Thai Coconut Pumpkin Soup is what you make when you want something exotic tasting with very little effort! Think – classic pumpkin soup with Thai Red Curry vibes. Love the beautiful coconut undertones. It’s so good!
Thai Coconut Pumpkin Soup
Everybody loves pumpkin soup. It’s comforting, it’s thick, it’s creamy, and it’s easy to make.
But sometimes, we want to make dinner a little more interesting! Enter – Thai Coconut Pumpkin Soup. Use coconut instead of cream. Add red curry paste. Fish sauce instead of salt. Thai toppings.
And boom! Our reliable pumpkin soup has had a sexy makeover – and we love it!
Ingredients in Thai Coconut Pumpkin Soup
We’re using a store bought curry paste today which makes things nice and easy. For the small amount we need (just 3 tablespoons), it’s a convenient option. If using homemade – I applaud you! The flavour in this will be even better, with the beautiful fresh Thai flavours coming through.
The soup
Pumpkin or butternut – Recipe works as written for both pumpkin and butternut squash (we call it butternut pumpkin here in Australia). Use one that is around 1.8 kg / 3.6 lb with the skin on and seeds in. After peeling and deseeding it will be around ~1.3 kg/2.6 lb.
Cutting and peeling – Watch the video for a safe, easy cutting technique for butternut (potato peeler for skin!), and see the Pumpkin Soup video for how I cut pumpkin (cut in wedges then cut skin off).
Thai Red Curry paste – My position on the best store-bought Thai red curry that’s readily available is fairly well documented on this website! Maesri is the best – there is just no question – and it’s the best value. $2.10 for a 115g/4 oz. You’ll need 1/2 a can – so you can make this Thai Coconut Pumpkin Soup twice!
Find it at Woolies, Harris Farms and Coles (I’m in Australia), or Asian stores and online. As for other brands – they tend to have less authentic flavour and usually weirdly, overly sweet. However, for a recipe like this where the curry paste is a background rather than key flavour, any curry paste will suffice.
Homemade Thai Red Curry Paste – Recipe here. I generally make then use the whole batch in one go so I rarely have leftovers to use for things like this soup. But it’s an excellent one for freezing, and will really take this to another level. 🙂
Onion and garlic – Essential flavour base. Don’t skip these, they add great flavour.
Coconut milk – Not all coconut milk is created equal! Good ones are made with 85%+ coconut so have better flavour. Economical ones are diluted with water and have less coconut flavour. Ayam is my default (89% coconut).
Please use full fat. Fat is where the coconut flavour is! Low fat has little coconut flavour.
Fish sauce will give this soup a more authentic Thai red curry flavour than using just salt. Soy sauce can be used as a substitute.
Vegetable stock – Or chicken stock. This is the liquid the pumpkin is simmered in. Tastier than water! Use low sodium, else your soup will be on the salty side.
Garnishes
This is a great soup to have fun with toppings! Adds visual and textural interest as well as extra flavour.
Crispy fried shallot pieces – salty and oily, these are sold in jars and packets at large grocery stores these days, but cheaper at Asian stores! Terrific garnish for all things Asian. I use it liberally – it’s a frequent player in my recipes.
Red cayenne pepper – Use the large ones which are not spicy. Small chillies are spicier!
Coriander / cilantro – Lovely fresh herb used frequently in Thai dishes
How to make Thai Coconut Pumpkin Soup
Fabulously straight forward, you’ll have this on the table in 20 minutes once you start cooking. Don’t shortcut sautéing the curry paste. This really intensifies and improves the flavour. Essential step for almost every curry – most especially curry paste out of a jar!
Sauté curry paste – Get the onion and garlic started first, then add the curry paste and cook it for a good couple of minutes. This caramelises it and intensifies as well as improves the flavour. Key step when using any curry paste out of a jar!
Coat the pumpkin in the tasty curry paste flavour. Give it a good couple of minutes to toast the pumpkin a bit!
Tip: See video for how I peel and cut butternut (potato peeler for skin!), and see the Pumpkin Soup video for how I cut pumpkin (cut in wedges then cut skin off).
Simmer 8 minutes – Set aside a little coconut milk to use as a drizzle for serving. Then add the rest of the coconut milk, stock and fish sauce into the pot and simmer for just 8 minutes, or until the pumpkin is soft. It really does not take long.
