Last November, I hacked apart a giant pumpkin, simmered the chunks in boiling water for a few minutes, packed the pumpkin into jars and pressure canned them for 55 minutes. I did it as an exercise, to see how it worked and to show that it could be done.
At the time, I stated that I wasn’t sure if it was a recipe that would go on my regular roster of canning activities, because really, winter squash keeps so well as it comes. Why go to the trouble of processing it?
Fast forward 11 months and I have devised a use for these jars of pumpkin that is so good that I am penciling in more pumpkin canning next week. Here it is in simple, math problem form.
1 small onion + 2 tablespoons curry powder + 2 pints pressure canned pumpkin + 1 can coconut milk = the most delicious and quick soup ever. It is a pantry meal that can be made for dinner in just 15 minutes and it gets better after a night in the fridge.
When you pressure can pumpkin, it is cooked into deep submission. When I opened the jars, the cubes were so tender that they lost their form with the slightest pressure. They don’t need any additional cooking time, so the soup is done as soon as the onions are tender and everything is heated through. I used an immersion blender to zap it creamy and joyfully ate it for lunch for three days straight.
Curried Pumpkin Coconut Soup
Ingredients
- 1 small onion finely diced
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons curry powder use your favorite*
- 2 pints pressure canned pumpkin with their canning liquid
- 1 can coconut milk
- sea salt to taste
Instructions
- Combine onion and coconut oil in a small soup pot. Cook until onion softens and browns. Add curry powder and cook until it is fragrant.
- Add pumpkin cubes, their canning liquid and the coconut milk. Stir to combine. Add up to one coconut milk can of water should it need a bit of thinning.
- Bring to a bubble, reduce to a simmer and place a lid on the pot. Cook until onions are tender.
- When soup is done, blitz it with an immersion blender. Taste and add salt as necessary.
- Eat and enjoy.
For a blustery day like today, this sounds lovely. Could inspire me to finally learn how to use my pressure cooker… yes, pumpkin stores well in its own natural shell, but as soon as you need even a little, you have a LOT of leftovers on your hands.
YUM! I really need to get a pressure canner so that I can add things like this to my fall activities.
Hmmm…wouldn’t this be good with a chunk of crusty bread and a bit of fig chutney (or perhaps Pear Cherry Ginger Chutney)?
There IS a good reason to can winter squash cubes – have you ever seen a whole Hubbard squash? There is No Way a family could eat a whole one before a large part of it went bad…
Not quite adventurous enoough to pressure-can yet…but I’m leaning that direction!
This soup sounds delicious. I love how it emphasizes the beauty of homemade convenience foods. Well done.
This looks wonderful! I wonder if you have any tips on how you would make this using a fresh pumpkin (rather than homemade pressure cooked or store bought). Or rather, about how much fresh pumpkin would you use? 2 pints? And do you have a favorite way to cook pumpkin you plan to use in a soup 🙂
The great thing about making soup is that you can really be creative with the recipe and alter it to your taste and preferences.
I like two different methods:
When I’m cooking down pumpkin or any winter squash for soup I usually start with about 4 cups of vegetable or chicken broth and 6 cups or so of whatever squash you are using. I feel like it’s easier to add more liquid later if you want than to try and thicken it.
Or, you can bake the pumpkin at 350°F until soft, about 45 min to an hour and then scoop out the flesh to add to the soup.
Either way, I am always excited for leftovers and freeze whatever is left for future use.
Thanks for the tips 🙂
Yummy! I’m still afraid of using a pressure canner, but I’d love to try this with some of the pumpkin puree that I have been freezing.
Hello!
I live in the middle-east and I can’t find canned pumpkins, only whole, uncooked ones. This soup sounds absolutely delicious though and I would love to make it, but since I have never cooked with pumpkins before I don’t know what would be the ratio. Can you give me some advice on how to proceed? 🙂
I’ve been making this kind of soup for years. It was a family favorite at Thanksgiving, and I made it once at the deli my Mom worked at. It was the first soup sold out that day.
I didn’t use Coconut Milk. I used chicken broth, then at the end put in some heavy cream. I had more onions and I let it cook for hours.
That looks good. I’ve made a very similar soup with butternut squash and I love it. I had wondered about why anyone cans pumpkin or squash since they’re kind of easy to get most of the year but that seems like a good reason!
My mouth is watering and I will be making this for Thanksgiving dinner! I love your blog and just recently started canning (3 weeks ago). Since then I’ve done it every weekend. I think I’m addicted. It’s even better when I get a great deal at the farmers market (25lbs of tomatoes for $10, etc). So far I’ve just used the boil water method, but I am looking into pressure canners. Thanks for the tips and recipes!
I love how the overhead shot of the soup in the scalloped edge glass bowl actually looks like a pie. A pumpkin curry coconut pie. Which I suddenly now feel I must go make…
xo, Annette
It’s great to see you using this up – and pumpkin coconut soup is one of the best… so simple but packed full of flavour!
Oh, I think it’s so cool that you are canning. I have been wanting to do more.
p.s. perfect recipe for the fall.
Looks awesome. I love the pumpkin/coconut combo. In fact, that could make some killer cookies!
I canned some butternut squash at the end of the season last fall, just to get it off the counter, and this year it made a similar two-minute soup (that I mixed together in that same Le Creucet roaster you’ve got!:)
This looks delicious. No pumpkin in the house, but I do have some frozen cooked squash. Looks like soup will be on the menu soon!
I made this last night using four cups of sugar pie pumpkin I’d roasted the night before, 1 can of reduced fat coconut milk and a small red onion. AMAZING. I added a couple of teaspoons of salt, which *really* brought out the flavors. It’s a little gritty, so I may strain it before I eat it, but… yum. I’ve been trying and failing to find a good pumpkin curry soup for a while. Now I have work lunches for the rest of the week. THANK YOU!
Would it be possible to make the soup and pressure can it in pint jars? Or is the coconut milk a no no in canning?
Curious as to what size can for the coconut milk you’re recommending? I’ve pressure canned six or eight quarts of pumpkin so I can make this soup, would like to get the recipe right, rather than experiment. Thank you.
Gary, I’ve ever only seen coconut milk one size. I believe it’s 15 ounces. Whatever the standard size can is, that’s what I used.
Should sweetened or unsweetened coconut milk be used for this recipe?
Thank you
I’ve never encountered sweetened coconut milk! I only use basic unsweetened coconut milk.
I roasted my pumpkin, pureed it and used my seal a meal to store in 2 cup size bags in the freezer. Made your soup with the frozen defrosted pumpkin. It had the texture of velvet and was oh so delicious. Thanks!
So glad you liked it!
I saw that the question of making the coconut curried pumpkin soup and canning it was posted with no response. I am currently freezing mine but would love to can the soup. Is this possible?
You cannot can purees of any kind.
Can I make this soup and THEN can it? if so how long, I am higher elevation so I would just do it at 15psi like I do everything else… I had this soup at a cafe a few years ago and have been trying to find how to make and can it!
Unfortunately, there is no safe method for canning pumpkin/squash puree.
I canned my squash soup and store it in the fridge would that stay good I used the canning jars