Delicious Kabocha Soup Recipe | Easy Japanese Pumpkin Soup

I don’t know why but “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” popped into my head when I was thinking about pumpkins.

If you don’t remember the song you can listen to and watch it here. According to Wikipedia, the lyrics are total nonsense. I wonder how many times the singer had to practice to get the sounds right!!

So while I wonder about that, let me take you back to my kabocha soup. This is my next recipe as part of my eating healthy in Fall series.

If you saw my Fall arugula salad recipe, you may have seen that I pan-roasted some kabocha. That recipe only used half of the kabocha I bought.  I made this soup with the other half.

Kabocha Soup

Since the weather has been cooling off a bit what better time than now for soup!

I’ve made butternut squash soup and kabocha soup several times before and like them equally.

But today, I will be sharing a Japanese kabocha soup（かぼちゃスープ) recipe with you. In Japanese ‘soup’ is pronounced soo-pu.

Pumpkin soups tend to be thick, sweet, savory and hearty. I generally eat them as an appetizer to something else since they aren’t filling enough to make a meal. (no protein!)

I liked this soup since it had a good rich flavor and was on the lighter side. It was also very easy to throw together. It would be perfect for cooking on a weeknight.

My favorite thing about soups is that they generally freeze well. So you can easily double this and have something saved for the future. And that is exactly what I did 😀

       

 What to look for when buying Kabocha

When I’m at the market looking for kabocha,  one of the things to look for is a little bit of gold/yellow/gray on the exterior skin. That tells you it is ripe.

If all you can get is solid green kabocha that is okay too. I’ve used both and they always taste good!

Never heard of kabocha before? Read more about it here at Wikipedia!

Thanks for reading and don’t forget to sign up for my email list for updates!

Here is a video of me finishing up the soup with my new immersion blender !!

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Simple Kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) Soup

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• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 40 minutes
• Yield: 6 people 1x
• Cuisine: Japanese

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 1/2 whole kabocha (approximately 4 cups chopped)
• 1 medium onion
• 2 tablespoons olive oil or butter
• 1.5 cups chicken broth (use less if you want a thicker soup or use a little more to thin)
• 1 tsp white sugar
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 2 cups whole milk
• shichimi (“7 flavor” pepper to taste)

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Instructions

1. Microwave the kabocha to soften it. I usually microwave a whole kabocha on high for 4-5 minutes. (Be careful since it gets hot!!)
2. Once cooled, cut up the kabocha into small pieces approximately 1 in in length. It doesn’t need to be pretty since you are going to puree it.
3. Slice and saute the onions for a few minutes until lightly browned.
4. Add the rest of the ingredients including pumpkin and bring to a boil.
5. Simmer for 20 -30 minutes until the pumpkin is soft.
6. Once soft, use an immersion blender to puree the soup.
7. After it has been pureed add in the milk and serve!

Notes

If you want a rich gold color versus the yellow/green of my soup, you can deskin the pumpkin prior to cooking. But I like to keep the skin on for the nutrition!

You can use more pumpkin if you want it will just be a thicker soup!