This soup was inspired by a beautiful little pumpkin and some dried red chiles that I picked up from a roadside stand in northern New Mexico. When Bobby asked what I was going to do with the pumpkin I told him that I had been thinking about a pumpkin and red chile soup. He agreed that it was a great idea but then added “You should top it with toasted pinons.” He was so right. The flavors of the pumpkin, the red chile, and the pinon nuts (pine nuts) make a delicious soup. This is a recipe that requires a little more work than most of my recipes; however, it only takes a few ingredients to yield a whole lot of taste! It’s like a bite of New Mexico in your mouth.
Roasted Pumpkin Red Chile Soup
“*” See Kitchen Notes for more information or links to special ingredients.
- 3 to 4 pounds pumpkin (you’ll need about 4 cups of pulp)
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 medium sweet onion, coarsely chopped
- 5 – 6 cups vegetable or chicken broth*
- ½ tsp. salt
- 3 dried red chile pods and ½ cup red chile sauce*
- ½ tsp. cumin/coriander mix*
- ½ tsp. paprika
- ¼ cup green olive brine
- ¼ cup pinon nuts (pine nuts), toasted
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Cut the pumpkin in half, rub a little oil on the cut surfaces and place, cut side up on a baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes. Let cool for about 5 minutes, then use a fork to separate the seeds and threads from the pulp.*
- Scoop out the pulp and measure out 4 cups. Do not puree it yet. Just set aside the 4 cups for the soup and use the rest for another purpose or freeze for later.
- Heat olive oil in large pot over medium-low heat. Add the onion and sweat until clear, about 4 minutes.
- Add 5 cups broth/water, salt, pumpkin pulp, chile, cumin/coriander, paprika and brine. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook 20 minutes.
- Let cool down a little. Puree’ with an immersion blender or regular blender. You may need to add more water to get the consistency you like in a pureed soup.
- Reheat. Taste for salt content and spice level. If you want it hotter, than add a little more chile sauce.
- While reheating the soup, transfer the pine nuts to a hot skillet over medium-low heat and toast to a medium toast. (Keep a watch on the nuts, stirring often, because they do brown fast once they start to brown.) Transfer to another container until ready to use.
- Ladle soup into bowls and top each bowl with some of the toasted pine nuts.
Serve with tortilla chips or apple/sage cornbread. For the apple/sage cornbread, just make buttermilk cornbread and substitute the onion with 1/2 minced apple and 1/4 tsp. dried sage, crumbled.
Roasting Pumpkin – Roasting the pumpkin before scraping out the seeds makes that task easier. After roasting, just use a fork and separate the fibers from the pulp and remove.
Red chile – If you don’t have both red chile pods and sauce, you can use just one or the other. Use 1/2 to 1 cup red chile sauce. How much you use depends on how hot your sauce is and how hot you like your soup. If you don’t have chile sauce or time to make it, just tear up 3 or more pods (depending on the heat of the chile) and cook down with the pumpkin pulp. The chile pods will be pureed with the pulp when you blend.
As far as what type of dried red chile, well you know which type I used – New Mexico red chile. However, if you can’t find these, then use your favorite red chile or red chile sauce. I haven’t found a spicy chile that I didn’t like. Just be sure to adjust the amount of chile sauce to the heat level and flavor of the chile. For example, if you use chipotle, cut way back to one or at the most two peppers. Chipotle peppers have a pretty powerful flavor and can easily overpower the pumpkin. You want the chile to complement the pumpkin, not drown it out.
If you purchase a chile sauce, be sure it’s “chile” sauce, not “chili” sauce. There’s a huge difference. Chile sauce is primarily chile peppers, water and salt. Chili sauce is a blend of peppers, vinegar,water, lots of seasoning, and who knows what else. For more on this topic, check out my page “Chile or Chili?“.
The cooking process – This does look like a rather laborious soup to make with the roasting of the pumpkin, the toasting of the spice mix, and the making of the red chile sauce. However, if you are like me, you already have a lot of this on hand. Periodically I make up a batch of cumin/coriander spice mix so it’s available when I need it (recipe below.) One can always find little containers of red chile sauce in my freezer. So really, with a well-stocked spice rack and freezer, the only thing one needs to do is roast the pumpkin and that can be done on the weekend when you have the time. Once you have the roasted pumpkin and the red chile sauce, the making of this soup is easy breezy.
Liquid – Start with 5 and add more if the soup is too thick. I used 4 cup vegetable broth and then added water as needed.
The soup’s thickness – When you originally make the soup, add water, broth or stock to whatever your desired thickness. After the soup sits in the refrigerator for a day or two, it will thicken up, so when you reheat it, be prepared to have to add more liquid.
