1987 Pumpkin Soup Is The Only Thing Missing From Your Thanksgiving Menu

For me, it’s always soup season. But as the days grow colder, I have more of an excuse to whip up my meal of choice. Plus, with my zodiac sign being Cancer, I find nothing more comforting than a warm bowl of homemade soup on a chilly fall day. Fortunately, it’s finally starting to feel like fall here in L.A! I lived in Chicago for 21 years, so I grew up with brutally cold winters and snow on Halloween. Warm comfort foods were a staple for me from mid-September on. Old habits die hard, I guess.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and unfortunately, this year I’m unable to make the trek back to the Midwest for the holiday. It will be my first Thanksgiving not celebrating with my family, and to make up for the homesickness I’m bound to feel, I reached out to one of my aunts for her pumpkin soup recipe. It’s been a few years since she served this dish during Thanksgiving dinner, but every year, there’s always a silent hope that she’ll make it again.

It turns out that the inspiration for this recipe dates all the way back to 1987.

My aunt sent me this old, yellowed Chicago Tribune newspaper clipping of the original recipe. Over the years, she’s changed up the recipe a bit to make it more of her own (which I consider a great thing). Her cooking is my favorite; growing up, there was a period of time when I lived with her, and every night I was treated to the most amazing homemade meals (she knows to make extra green beans for me at holiday dinners now).

I’ve been hesitant to make homemade soups in the past. Only because it’s always an hours-long process, and I can’t be bothered to buy 20 different ingredients and spices. However, I was actually surprised by how quick this soup was to put together. The whole process takes only 45 minutes to an hour. It took me a bit longer, simply because I needed to wait for the soup to cool down before putting it in the blender. If you’re working with a food processor or a professional blender (not a NutriBullet), then you don’t need to wait for the soup to cool before blending. I was trying to avoid having soup-painted walls.

If you’re looking to add something new to your Thanksgiving table this year, give this soup a shot. It’s quick to make and only requires a few ingredients (you probably already have a lot of them sitting in your fridge and pantry right now). Check out the ingredients illustrated in the photo below, followed by the instructions.

Ingredients, illustrated:

Instructions:

1. Preheat a medium soup pot for even cooking. Over medium heat, melt vegan butter or regular butter (whichever you have on hand). Once melted, dump in the chopped onion and leek. Stir this occasionally until the onion and leek are soft and browned.
2. Pour pure pumpkin puree into the pot, along with broth, spices, and the bay leaf. Increase the heat until it all comes to a boil. Once boiling, immediately reduce the heat to a simmer and leave uncovered for about 15 minutes. Every few minutes, stir the contents to prevent the onion and leek from settling on the bottom and potentially burning. After 15 minutes, remove the bay leaf.
3. Remove the soup from the heat. Please note: if you’re using a non-traditional blender (ex: Magic Bullet or NutriBullet), you NEED to let the soup completely cool before blending. If you do not, the heat will build up in the sealed container until the pressure pops the blender and it will splatter soup EVERYWHERE. If you are blending with an immersion blender or a food processor fitted with a metal blade, the soup does not need to be chilled. Blending will give you a smoother texture. If you prefer a chunkier soup, you can either skip the blending step or blend for a few seconds to break up some of the pumpkin filling.
4. The soup can immediately be served, or it can be refrigerated or frozen for up to several days.
5. Before serving, whether right away or after chilling, return it to the pot and reheat. Pour in the half-and-half and stir over a medium heat until the soup is heated through again. You may need to adjust the seasonings accordingly.

Once I’m done with my soup, I like to store it in an eco-friendly way using these lids:

You can buy them here.