Thick, creamy, and filling, this hearty Mexican Pumpkin Soup has a base of pumpkin but is loaded with beans and potatoes. You can make it on your stovetop or in your Instant Pot.
It’s amazing how sometimes the best vegan recipes are adaptations of meat-laden ones. Last night’s meal is a perfect example. I finally cooked the little pie pumpkin that has been on my counter since November, but then I had no idea what to do with it.
I went looking for a soup recipe, but all of them were these creamy, pureed concoctions, and I wanted something chunky and hearty and which used pinto beans. Yes, sometimes I get a taste in mind and get quite picky.
Finally I found a recipe similar to what I wanted…except it used chorizo and heavy cream. That recipe is no longer on the web, but I have to think that my healthy, vegan version of it is better anyway.
Because we LOVED it! Even daughter E. was asking for seconds almost before she’d finished the first bowl. The pumpkin makes a lovely, rich orange broth. This Mexican Pumpkin Soup is very mild and delicately-flavored, not very spicy at all, so if you like more heat, be sure to increase the seasonings.
This pumpkin soup is also a great tomato-free dish for those who are allergic to tomatoes. The pumpkin adds thickness and flavor, similar to how tomatoes add flavor to soups and chili.
Update February 2020: Since a lot of people like to use their Instant Pots for everything, I remade this soup in the Instant Pot and added the instructions to the recipe. Honestly, I don’t think the IP is the best way to make it; it doesn’t save any time, though it does allow you to leave the soup unattended. Pressure cooking leaches a lot of the flavor from the seasonings, so in my Instant Pot version, I added more at the end.
The soup was delicious served with oil-free tortilla chips that I made in my Air Fryer. I simply preheated my Breville Smart Oven Air to 400 (with the air fryer basket in place). While it was heating, I cut corn tortillas into wedges, sprinkled them with a little lime juice, salt, and Creole seasoning (just a tiny bit.) When the air fryer was hot, I added them to the basket and cooked them until they were crispy and just beginning to brown, about 3-4 minutes. You have to watch them closely because they burn easily,
Mexican Pumpkin Soup
Ingredients
- 1 large onion chopped
- 4-5 cloves garlic peeled and finely chopped
- 4 cups vegetable broth or water plus vegetable bouillon
- 2 cups pureed cooked pumpkin or 1 cup canned pumpkin
- 1 16-ounce can pinto beans (or chili beans, see Notes)
- 1 tablespoon seeded diced jalapeño
- 5 medium red or gold potatoes diced into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 tablespoons oregano (Mexican oregano, if available)
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
- pinch of cayenne or other red pepper
- 1/3 cup unsweetened soy milk or other non-dairy milk
- salt to taste
- cilantro or parsley, diced tomatoes, chopped red onion, sliced jalapeños optional garnishes
Instructions
- Heat a large pot. Sauté the onions over medium heat until they soften; add garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Add in the broth, pumpkin, pinto beans, jalapeño, and potatoes. Stir in the oregano and other spices. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer.
- Simmer for about 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Stir in the soy milk, add salt to taste, and serve immediately garnished with cilantro, parsley, onion, sliced jalapeños, or diced tomatoes.
Instant Pot Instructions
- Use the Sauté setting to sauté the onions until they soften. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Turn the pot off and add 3 1/2 cups broth, pumpkin, beans, jalapeño, potatoes, and seasonings. Lock the lid and set to cook at high pressure for 5 minutes. When 5 minutes is up, allow the pressure to come down naturally for 5 minutes before doing a quick release.
- Check the seasoning and add more oregano, chili powder, cumin, and chipotle if necessary. (Pressure cooking reduces the flavors of seasonings, so do not be shy about adding more now.) Let simmer for a few minutes using Saute button to allow flavors to blend. Turn off heat and stir in the “milk” and add salt to taste. Serve garnished with cilantro, parsley, onion, sliced jalapeños, or diced tomatoes.
Notes
Nutritional info is approximate.
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Original 2006 Photo
IrishCherokiiMslm
November 18, 2009 at 3:35 pmHi, I just made the pumpkin soup last night-Im not veggie but I hate pork,N-E way didnt have any veg broth so I used turkey broth afraid it would ruin it, but it didnt!also added a little fresh grated ginger,one clove and black pepper, and no milk either, I think the black pepper really gave a new dimension to it, I LOVE this recipe!!
rivercrow
November 20, 2009 at 5:50 pmYour efforts at delicious vegan cuisine are to be applauded. Keep up the good work!
re: "Mexican" Pumpkin Soup reads pretty tasty. However, be aware that simply adding chili beans and/or jalapenos does not Mexican make! May I refer you to ALL of Diana Kannedy's books on Mexican cooking. You will find a few vegan recpies, and more other recepies that can be adapted.
Buen provecho! Rivercrowin LA
F.M.Mossman
September 28, 2010 at 8:11 pmI didn’t have all the ingredients but couldn’t resist. I substituted sweet potatoes for the pumpkin- fresh just boiled them and mashed them up, and used plain old russet potatoes instead of red….It was awesome..can’t wait when I can try the true blue recipe!!! Very excited about fall with all these great soups.
Mia
October 4, 2010 at 11:48 amI just froze 16 cups of pumpkin puree yesterday. Some will become more pumpkin butter since I like it so much. But I will be using some to make this soup. I don’t do totally fat free but I have to do dairy free so this is perfect for me.
Lea
October 11, 2010 at 10:03 amDelicious! I made this last night and it turned out wonderful. Very rich and hearty – did not leave me hungry at all. I added some kale b/c I try to get my greens in wherever I can, but otherwise followed the recipe. Thank you sooo much for your excellent website- love it!