Cumin/Coriander spice mix – You can make up a small jar of spice mix (below), or just toast 1/2 tsp. each of cumin seeds and coriander seeds in a skillet, grind, and use what you need.
Cumin Coriander Spice Mix
Cumin Coriander Spice Mix Recipe
Recipe Author: MJ of MJ’s Kitchen
Makes about 2 tablespoons
Ingredients
1 Tbsp. cumin seed
1 Tbsp. coriander seed
Instructions
- Heat a small skillet over medium-low heat.
- Add the coriander seed and toast, shaking the skillet occasionally for 1 minute.
- Add 1 Tbsp. cumin seed to the skillet and continue to toast until the spice mix becomes aromatic and is a nice brown).
- Transfer seeds immediately to mortar or spice grinder and grind to a powder.
- Transfer to a glass spice jar.
Recipes that use a mix of toasted cumin and coriander:
- Roasted Pumpkin and Red Chile Soup
- New Mexico Green Chile Sauce
- New Mexico Red Chile Sauce
- Andouille and Black Bean Soup
- Pico de Gallo with Pickled Peppers and Chipotle
- Green Chile Chicken and Mushroom Soup
- Chorizo, Mushroom and Posole Soup
- Green Chile Tomatillo Salsa
- Green Chile Cheeseburger
- Calabacitas Chowder
- Homemade Chorizo Sausage
This pumpkin and red chile soup was featured in the Gallery of Favorites – Pumpkin Edition.
Love the sweet and spicy combination in this soup, MJ! The roasted pine nuts on top are the perfect touch!
What an interesting combination of flavors!
MJ, this is definitely a soup recipe worth sharing again. Your cumin-coriander spice mix will be added to our spick rack very soon. We love it on many things.
Thanks Ron! My husband is always grabbing the cumin-coriander mix for just about anything. 🙂
I’m glad that you are sharing this recipe again, it is perfect for fall.
another winner! Thanks
Thanks Carole!
Pingback: Chile Paste Recipe | Marshalls Creek Spices
Pingback: Red Chile Sauce Made from Powder | MJ's Kitchen
Pingback: Pumpkin Beer Cheese Soup | MJ's Kitchen
I love this…pumpkin and red chile (pods and sauce)…awesome! What a delicious flavor this soup must have and the texture looks so creamy and smooth. MJ, you have such wonderful recipes…delicious, delicious, spicy delicious!
You are so sweet Jodee!! It really is a very creamy soup and the perfect combination of sweet and spicy!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on recipes. Regards
Pingback: Green Chile Chicken Mushroom Soup | MJ's Kitchen
Pingback: Chorizo, Mushroom and Posole (Hominy) Soup | MJ's Kitchen
I love the combination of pumpkin with the red chile sauce in this recipe, MJ. And it sounds so warming for the fall and winter months – I would absolutely take a bowl of this!
Pingback: Orange and Brown Butter Tart
Wow. This sounds fantastic. Pumpkin is so healthy and I’m not waiting for Fall to try this.
Dropping by from Carole’s Chatter~ This sounds wonderful~ Lynn @ Turnips 2 Tangerines
Just my sort of dish, MJ. Thanks for popping over and adding it to our collection. Cheers
I tried making a pumpkin soup this year and I loved it, but unfortunately, no one else in the family cared for it and I ended up eating it all 🙁 I may have to cut the recipe down some and give it a try, especially with the weather getting cold now.
Thanks for participating in our recipe linky this month!
Hi MJ,
I pinned this recipe. I am thinking it might be pretty healthy. And that’s a good thing for me….!
Pingback: Gallery of Favorites – The Pumpkin Edition
Loving this bite of New Mexico and great tip on removing the seeds after roasting (need ot try this), thanks!
This soup sounds absolutely amazing. Your husband must feel so spoiled to have you as his cook 😉 Have a nice holiday, and feel free to link this up at my Meatless Monday hop too, it’d be great to have you: http://jessica-healthymommyhealthybaby.blogspot.com/2012/11/meatless-monday-yummy-side-dishes.html.
Pingback: Hearth and Soul Hop – The Thanksgiving Edition
Perfect for a chilly day! I love that it has a KICK! 🙂 Thanks for linking up at our Gluten Free Fridays party! I have tweeted and pinned your entry to our Gluten Free Fridays board on Pinterest! 🙂
We have a great collection of recipes going to get us ready for menu planning! Hope to see you this Thursday for another Gluten Free Fridays link up! It will be live at 7:05 eastern US time. Cindy from vegetarianmamma.com
I miss picking up delicious red chile at the roadside stands. When in Tucson AZ, it was everywhere, and it was delicious:-) Your soup sounds wonderful, and I love the addition of the coriander! Gorgeous, Hugs, Terra
I don’t know how I missed this post but it sure does look good, And I just happen to have about 6 cups of freshly roasted pumpkin purée in my freezer. Well, it looks like it won’t be there for long!