Blitz with my favourite appliance (stick blender) until smooth. Ladle into bowls, swirl with reserved coconut milk then finish with as many or as little toppings as you’d like!
Roti for dunking
I served this Thai Coconut Pumpkin Soup with roti for dunking. That flaky, buttery flatbread of Indian origin, roti stalls are a local and tourist attraction all across Thailand though most Australian’s would associate roti as a menu favourite at Malaysian restaurants.
Not to be confused with the non-flaky roti flatbread that is a staple in Indian cooking, roti is a brilliant store-bought freezer standby that you cook from frozen in a fry pan, and takes just minutes. (Though homemade just got added to my Must Try list!), fairly easily found these days in everyday grocery stores – here’s the one I used from Woolworths.
Enjoy! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Thai Coconut Pumpkin Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil (or other oil)
- 1 brown onion , diced
- 2 garlic cloves , finely minced
- 3 tbsp Thai red curry paste , Maesri recommended (Note 1)
- 1.8kg/ 3.6 lb pumpkin or butternut squash – peeled, deseeded then chopped into 3cm / 1.2" chunks (~1.3 kg/2.6 lb) (Note 2)
- 2 1/2 cups vegetable stock , salt reduced (or chicken stock)
- 400ml/ 14 oz (1 can) coconut milk, full fat, best quality (Note 3)
- 1 tbsp fish sauce (sub light or regular soy sauce, Note 4)
Garnishes (optional):
- Crispy Asian shallots , highly recommended (Note 5)
- Red cayenne pepper , finely sliced
- Fresh coriander leaves
- Roti (the flaky kind), frozen, pan fried – for dunking (SO GOOD!) – Note 6
Instructions
- Sauté – Heat oil in a large heavy based pot over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic, cook for 2 minutes until soft.
- Add curry paste and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add pumpkin and stir to coat in the flavours for around 2 minutes.
- Simmer 8 minutes – Set aside 1/4 cup coconut milk for garnish. Add stock, remaining coconut milk and fish sauce. Bring to simmer then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 8 minutes until the pumpkin is soft.
- Blitz using stick blender until smooth.
- Serve topped with garnishes. Dunk in roti. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
More things to make with pumpkin and butternut squash
Life of Dozer
Dozer going for his first weigh in at his new vet! Who do you think taught him that trick of hanging half off the scales…..
Thank you to Rakel and everyone that has wished me well on my upcoming major bypass surgery. The best part about it is that during my hospital stay while it will be in the 100+ temperature range, I will be in an air conditioned hospital! I’m glad to see that I wasn’t the only Nagi and Dozer fan having trouble trying to pin the soup recipe. I’m glad to hear that Dozer’s vet visit turned out ok for him. I’m crazy in love with that big, furry guy, as I’m sure everyone else is too. Wishing Nagi, Dozer, the recipetineats team and all recipetineats fans a blessed and beautiful day. Happy cooking!
Nagi, how do you think this would work with other color curry pastes. I have some yellow curry paste that is already open. Would the flavours still work well?
Nagi
Any plans of doing some recipes using the other curry pastes from Maesri range? Penang. PRIK khing?
She shared a pendang recipe yesterday* and said Maseri etc. pre made pastes aren’t good enough for the real deal. Look at the blog post for more detail (I don’t remember).
Dozer you just made my day!
made it tonight with canned – Canada’s cans are not in ounces or grams but in ML. It came to 1 1/2 – 795 ml cans. Great recipe I just added 1/2 of lime because I had one
This is the answer I was looking for!
Made it! I over simmered and it was a bit thicker but still super delicious 😊 so easy and barely any washing up.
Will you redo this when the pin option is fixed please?
Every year when my husband goes snowmobiling, I make some recipes that he won’t care for and this is going to be one for this year. That way I can enjoy it and not have to make 2 separate meals. I LOVE the idea of standing half off the scale – yeah Dozer for thinking of this!
He he I love your thinking on meal planning!!! 🙂 N x
I hope Dozer got a clean bill of health at his new vet!?! Did he like the people?
Hello Marca! Happy to report I just received a message from the vet that all his tests came back normal! He’s good, he liked the vet. It’s a little different to the old one, larger, and we don’t know the people there. But it seems promising. He does miss his old vet, he loved everyone there! Thanks for asking after him Marca – N xx
Will this recipe work with canned pumpkin? If so, how much should I substitute?
