So yesterday I was staring into my pantry feeling lazy as hell, saw a lonely can of pumpkin puree shoved in the back, and thought, “Heck, soup sounds good.” Found a quick recipe online and tweaked it based on what I actually had. Here’s exactly how it went down.
Grabbing the Stuff
Opened the cupboard and pulled out:
- One big can of pumpkin puree
- An onion looking kinda sad but still usable
- Three cloves of garlic
- A box of vegetable broth
- My half-empty spice jars
Yeah, my spice rack’s a mess. Used whatever was left: garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt, pepper. Found an ancient can of coconut milk too – bonus!
Actually Making the Soup
Okay, time to cook. Chopped the onion and garlic roughly – wasn’t aiming for perfection. Heated some olive oil in my trusty old pot over medium heat. Dumped in the onions and garlic. Stirred them around until the onions got soft and started smelling real good, maybe 5 minutes.
Then, just opened the can of pumpkin and plopped the whole thing in. Stirred it up with the onions and garlic. It looked kinda thick and sticky. Poured in about 4 cups of vegetable broth – honestly just eyeballed it. Wanted it soupy, not sludge. Turned up the heat until it started bubbling lightly.
Time for spices: Shook in like 2 teaspoons of garlic powder, same for onion powder. Tablespoon of paprika – maybe too much? Didn’t measure salt, just dumped some in and kept tasting later. Few good grinds of black pepper. Stirred it all together.
Remembered the coconut milk! Drained off the watery bit and scooped in the thick cream. Maybe 3 tablespoons? Stirred until the soup got all smooth and creamy. Smelled insane at this point. Let it simmer gently for 15 minutes while I watched TikTok. Stirred it once or twice.
Tasting Time
Turned off the heat. Ladled out a tiny bit into a spoon and blew on it. Tasted… okay. Needed more salt. Definitely needed more salt. Added more, stirred, tasted again. Better. Still felt like something was missing? Squirted in maybe a teaspoon of maple syrup I found. Just a tiny bit of sweet. That did it!
Final Result
Poured it into a bowl. Had some stale bread, toasted it up quick. Dunked the bread into the soup. Seriously guys, this was stupid easy and shockingly tasty. Thick, smooth, warming. Perfect for a lazy day. Canned pumpkin isn’t fancy, but man, it saved my dinner. Added a big spoonful of Greek yogurt on top just because.
Biggest Takeaways: Don’t stress spices; use what’s there. Always keep broth on hand. Coconut milk makes everything better. Taste, taste, taste – especially for salt!