Wishing you and your family a very Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving. Thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday and hope to see you soon!
Miz Helen
Some pumpkin soups I have had seem a little bland to me but yours is so flavourful!! The combination of spices you have used is just wonderful and your soup is such a gorgeous colour! I love the tip about taking the seeds out of squash after after cooking as well.
Thanks April! If you’re like me you’ll kick yourself once you try roasting a winter squash with its seeds. When I first did it and saw how very easy it was, I couldn’t believe it took me so long to try it. Sometimes laziness leads to some excellent results. 🙂
This looks WONDERFUL, MJ. I roast pumpkins most weeks this time of year, and I think I’ll use my harissa since I’ve got a bunch in the frig and the spices and chiles really complement your recipe so well. I’m making this hopefully this week. Love!
Thanks WV! I bet the harissa is wonderful in this! Any pepper or pepper sauce that is packed with flavor and a little heat would work great! Hope you get a chance to make it!
What a great mix of ingredients – you know you’re speaking my language. I’m loving the idea of making a meal out of this with apple sage cornbread. That soup ended up with such a rich color.
Thanks FJ! The apple sage cornbread was an excellent accompaniment to this soup!
So yummy, my goodness..
I have wanted to make pumpkin soup for the longest time but have always chickened out at the store, thinking what to do with a whole or even half a pumpkin. But seeing this recipe, especially with the intriguing blend of spices and chile, I feel so tempted to give it a shot. I wont get any chances if I miss the pumpkin season now.
Thanks Rathi! I have to agree that sometimes there is just too much pumpkin. That’s why I try to buy the small ones. This one was only 4 pounds. I still had about 2 cups of pulp left so it’s in the freezer for another dish in the future.
One more delicious soup! I love adding cumin to soups and stews, but I am not using coriander that much. It’s sitting all alone and abandoned on my spice rack. I will try this mixture next time. Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful weekend, MJ!
Thanks CR! You really need to pull out that coriander. It’s a wonderful spice and great complement to cumin! Hope you had a wonderful weekend.
I can almost smell the spices going into the soup! I love the heady, exotic aroma of cumin and coriander…it’s perfect with pumpkin! This is the ultimate Fall dish – so full of warmth and so representative of the beautiful colours of the season!
Cumin and Coriander Seeds give the soup a nice undertone, oh and so true chilis and pumpkin are a great combi! I just wished you would have posted it much earlier when they would sell pumpkins in the market. Maybe I should check in that special shop here… Love the color of the soup MJ!
thanks Helene! We still have tons of pumpkin and winter squash here. Wish I could send you one!
Beautiful bowl of soup…with my favorite spices….perfect for the weather here..and so comforting.
Anything with ground coriander and ground cumin seed ( my favorite spice combination) is a winner in my books.
I looooove pumpkin soup, and yours looks delicious!
I recently made a pumpkin soup with honey, chestnut, thyme and sage… delicious!!
Thanks Giulia! Your soup sounds delicious as well! I love thyme and sage with pumpkin.
This is a lovely soup and a beautifully constructed post.
I love this recipe. I think it’s perfect that you’ve added flavor with red chile sauce and pine nuts instead of cream – so much healthier but it still sounds so delicious 🙂
Great photos and I really love this comforting soup with those spices and chile!
Hi MJ,
This is such a beautiful soup! Warm and comforting! Thanks for sharing.
Roasted pumpkins and chillies, the flavours would be awesome
Pumpkin soup is one recipe which I am running away from, everytime I see it online..I can’t imagine relishing pumpkin in a soup. But I think I am wrong..I need to give the due credits to this humble veggie with your recipe, MJ. Wish me luck my friend..What a lovely color and cute little pumpkin that is!
Good luck Sanjeeta!!! I know you’ll love it! Let me know. It is a cute little pumpkin isn’t it? I always buy the small ones because that’s really all I need, but mostly because I love seeing them on the table for a few days before cooking them up. 🙂
Beautiful soup! I love cumin and coriander. Looks spicy and warming.
What a lovely soup, soon to make!
Ooh this looks like a heart warming soup perfect for this cold weather!I love that you’ve made it spicy and that cumin/coriander combo is a staple in Indian cooking too :)Love it!!
What a great soup MJ! Very hearty and perfect for fall. Love the spice you’ve added with the red chiles! Pine nuts are very expensive around here, do you think some roasted pumpkin seeds would make a good substitute?
Thanks Amber! Actually, roasted pumpkin seed were my first thought, but then when Bobby came up with pinon I went with that. They were marvelous, but I do think the pumpkin seeds would work great as well!
