This bacon pumpkin soup is fall in a bowl! It features creamy pumpkin, crispy bacon, sage, and plenty of warm spices for the perfect comforting meal.
Soup is usually an after-thought for me. I love soup but I don’t always remember how much I love it until I’m eating it. When I’m eating it, it’s usually because I’m sick or my Aunt Susie in Seattle made a batch of her creamy kale soup.
While I happily slurp spoonful after spoonful of the warm, cozy, liquid meal, I think to myself, “I need to make soup more often.”
It’s a good thought.
It’s a good thought until I’m in my kitchen and I don’t know where to begin. I’m an expert at slow-cooker braised beef dishes, chili, and anything baked, broiled, or fried. So when I’m staring at my pantry and refrigerator, debating on what to cook, I default on my expertise. Soup is out the window before it really had a fighting chance.
Not today!
Today I’m making a dedicated post to bacon pumpkin soup.
As promised, this is the 2nd of my 2 pumpkin recipes for the year …or at least for October. I’m thinking pumpkin needs to make a reappearance in December. Thoughts?
This soup is mind-blowingly delicious. I crisp some pancetta in the soup bowl and use the grease as a base for the creamy bacon pumpkin soup. After the other ingredients make harmonious savory Fall magic happen, I sprinkle bowls of the warm orange yumminess with the crispy bacon bits. OH man is it tasty.
Thanks to my Austin for his fabulous man hand modeling.
While I know there is no shortage of great pumpkin soup recipes out there, I highly recommend you give this one a try. It’s filling, comforting, perfectly spiced, and really ridiculously good for you.
Ready for the recipe?
To start, snag an 8 oz package of pancetta. Bacon chopped up will work too.
Toss it into a large pot on medium/high heat. After the pancetta (aka bacon) has gotten nice and crispy and you think it’s finished cooking, spoon out the meat bits and set them aside on a paper towel/plate.
Don’t be afraid. This is not a science experiment. THIS is homemade chicken broth. “How and why” …is that what you’re thinking?
Homemade bone broth is extremely simple to make. Even better, the health benefits are long and convincing. Why does it look like chicken jello? That’s because it’s full of great natural gelatin. Homemade bone broth can help you in your fight to heal a leaky gut and is a tremendous source of calcium that our bodies can actually put to use.
I make my broth by putting an entire free-range organic chicken in my crockpot. I throw in some veggies/spices (celery, carrot, bay leaf, garlic, apple cider vinegar) and cover in water. Let it cook on low overnight and BAM! You’ve got a homemade superfood AND tasty moist chicken that’s great for shredding and eating in lettuce tacos. Read more about the benefits here. A mug of homemade bone broth each morning has allowed me to stop taking my glucosamine chondroitin! Whoop!
Back to the bacon pumpkin soup. Add 2 cups of chicken broth (free-range store bought works too …do I sound like Ina Garten?) to your pot. As it heats, the globs will melt. I promise.
Pumpkin time! Grab about 29 oz of canned pumpkin. Add it to the pot.
Shake then pour in two 14 oz cans of full-fat coconut milk. I recommend you leave just a little of the coconut milk behind so that you can do a fun Jackson Pollock-ey swirl in your bowls …food art!
Now that we’ve got all the major ingredients in the bowl, let’s season it up.
Add ½ tsp of ground ginger to the pot. Then add ½ tsp of kosher salt and ½ tsp of ground cloves.
Whisk all the ingredients together and let it simmer on medium/low for about 15 minutes.
If you’d like to add even more flavor, grab some fresh sage. Carefully give it a chop and set aside.
Spoon your soup into bowls then drizzle with the leftover coconut milk. Remember your crispy pancetta (bacon) bits! Do you have any left? I made the mistake of “taste testing” a couple. Taste testing when I’m hungry never turns out well. I almost ate them all. Here are the lucky few to make it in a bowl!
Sprinkle the bacon in the bowl. It will probably sink …don’t stress. Now you have the fun of diving for crispy bacon bits. Which is very similar to diving for bacon bits in a salad. I know you.
Garnish with some sage (if you like) and enjoy.
PS. This soup reheats fabulously. It’s especially tasty, in fact, with a nice cold glass of cheap chardonnay and some trashy reality TV.
Creamy Paleo Bacon Pumpkin Soup
Ingredients
- 8 ounces pancetta or bacon
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 29 ounces canned pumpkin
- 2 14 ounces cans of full-fat coconut milk
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- fresh sage chopped {optional}
Instructions
- Crisp the pancetta or bacon in a large pot. Remove the bacon and set aside. Add the broth, pumpkin, coconut milk from 1 and ¾ cans, ginger, salt, and cloves. Let it simmer on medium/low for 15 minutes.
- Serve warm in a bowl topped with a drizzle of remaining coconut milk, crispy bacon, and fresh sage.
Nutrition
amazing – my new favorite soup! i’m not a huge bacon fan, but it adds such decadence to this soup!
I made this exactly as stated except I used real pumpkin that I baked instead of canned. It’s delicious but it’s definitely not creamy. I was hoping for more of a creamy thick soup like I’ve made with Butternut squash & carrot soups. I’m guessing the real pumpkin part may have thrown out a little. Either way, still delicious!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Becky! I think the creaminess can definitely be affected by real pumpkin vs. canned and even different brands of pumpkin. If your pumpkin is more on the watery side, draining it can help!
real pumpkin can be slightly higher in water content, might make it less creamy!
Can I throw a finely chopped onion in the mix? Seems like it would enhance the savoriness, which I love.
I made this today. I had a lot of pumpkin puree in the freezer from last autumn so I used that instead of canned pumpkin puree. Other than that, I made this recipe exactly as posted above. Oh. My. God. This tasted so freaking delicious. I was seriously not expected it to come out as well as it did. Even my picky husband liked it so you know it’s good. Thank you for posting this recipe.
Hi Susan! Thank you so much for the kind words and I’m so glad you and your husband loved it! Using your own pumpkin puree sounds delicious. I can’t wait for pumpkins to be in season again!