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Pumpkin soup has a reputation for being watery and bland, and there are two reasons for that. Both are easy to avoid.
Not every pumpkin is worth cooking
The large orange pumpkins sold for carving are bred for size and a hollow cavity, not flavour. They are stringy and watery, and they make exactly the disappointing soup people complain about.
Look instead for smaller culinary varieties — Crown Prince, Delica, Kabocha, or anything sold as a sugar or pie pumpkin. Butternut squash works too and is easier to find; we have a whole recipe for butternut squash soup if that is what is in the shop.
If you have carved a pumpkin and want to use the flesh, it will work, but expect a thinner soup and be ready to add more seasoning.
Roast it. Do not boil it.
The same principle as butternut. Pumpkin is mostly water; simmering it in stock dilutes what little flavour it has. Roasting drives water off and caramelises the sugars.
Roast until the edges have genuinely browned, not just softened. Pale pumpkin makes pale soup, and no amount of blending afterwards recovers what you did not build in the oven.
Seeds are worth keeping
Rinse the seeds, dry them on a tea towel, toss with a little oil and salt, and roast at 180°C/350°F for 12 to 15 minutes. They go on top of the soup and give it the texture it otherwise lacks. This is also a good job for a child, and it makes the whole pumpkin feel less wasteful.
Whole seeds are a choking hazard for children under about four — leave them off a toddler’s bowl.
Storage
One of the better soups for freezing. Cool quickly in shallow containers within two hours and freeze in portions for two to three months, in line with standard soup guidance.
