Creamy Pumpkin Soup with Coconut Milk & Scallion
Frozen pumpkin cooks down in ten minutes, gets hit with coconut milk off the heat, and runs through the immersion blender until smooth. Then the chickpeas go in whole — four ounces simmering in the purée for body and bite. Cream cheese and sliced scallion finish the bowl.
Twenty minutes, cutting board to bowl. The whole thing runs 430 calories and 13 grams of fiber. The coconut milk carries most of the fat (30 grams total) and gives the purée the richness that usually takes heavy cream.
Frozen pumpkin cooks down in ten minutes, gets hit with coconut milk off the heat, and runs through the immersion blender until smooth. Then the chickpeas go in whole — four ounces simmering in the purée for body and bite. Cream cheese and sliced scallion finish the bowl.
Twenty minutes, cutting board to bowl. The whole thing runs 430 calories and 13 grams of fiber. The coconut milk carries most of the fat (30 grams total) and gives the purée the richness that usually takes heavy cream.
Ingredients
- onion 0.5
- garlic clove 1 piece
- olive oil 0.5 tablespoon
- pumpkin (frozen) 8 ounce
- water 1.5 cup
- vegetable bouillon 1 cube
- scallion 1
- coconut milk 3 fluid ounce
- chickpeas 4 ounce
- cream cheese, reduced fat 1.5 tablespoon
Method
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Finely chop the onion and mince the garlic.
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Heat the oil in a soup pot and sauté the onion and garlic for 2 minutes over medium heat.
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Add the pumpkin pieces and cook for another 2 minutes. Then add water with the bouillon cube, bring to a boil, and cook for about 10 minutes.
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Wash the scallion and slice into thin rings.
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Remove the pot from the heat and add the coconut milk. Puree the soup with an immersion blender. Add the chickpeas to the soup and let simmer for 4 minutes on low heat.
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Pour the pumpkin soup into a large bowl and top with the cream cheese and scallion. Season the soup with pepper and salt to taste.
Add the coconut milk after you pull the pot off the heat, not while the soup is still boiling. Full-fat coconut milk splits at high temperatures and the fat separates from the liquid. Blending it into the soup off-heat locks the emulsion into the purée and keeps the texture smooth.
Why This Works
Behind this recipe
Can I use a different milk instead of coconut milk?
You can, but the soup won’t taste the same. Coconut milk contributes most of the 30 grams of fat in this bowl and gives the purée a richness that lighter milks can’t match. Oat milk or regular milk will make a thinner, less creamy result. Coconut milk also did something interesting in a university lab study: out of fourteen plant-based milks tested, it was the only one that improved carotenoid liberation from vegetables, and the mechanism turned out to be its protein content, not its fat.
Read the full evidence reviewWhy do the chickpeas go in after blending?
Because you want them whole. The immersion blender destroys everything in its path. Pumpkin, onion, garlic, and coconut milk all become a smooth purée. Adding the chickpeas afterward keeps them intact, giving the soup texture and something to bite into in every spoonful. They simmer for just four minutes, long enough to warm through without falling apart.
Can I use fresh pumpkin instead of frozen?
Yes, but you’ll need to cook it longer. Frozen pumpkin is already blanched and softens quickly. Ten minutes at a boil is enough for frozen. Fresh pumpkin chunks need closer to 15 to 20 minutes before they’re soft enough to purée smoothly. Cut them into roughly one-inch cubes to speed things up.
Is 30 grams of fat a lot for one meal?
This soup gets 63% of its calories from fat, mostly from coconut milk and olive oil. For a single meal at 430 calories, the total calorie count is moderate. The fat just makes up a larger share than protein or carbs do. What you eat across the full day matters more than the fat percentage in any one bowl.
