Instant Pot Pumpkin Soup is the ultimate comfort food for chilly days, bursting with warm, cozy flavors in every spoonful. It’s creamy, delicious, and ready in under 30 minutes with a tasty low carb twist.
❤️ Why you'll love it
Pumpkin season is here, so that means it's soup season! This easy instant pot pumpkin soup is so delicious and nutritious and can be enjoyed by the whole family. It takes just 30 minutes, uses a handful of super simple ingredients, and is vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, and even low carb.
With a little heat from the spices, it's really the perfect creamy soup to warm up on a chilly fall day!
🥘 Equipment Used
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To make this easy Instant Pot pumpkin soup recipe, you'll need a cutting board and knife, an Instant Pot or pressure cooker, and a stick blender ore regular blender. If you are using the stovetop method, you will also need a soup pot or a Dutch oven.
🧾 Ingredients Used
- Pumpkin puree: I love this Farmers Market Pumpkin Puree from Amazon. You can make homemade pumpkin puree from scratch using fresh pumpkin during the fall season, but canned pumpkin puree works just fine and is available year-round.
- Unsweetened coconut milk: For this recipe, you need the thick, full-fat coconut milk sold in cans, not the ones sold in the refrigerated section. I used Coco Lopez coconut milk for this recipe, but I have also used Thai unsweetened coconut milk in the past. You can also use keto-friendly coconut cream.
- Cauliflower: This helps to thicken up the easy pumpkin soup without adding any additional thickeners. You can use a whole head of cauliflower or frozen cauliflower florets.
- Spices: Cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt. Cayenne pepper gives this soup a little kick, but you can omit it entirely if you wish.
- Broth: Use chicken broth, vegetable broth, or any flavor of broth you like.
- Aromatics: Onions and garlic.
- Garnish: I garnish my pumpkin soup with cilantro and red pepper flakes, but this is optional.
- Olive oil: Use olive oil or your favorite cooking oil.
🔪 How To Make Instant Pot Pumpkin Soup
- Chop up the cauliflower into medium-sized florets. Cut the onions and garlic.
- Turn instant pot on to the saute setting.
- Add olive oil and when it heats up, add onions and garlic and sauté till fragrant.
- Pour in the broth and scrape any browned bits from the onions and garlic. Then, pour in the pumpkin puree and coconut milk.
- Add the cauliflower, cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin, cayenne pepper, and salt.
- Turn the instant pot off and back on to manual mode. Set it to high pressure for 10 minutes (It will take approximately 10 minutes to come to pressure).
- When it is done, quick release the pressure by turning the venting knob from sealing to venting.
- Use an immersion blender to puree till smooth. Taste for salt and adjust if necessary.
- Optionally top with cilantro and red pepper flakes and enjoy!
How to Make Pumpkin Soup on the Stove Top
- The steps are the same, except you cook it in a pot on the stove instead.
- After adding the cauliflower and spices, bring to a boil.
- Simmer for 10 - 15 minutes.
- Use an immersion blender to puree until smooth.
- Taste for salt and adjust if necessary.
- Optionally top with cilantro and red pepper flakes and enjoy!
🥫 Storing and Reheating
This creamy instant pot pumpkin soup keeps well in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days, and it also freezes well. You can freeze it in a freezer-safe container or in freezer bags, and it is best to freeze individual portions. If you use a freezer bag, make sure you remove as much air as you can.
To reheat, either defrost in the microwave or let it defrost in the fridge overnight.
💭 Tips and Variations
- You can reduce the cayenne pepper or leave it out entirely.
- Use vegetable stock for a vegan Instant Pot pumpkin soup.
- When you pour in the broth after sautéing the onions and garlic, make sure you scrape any browned bits in the instant pot. This is crucial to prevent your instant pot from giving a burn notice, so don't omit this.
- The combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cumin is quite potent together, so be careful about adding additional spices, or the taste might become overwhelming.
- If you would prefer to use heavy cream instead of coconut cream, add it after you finish cooking.
- Feel free your favorite kind of pumpkin or winter squash. This would be a great butternut squash soup!
🍽️ What can I eat this recipe with?
You can eat this pressure cooker pumpkin soup recipe just as it is for a light, hearty soup, or you can add different toppings to jazz it up.