I’ve made Thai pumpkin soup with canned pumpkin and really enjoyed it. IMO it’s a richer flavour than butternut squash/most seasonal squashes/pumpkin here – but I use an American brand (I can’t get AUS/NZ one so don’t know how it compares).
Morning Susie! Use 3 x 14ox/400g cans 🙂 It will work and be much easier but the flavour, as you would know, it not quite as good as using fresh pumpkin!! – N x
This looks incredible. Any idea if I could use canned pumpkin instead of fresh? Just the 100% pumpkin in a can NOT the pumpkin pie filling in a can. Any idea if this would work?
Morning Alana! It will absolutely work, use 3 x 14oz cans 🙂 Add it with the coconut milk etc and simmer for 8 min per recipe to give all the flavours a chance to come together. 🙂 N x
This soup looks amazing! I would love to pin it, but I’m not able to find the way to pin this recipe. I’ve never had this problem.
Can you please tell me where to do this? Thank you! 🙂
Morning Celia! Sorry about that, having some tech glitches over the past day. Getting this fixed! N x
Yum! Absolutely delicious, exactly as written. I happened to have a butternut squash hanging out in my fridge, plus a can of the red curry paste you recommended a while back — such a perfect combo, thank you!
Ditto to Jans comment, I could not find a link to save this recipe to Pinterest ??
All I can say is,
I Love You Two!!!!🥰😂🥰
In my opinion. Maesri is not nearly as good as Maey Ploy Thai pastes. Maesri available in Supermarkets, Mae Ploy mostly in Asian markets. Huge difference. And am a major Nagi fan.
Hi Kerene! Thanks for the tip, I will check it out. I’ve read about this brand and seen it, my main problem was that it wasn’t always available at all Asian stores across Sydney, so I thought it was a more obscure brand. You’re the 3rd person who’s mentioned it in 24 hours so I think it’s a sign!! N x
I have to disagree with Kerene (sorry, nothing personal). I had been using Mae Ploy for years. It IS good, but very hot so whenever I used it I reduced the amount of paste and boosted the flavour with extra garlic, lemongrass, fish sauce until the balance seemed right. Maesri was recommended to us when I did a series of Thai cooking classes with a friend. The tutor was Thai herself and Maesri was the brand she used most of the time when she wasn’t creating her own paste from scratch. I guess it’s really a matter of taste and heat tolerance. Either way, both brands are good and very inexpensive.
Any chance frozen paratha bread would work as a replacement to the roti you mentioned? Or another option… As you say the only roti I can see is flatbread, but I’m in Europe and we’ve not transitioned to Asian food (unless it’s Chinese!) sadly
Hi SNL!! Absolutely, I would use paratha in a heartbeat, or any other flatbread 🙂 N x
I just checked my new cookbook and sad to say that this recipe is not in the book. I did however find your recipe for pumpkin soup.
Hi Jan, no new recipes that Nagi is releasing will be in the cookbook – the recipes that re in the cookbook have already been posted (their videos at least)
I love butternut. I’m always looking for a good soup recipe. I saved this for when the weather is a little cooler here in eastern US. I’d love to cook it smooth as written but husband hates puréed soups -says it’s like baby food – so I’ll have to leave some of it chunky.
Love your new recipes and the great pictures of Dozer. My question is, are we not allowed to post the recipe for Thai Coconut Pumpkin Soup??? I CHECKED the whole site for this recipe and there is no way to post it to Pinterest. First time I can ever remember having this problem. Am I supposed to post the Pumpkin Soup recipe and then the Thai Curry Paste recipe and then put them together as the Thai Coconut Pumpkin Soup recipe??? It’s 3:15 am here in sunny and hot California. I can’t sleep thinking about my upcoming major bypass surgery, so I though I would check out this new recipe that was emailed to me. I bought your new cookbook, so I’m going to go check and see if the recipe is in there. I sure hope so, because I would love to make this Soup. May you, Dozer and your team have a blessed day. I always look forward to your latest email. Best wishes from Jan, 🐈,Sissy, 🐕, Rudy, and 🐕, Tippy!!!
Good luck with your surgery Jan, hope it all goes well. The recipe tin eats community will be thinking of you!🫶
I wanted to pin it to to my Nagi pin, looks very tasty, I´ve got the book too, going to look in it now and good luck with your surgery Jan. x