Slow Cooker Pumpkin Soup (with Canned Pumpkin Puree)
🍁🎃 Slow Cooker Pumpkin Soup is like fall in a bowl! Made with pumpkin puree, sweet potatoes, carrots, and warming spices for unparalleled coziness! Optional homemade seasoned croutons add the perfect contrasting crunch to this EASY soup! Your slow cooker does the heavy lifting in this healthy soup recipe that’s full of fiber, accidentally vegan, and easy to keep gluten-free.
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Easy Slow Cooker Pumpkin Soup Recipe
- There’s something about pumpkin soup that truly feels like fall! The combination of the pumpkin puree itself and then various warming spices including cumin, cinnamon, and nutmeg all add to the fall cozy factor – and they make your whole house smell so good too!
- The beauty of making soup in a slow cooker is that you can truly set it and forget it. Unlike proteins which you need to pay closer attention to, soup is very forgiving!
- Like all soup recipes, this one is very flexible. Obviously you’ll need pumpkin puree, but I also add carrots and sweet potato.
- For example, if you have 5 carrots but no sweet potato (fine). Or two sweet potatoes but no carrots (fine). Or a classic fall “problem” is that I may have a half can of unused pumpkin puree from another recipe it fine to add what’s in your leftover can + the whole can called for in this recipe.
Ingredients in Pumpkin Soup in Slow Cooker Recipe
- Olive oil, yellow onion (or white onion), garlic are sauteed together to add lots of flavor to the Crockpot pumpkin soup.
- Pumpkin puree, carrots, sweet potato are a trifecta of beta-carotine infused root vegetables! They all add slightly different flavor, texture, and fiber to the soup and I recommend using all three. Flexible Recipe Note:
- Vegetable broth is necessary and you can decide if you want a lower sodium broth or regular sodium. You can also use chicken broth if you don’t care about the vegan nature of the recipe.
- Salt, pepper, cumin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cayenne pepper season and flavor the soup. If you’re not a fan of a certain spice, you can likely omit it. The cayenne pepper doesn’t make the soup spicy but rather adds some pizazz but you could try chili powder or omit.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
Pumpkin Puree Tips
- In the US, canned pumpkin puree may include a blend of various types of squash in addition to pumpkin.
- I almost always use Libby’s 100% Pure Pumpkin Puree in my pumpkin recipes especially if it’s a baking or dessert recipe. It’s what I test them with because it’s very universally available in almost every supermarket across the US.
- You can use your own homemade pumpkin puree if you have it on hand or you happen to have fresh pumpkins intended for cooking or baking recipes that you want to use.
- Using homemade pumpkin puree is trickier because it may be much wetter or much drier than store bought puree, which can really throw of the balance of baked goods but soups are extremely flexible and forgiving so homemade puree is fine.
Ingredients in Homemade Seasoned Croutons
- A French baguette is essential for really crunchy croutons and if it’s a day old, even better. Don’t use white sandwich bread or a softer bread because they’re too soft to really morph into great croutons.
- Melted butter, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper are what I use to season the croutons but you can really get creative her and in addition to the Italian seasoning if you want to add onion powder, garlic powder, or a pinch of cayenne pepper, go for it.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How To Make Pumpkin Soup in a Slow Cooker with Seasoned Croutons
- Saute: When I think it makes enough of a difference to saute things in a skillet on the stove instead of just adding them raw to the Crockpot, I will. And for this easy pumpkin soup recipe, you begin by sauteeing an onion with oil, and then add the garlic.
- Transfer + Add: Transfer the onions and garlic to a 6-quart or 7-quart slow cooker. Then add all the remaining soup ingredients.
- Slow Cook: Cook on high for about 4 hours or on low for about 6 hours.
- Blend + Garnish: Using an immersion blender (or you can transfer to a high speed mixer or food processor rather than using a stick blender), blend the soup to desired consistency. Optionally garnish with coconut milk, half-and-half, or another dairy-free milk, fresh herbs, etc.
