature?
Thanks!
Lauren
opps! Not a dumb question at all :). 400 F. Thanks for pointing that out, I just updated it in the recipe.
I was going to start this comment with…WHERE did you get those precious bowls?! But then you linked to them, so thank you! I have to admit that I’m not terribly fond of pumpkin so I would definitely go for the butternut squash instead, but it’s a beautiful soup and your styling is impeccable, like always. 🙂
I know aren’t they so cute? This is really great with butternut squash, hope you like!