Carrie
October 13, 2010 at 7:56 pmI just have to say I made this about a year ago and thought it was fairly good. I made it again today, but added a can of diced fiery tomatoes (the kind with the jalepenos) and use a little less broth. This version went from being fairly good to DELICIOUS! Thank you so much for the recipe!
Angie
November 3, 2010 at 6:32 amThis was the best soup/stew we’ve had in weeks! And it has gotten better every time it was reheated. The only thing I missed out was the soy milk. This is definitely a keeper at our house!
Sarah
November 3, 2010 at 9:13 pmLoved the recipe! Great way to make a thick soup like chili without the tomatoes to stay local with eating style in the winter time!! DELICIOUS! I would like to say that I added a bit of lemon juice to mine and it was exactly what the soup needed to make it pop. Thanks for the recipe!!
Nikki
November 12, 2010 at 8:45 pmThis recipe looks great! I’m thinking about making this for a fundraising event and am wondering how many servings this recipe provides. Thank you!
SusanV
November 12, 2010 at 8:51 pmI would count it as 4 servings to be on the safe side, but you could probably stretch it to 6. Hope your fundraiser goes well!
Sybil
November 26, 2010 at 11:09 amYou can use soyrizo in place of chorizo. It tastes really good and has no meat. Uses soy protein instead.
SusanV
November 26, 2010 at 11:12 amJust want to point out that soyrizo is incredibly high in fat. Wouldn’t want someone to go looking for it without knowing that!
Michelle B
October 25, 2011 at 11:11 amHi Susan. Thanks for the great recipes. I just started to make a serious effort at eating vegan in the past 2 months – your blog has been such an inspiration!
I have a general question about recipes where soy milk is added at the end to give a dish creaminess. I’m having a problem where the soy milk curdles when I add it to the dish. Not big curdles exactly, but the soy seems to be condensing/preciptating into tiny white flecks. It doesn’t affect the taste of the food at all, it just doesn’t look nice. It happened with this recipe, as well as a with a mushroom stroganoff.
Any ideas what I can do differently so this doesn’t happen?
Annie J
November 10, 2011 at 9:48 amTry rice milk? I never use soy milk, just rice milk, and don’t have this problem. HTH!
Janet
February 9, 2020 at 7:47 pmI have found that it’s best to let the soup cool down just a little before I add soymilk… or even some of the nut milks. Not cool, just not streaming hot.
Jenn
November 11, 2011 at 11:45 pmI am really loving this blog! I am not vegan, but prefer to eat healthy. This recipe turned out great- thanks for doing the experimentation!
KBeane
November 14, 2011 at 9:16 pmI made this tonight and my husband and I were both pleased. I had 1/2 a pumpkin to use, and this was a great recipe to sneak it in there. I did add a little oil when sauteeing, but I’m sure it wasn’t really necessary. The potatoes and beans made the soup very hearty. Thanks for the great recipe!
Fiona
March 21, 2012 at 11:59 pmThis was really yummy! I changed it a little though. I used a whole can of pumpkin and left out the soy milk. I also added broccoli and carrot and used only 4 potatoes. Next time I would only use two or three potatoes, use 2 cans of beans instead of one, and add more veggies. Very easy and yummy!
Brittney
August 24, 2012 at 10:01 pmI LOVE this recipe. I’ve modified it to just dump in 16 oz of Trader Joe’s mixed greens into the pot. I use 8 cups of vegetable brother, 2 tsp cumin, 1 1/2 tbsp oregano; 1 tsp chili powder. When I’m in the mood to splurge, I do brown in a cast iron skillet Trader Joe’s soy chirizo, since I know it is high in fat.
suzi
September 18, 2013 at 12:02 pmi am so happy to discover you!! YUM! i made this soup last nite, and had some japanese garnets already baked, so i threw them chopped, into the soup towards the end. i love sweet potato and beans together… i also used leftover coconut milk i had to get rid of , as substitute for the soymilk. this was delicious!! i also used on whole jalapeno so it is nice and spicy, the way we like it. cant wait to try and share more of your great work!! thanks so much : )
Esther J
October 31, 2013 at 6:57 pmThis was so very good tonight. I roasted a pumpkin (my first) earlier in the week and this was one of the recipes on my list to prepare with it.
I followed the recipe as is, except I added turnip greens to add a green to the mix (and, as any good Southerner knows, pinto beans and turnips greens are a good pair together).
Very yummy! (too bad the weather’s warmer than I’d prefer.)
N. Boyles
November 30, 2019 at 9:23 pmI don’t have pinto beans but I do have black beans, navy beans and red beans on hand. Which would be better with this recipe?
Susan Voisin
December 1, 2019 at 11:43 amAny of those would be good, but I would use the black beans.
Lori L Williamson
December 31, 2019 at 3:07 pmI’ve probably made this soup more than any other, and for years I have been adding a large can of hominy. We call it Pumpkin Posole soup. Last week I made this and didn’t have any potatoes, but there was a sweet potato in the pantry. I used it instead and it was probably the best batch I ever made.
Janet
February 9, 2020 at 7:53 pmJust curious about what you mean by chili beans. Do you mean something like kidney beans in a chili sauce? These, I’ve found. Have a lot of sugart. Would it be ok to just add a drsined can of kidney or pinto beans and an extra tablespoon of chili powder?
Susan Voisin
February 9, 2020 at 8:57 pmYes, chili beans are canned, flavored beans (I think pinto beans.) In the updated version of this recipe, I mention using pinto beans, chili powder, and chipotle powder instead of chili beans.