- Croutons (optional): Melt the butter vegan butter in a large skillet, add the Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, diced bread cubes, and cook over medium-low heat until the bread is as crispy as desired. You can also bake them in a 375F oven for about 15-20 minutes.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for step-by-step photos and process shots of the cooking process.
What to serve with crockpot pumpkin soup
My cookbook, Cooking With Pumpkin: Recipes That Go Beyond the Pie is my second cookbook with over 50 pumpkin recipes including sweets, savory, drinks, and a photo for nearly every recipe. I’d be super grateful if you picked up a copy!
Soup
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, diced small (white onion may be substituted)
- 2 to 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 15 ounces canned pumpkin purée, (unsweetened; NOT pumpkin pie filling which is very sweet)
- 2 medium carrots, peeled, trimmed, and sliced into thin rounds
- 1 small sweet potato, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch cubes
- 3 cups vegetable broth, or more if needed (reduced sodium or regular)
- 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste (will for sure need more if using reduced sodium broth)
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste (does not make it spicy; rather adds flavor)
Seasoned Croutons, optional
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Saute: To a large skillet, add the olive oil, onion, saute over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, or until the onion is becoming soft and translucent; stir frequently. In the final minute, add the garlic and cook for 1 minute; stir constantly.
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Transfer: Spray the ceramic base of your slow cooker with cooking spray if desired. Transfer the onion and garlic mixture to the slow cooker.
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Add: Add all remaining soup ingredients, cover, and cook on HIGH about 4 hours or on LOW about 6 hours; stir a couple times during the cooking process. Cooking is done when the vegetables are very soft and easily pierced with a fork.Slow Cooking Tips – Make sure to keep the sweet potatoes diced small and uniform since it’s the firmest item in the recipe and will be the item that you’ll end up waiting to fully cook and soften if the pieces are bigger. Be mindful of the carrots too to keep them sliced in thin rounds. At any time during the cooking process if you feel like the liquid volume is a bit too low, you can always add more broth.
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Croutons, optional: In the final 20-25 minutes or so that the soup is slow cooking, make the croutons. To a large skillet, add the butter and heat it over high heat to melt. Add the Italian seasoning, salt pepper, stir to combine, and add the diced bread cubes. Toss and flip to coat in the seasoned butter, turn the heat to medium, and cook until the bread is as golden browned and crispy as desired, about 7 to 10 minutes, tossing and flipping frequently. Exact cooking time will depend on the bread used, the size of the pieces, and preference for doneness so allow them to crisp up for as long as necessary.You can also bake them in a 375F oven for about 15-20 minutes, making sure to flip, toss, and start checking after 12-15 minutes to make sure they don’t burn.You can also use store bought croutons.
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Blend: When the vegetables in the slow cooker are soft, blend everything using a handheld immersion blender.
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Taste: I cannot stress this enough, but make sure to taste the soup and make any necessary seasoning adjustments. If it tastes at all flat, it likely needs more salt so don’t be afraid to add it. Pepper and/or cayenne pepper also add depth of flavor, or more cumin too. Ground ginger is a good alternative to try also.
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Garnishing, optional: As desired, add a splash of coconut milk or other dairy, to taste and fresh herbs to taste.
Storage: Leftover soup will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Reheat gently as desired in the microwave or on the stove. Extra croutons will keep airtight in a container or ziplock for up to 5 days, noting they will likely lose some of their crispiness as time passes.
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 407cal, Carbohydrates: 60g, Protein: 9g, Fat: 16g, Saturated Fat: 9g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 4g, Trans Fat: 0.1g, Cholesterol: 8mg, Sodium: 2008mg, Potassium: 748mg, Fiber: 9g, Sugar: 14g, Vitamin A: 30196IU, Vitamin C: 11mg, Calcium: 155mg, Iron: 5mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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