Love the perspective of the first shot with the pine nuts swimming at eye level (great thought on the toasted pinons Bobby!). What a delicious idea to add warming red chile to this pumpkin soup. I not only appreciate warming dishes this time of year but also ones that have a little kick to them! Great thermogenic properties ;-). I like how you included the photo of your inspiration MJ… the lovely little pumpkin surrounded by the dried chiles… together, your photos really tell a story.
Thanks Kelly for your comments about the soup and the pictures! I think I’m starting to have fun with photography although it is still frustrating at times. A stylist I am not! Great terminology for the red chile effect – thermogenic properties! Definitely! 🙂
I understand… The photography aspect is always the most challenging for me too… so many posts reside in purgatory for ages, others won’t see the light ;-). Oh well, we’re learning, right? (and yes, it’s often fun!).
What a gorgeous colour – so rich and hearty looking MJ, truly! I love the addition of the olive brine – what a great idea. It must give so much flavour to the soup… I’m really curious as to what it tastes like.
Beautiful! Such delicious flavours, too!
MJ, you make some amazing soups!! All I want right now is a big soup spoon and that bowl of deliciousness in my face. Thank you.
I wish it was that easy!! 🙂
Thanks Kate! I agree! Sometimes I just feel like poking a fork into the computer screen to see if I can get a bite! 🙂
It has been raining cats and dogs here lately, and soup is seriously the perfect meal to a cool evening. I just want a bowl right now and some bread.. and I am definitely set for the day 😉
Thanks Joanna! Please send the rain my way! We’ve been over 70 days without it. 🙁
Beautiful pumpkin color which is so appetizing, MJ! I love all kinds of pumpkin dishes, but I think the soup is my most favorite! You made it so delicious. I need to make your cumin & coriander spice mix. I love both spices and it is a very convenient that both are ready in one jar!
I probably said it before, but I really love this bowl… love!!!
I wish it were my bowl!!! Unfortunately, it belongs to a friend of mine, but she lets me borrow it or both of them when I need them. Don’t ever let a food blogger in your kitchen. He or she will start going through all of your cabinets looking for dishes and props. 🙂
I told you these are my kind of soup, love your spice mixture sure coriander and cumin makes difference in anything.
Great flavor combo here. And a really good tip on roasting the pumpkin whole, then dealing with the seeds and such later – what a time saver! Pumpkin is great with spicy flavors – this soup must taste incredible. Really good stuff – thanks.
Thanks John! The baking with the seeds works for any winter squash. This was one of those tasks that as a cook I’ve always thought “There’s got to be an easier way!” Years ago I saw someone do it on the Food Network channel and have roasted my squash that way ever since. It works great!
What a gorgeous color for soup!! You know I would love it with it’s spices. Tell your husband that he had a great idea with the pine nuts…lovely added texture. Well done. 🙂
It is hard to find pumpkin here, except the carving one. I love this soup_so healthy yet rich in flavour. Squash would do for this, right?
Thanks Adora! Yes, butternut squash would definitely work. I actually find pumpkin and butternut squash interchangeable. I can’t imagine not being able to find pumpkin. Our growing season has been so long this year, that the vendors are practically giving them away. 🙂
Was just in Montreal and I could have used a big bowl of that to warm up with. Brrr! 😉
I am so trying this. I am envious about you being in northern NM.
“A bite of New Mexico in your mouth”. You needn’t say more, MJ. This beautiful soup is probably one of the rare dishes I love with pumpkin/squash, namely very hot ones, especially if they contain also other spices. This soup is simply the perfect way to serve pumpkin!
Thanks Sissi!! It definitely is hot and it got hotter! It make enough for two dinners and one lunch. The lunch was the bottom of the pot and man was it hot! But needless to say, we both finished off our bowls. 🙂
That Bobby’s one smart cookie 🙂
Beautifully plated MJ! That soup is just gorgeous! I really like the pine nuts on top.
Whoa, this looks soul warming, too! And the topping of pine nuts is the perfect finishing touch!
What a lively soup that screams “Eat me!”
What’s not to love this creamy, warming and delicious soup! I would love some now!
Yay for Bobby it definitely adds that little extra my friend – stunning soup 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Superlative body (and heart!) warming Autumn “opener”….This will be a marvelous entrée for this weekend’s dinner…And thank you ever so much for always going into “the specifics”…spice preparation….nuances between ingredients/terminology (i.e. chile/chili)…..it ALL helps so much…You really do take the question marks out of culinary endeavors…which makes one MUCH more likely to actually DO them….Avid follower and fan of your blog.
Donna – thank you for such very nice comments! I’m blushing! With 30 years of teaching under my belt it’s hard not to give detailed instructions. 🙂 Hope to see you again soon! Have a wonderful week!