This is a pumpkin soup made with canned pumpkin, and it's the one I make when Samhain falls on a weeknight. It takes about 30 minutes and uses eight ingredients, most of which are already in your pantry. The soup comes out creamy and savory, with a little sweetness from maple syrup. Below the recipe, you'll find what each ingredient brings to the pot magically and how to stir an intention into it.
Why Pumpkin Soup Belongs on the Samhain Table
Pumpkin soup belongs on the Samhain table because the pumpkin is the season's harvest symbol, and soup is the oldest way to feed a crowd and the dead at the same time. Samhain marks the last harvest of the year, and the meal is part of the holiday. Many practitioners set a place for their ancestors, or hold a full dumb supper in silence.
The pumpkin itself is a newcomer to the holiday. In Ireland and Scotland, people carved turnip jack-o'-lanterns. Irish and Scottish immigrants in North America found that the native pumpkin was bigger and easier to carve, and it took over the jack-o'-lantern tradition. Today it's hard to picture Samhain without one.
A pot of soup suits the night. It keeps warm on the stove while you light candles and set the ancestor plate, and anyone who drops by can have a bowl.
Magical Properties of the Ingredients
Every ingredient in this soup has its own magical correspondences. Here is what each one brings to a Samhain meal.
- Pumpkin is the harvest made visible. Many practitioners associate it with abundance, prosperity, and protection, since a lit jack-o'-lantern guards the door on Samhain night. It also has ties to the moon and to the dead, so it suits an ancestor meal.
- Butter has long been part of hearth and household magic. In folk practice, people used it for peace in the home and to smooth things over between people. It's a fitting start for a meal shared with family.
- Onion is one of the oldest protection foods. In many kitchen traditions, people hung onions or set cut halves in a room to absorb negative energy. In a Samhain soup, it guards the table.
- Maple syrup comes from the maple tree, which practitioners link to love, longevity, and money. A spoonful adds sweetness to the year ahead.
- Milk is one of the oldest offerings to spirits and the fair folk. A bowl of milk left out at Samhain is a common folk custom in Ireland and Scotland. In the soup, it brings nurturing and care.
- Salt is protection and purification. It's the same salt used to draw a line across a threshold, and the base of black salt.
- Black pepper is a fire herb that practitioners use for protection and to drive off envy. Its heat clears what you don't want at your table.
- Chicken broth is the comfort-food base of the soup. Practitioners use it in healing and nourishment work, and it carries the other ingredients.
If you add the optional sage or nutmeg below, sage brings wisdom and remembrance, and nutmeg brings luck.
How to Make Pumpkin Soup With Canned Pumpkin
To make pumpkin soup with canned pumpkin, soften an onion in butter, then simmer the pumpkin with broth, maple syrup, salt, and pepper for 10 minutes and stir in milk.
Pumpkin Soup With Canned Pumpkin
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 small white onion finely chopped
- 2 15-ounce cans pumpkin purée not pumpkin pie filling
- 1 quart chicken broth 4 cups
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon salt
- black pepper freshly ground, to taste
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg optional
- heavy cream or maple syrup for drizzling, optional
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until it is very soft, about 8 minutes.
- Add the pumpkin, broth, maple syrup, salt, and pepper. Whisk until smooth and bring to a boil.
- Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, whisking often.
- Turn off the heat and stir in the milk. Taste, then add more salt or pepper if needed.
- For a silky soup, blend it with an immersion blender.
- Ladle into bowls and serve with a drizzle of cream or maple syrup on top.
Notes
- Use plain pumpkin purée. Pumpkin pie filling already has sugar and spices in it.
- For a vegetarian soup, use vegetable broth.
- For an herbed version, fry a few sage leaves in butter until crisp and crumble them over each bowl.
- The soup keeps for 4 days in the fridge and up to 3 months in the freezer. Freeze it before adding the milk if you can, then stir the milk in when you reheat it.
- Homemade Instant Pot bone broth works anywhere this recipe calls for broth.
How to Cook Pumpkin Soup as a Kitchen Spell
You can cook this soup as a kitchen spell by holding one intention while you make it and stirring it in. Here's how.
- Choose your intention before you start. At Samhain, many practitioners cook for remembrance and for protection of the household through the dark half of the year.
- Name what each ingredient brings as it goes in. Onion is for protection, maple is for sweetness, and salt is for a clean start. You can say it out loud or just think it.
- Stir clockwise once everything is in the pot. Practitioners stir clockwise to draw something in. While you stir, recite:
Pumpkin, salt, and butter gold,
keep this house from harm and cold.
- Fill a small bowl for the ancestors before anyone eats. Set it at their place at the table or on your altar.
- Take the bowl outside in the morning. Leave it under a tree or at the edge of the garden.
If you'd like a fuller rite for the night, the Samhain ancestor ritual pairs well with this meal.
Ways to Change Up This Recipe
This soup is a good base for other flavors. Here are a few ways to change it.
- Spiced: Add 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and a pinch of cinnamon with the pumpkin.
- Herbed: Fry a few sage leaves in butter until crisp, and crumble them over each bowl.
- Richer: Swap the milk for half-and-half or heavy cream.
- Dairy-free: Use olive oil instead of butter and canned coconut milk instead of milk.
- With fresh pumpkin: Roast a sugar pumpkin, then scoop and mash about 3 1/2 cups of flesh to replace the two cans.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Canned Pumpkin Actually Pumpkin?
Yes, canned pumpkin is actually pumpkin, though it's a different kind from the orange jack-o'-lantern type. Most canned pumpkin in the United States is made from the Dickinson pumpkin, a tan variety of Cucurbita moschata. It's a close cousin of butternut squash, which is why canned pumpkin tastes sweeter and smoother than a carving pumpkin.
Can I Use Pumpkin Pie Filling Instead of Pumpkin Purée?
No, pumpkin pie filling won't work well here. It already has sugar and pie spices, so it would make the soup taste like dessert. Look for a can that lists only pumpkin as the ingredient.
How Do I Make Pumpkin Soup Thicker?
To make pumpkin soup thicker, use 3 cups of broth instead of 4, or simmer it uncovered for an extra 10 minutes before adding the milk.
Can I Freeze Pumpkin Soup?
Yes, you can freeze pumpkin soup for up to 3 months. Dairy can separate when it's frozen, so freeze it before stirring in the milk if you can. Add the milk when you reheat it.
What Else Can I Serve at a Samhain Dinner?
Samhain dinners lean on the late harvest: root vegetables, apples, squash, bread, and slow-cooked meats. Pumpkin soup makes a good first course before a braised dish like these lamb shanks or a tray of sweet potato wedges. For a heartier main, this chicken and sausage gumbo feeds a crowd. So does this beef and butternut squash stew.
Whatever ends up on the table, a meal cooked with intention for the people you love, living and gone, is a spell in its own right.