Some of my favorite toppings for this delicious soup are:
- Roasted veggies
- Walnuts, pecans, sliced almonds, or pumpkin seeds
- Sunflower seeds
- Sesame seeds
- Lemon juice
- A drizzle of coconut milk
- Parsley or fresh rosemary
- Shredded coconut
👩🍳 Frequently asked questions
The number one reason for bland soups is under-seasoning! Soups need salt, especially if you're using low-sodium broth or water. The salt will draw out the flavors and make each bite (or slurp) so delicious. Taste as you go, adding a little bit more salt until it tastes just right.
Pumpkin soup is a perfect fall recipe, often served with carby sides like grilled cheese, roasted veggies, croutons, crusty bread, and more. This low carb version should be paired with similarly low carb sides, like these fluffy keto dinner rolls or keto biscuits. You can also add a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of pumpkin seeds for a little crunch. I like to add red chili flakes for even more heat!
If you've been missing warm, cozy root veggies and soups, you'll be pleased to know that you can still enjoy creamy pumpkin soup even on a low carb diet! One serving of this low carb pumpkin soup contains 8 net carbs, so although it is high for a very strict keto diet, it's perfectly fine for a more relaxed low carb diet.
The trick is to use cauliflower! Pumpkin is high in carbohydrates on its own, but low-carb cauliflower adds the same body and creamy texture while reducing the carb count.
📚 Related Recipes
Check out these other savory keto soups!
Need more soups? Check out this collection of soups that will keep you warm and cozy!
📖 Recipe
Instant Pot Pumpkin Soup
Ingredients
- ½ onion chopped
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cups broth
- 15 oz pumpkin puree
- ½ can coconut milk
- 1 cauliflower medium
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon salt or to taste
- cilantro optional garnish
- red pepper flakes optional garnish
Instructions
Make it in the instant pot
- Chop up the cauliflower into medium-sized florets.
- Turn instant pot to sauté mode.
- Add olive oil and when it heats up, add onions and garlic and sauté till fragrant.
- Pour in the broth and scrape any browned bits from the onions and garlic.
- Pour in the pumpkin puree and coconut milk.
- Add the cauliflower, cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin, cayenne pepper, and salt.
- Turn the instant pot off and back on to manual mode.
- Set it to high pressure for 10 minutes (It will take approximately 10 minutes to come to pressure).
- When it is done, quick-release the pressure by turning the venting knob from sealing to venting.
- Use an immersion blender to puree till smooth.
- Taste for salt and adjust if necessary.
- Optionally top with cilantro and red pepper flakes and enjoy!
Make it on the stove
- The steps are the same, except you cook it in a pot on the stove instead.
- After adding the cauliflower and spices, bring to a boil.
- Simmer for 10 - 15 minutes.
- Use an immersion blender to puree till smooth.
- Taste for salt and adjust if necessary.
- Optionally top with cilantro and red pepper flakes and enjoy!
Notes
- You can reduce the cayenne pepper or leave it out entirely.
- Use vegetable stock for a vegan pumpkin soup.
- When you pour in the broth after sautéing the onions and garlic, make sure you scrape any browned bits in the pot. This is a crucial step to prevent your instant pot from giving a burn notice, so don't omit this.
- The combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cumin is quite strong together, so be careful about adding additional spices, or the taste might become overwhelming.
Nutrition
Tayo Oredola is the founder of Low Carb Africa, where she shares healthy, low carb dishes with global flavors. She is passionate about teaching people how to cook drool-worthy dishes while losing weight and living their best lives. Tayo’s recipes have been featured on MSN, Women’s Health, Parade, Yahoo News, Pure Wow, Essence, and other online publications.
help! my instructions read for Cauliflower but the ingredients say pumpkin puree. I would love the pumpkin!
Hi Jodie, I use both cauliflower and pumpkin puree for this recipe. The cauliflower adds bulk so you wont need a thickener, but you wont taste it in the soup.
Made this last week, shared with my house cleaner very big hit we both loved it
Gus
It's a keeper, for sure!
Don’t have an instant pot..can i just do this on the stove?
LOL! Never mind just saw the rest of the instructions!
Let me know how it turns out!
I've tried squash and pumpkin soups before and haven't found one I like. This one was a surprise! Great flavor and texture and so many options to add depending on your mood. I made it with vegetable stock and frozen cauliflower and cut back a little on the salt, I served it with a little cream swirled in. Delicious and perfect for a snowy fall day in Colorado.
I am sooo glad you enjoyed my recipe, Stephanie. It's a favorite in my house too, especially in this cold weather!