Chicken and Pumpkin Soup
This chicken and pumpkin soup is the perfect picture of what eating healthy in the fall should look like. Lean proteins, whole grains, and tons of veggies-this soup's got it all!
🔍 Recipe At-A-Glance: Chicken and Pumpkin Soup
- 🕰️ Prep Time: 30 minutes
- ⏰ Cook Time: 1 hour
- 🍁 Flavor Profile: Hearty, creamy, and oh-so-comforting.
- 💪🏻 Why It's Healthy: 25 grams of protein thanks to the chicken and quinoa, plus tons of veggies.
- ↪️ Make Ahead: This recipe makes a huge pot of soup, but no worries-the leftovers freeze great!
- 🧡 Difficulty: Not bad-there's just a lot of veggie chopping to do!
"Today my 4- and 6-year olds separately asked if there was any left that they could have. Now that's a telling sign of how good this was!"
- BEN -
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🧡 Why You'll Love This Recipe
Pumpkin is a great way to add a little bit of sweetness, heartiness, and autumn flavor to your favorite savory dishes (see my savory pumpkin hummus or pumpkin enchiladas) like this creamy, comforting Chicken and Pumpkin Soup.
Here's why you'll love this recipe:
- Nourishing: From a health standpoint, it doesn't get much better for you than a bowl of this pumpkin chicken soup. It's packed with lean protein thanks to the chicken and quinoa. It's loaded with healthy fiber, vitamins, and minerals. A big bunch of fresh spinach adds beautiful color and a ton of nutrition.
- Two-for-one ingredient: You'll start this soup off by boiling a whole chicken in water, just like in my white chicken chili. The chicken provides a one-two punch-both the meat and the broth for the soup come from this step!
- Family favorite: I've been making this soup for nearly a decade, and every fall, I am so pleased to be reminded just how good it is! I'm not sure I can put into words how obsessed I am with this soup with a couple of homemade drop biscuits.
🍲 The Ingredients You Need
- Whole chicken: This soup's broth is made using a whole chicken. It really is the best way to make sure you have an incredibly rich soup base. It sounds complicated and time-consuming to boil a whole chicken just for soup, but the time spent is mostly hands-off, and I promise, it's worth it. Make this soup on a weekend when it's cold and rainy and the leaves are tumbling down and you don't have anywhere to go or anything to do and you're staying in your yoga pants all day. Trust me.
- Quinoa: For a fun contrast of color, I used tri-color quinoa (I always buy Bob's Red Mill brand), but you can use either all white or all red quinoa if that's what you have kicking around. I haven't found much of a difference in flavor between the different colors of quinoa, but it's fun to mix up the color sometimes!
- Pie pumpkin: Make sure to grab a pie pumpkin for this recipe instead of a big ole carving pumpkin. Pie pumpkins have tons of flavor and a good texture for cooking. Plus, you can still save the seeds to roast homemade pumpkin seeds just like the big jack-o-lantern pumpkins!
Make sure to check the recipe card below for the full ingredients list, along with quantities and my expert tips and tricks.
🔁 Variations & Substitutions
- Mix up the squash: If you've used up all your pie pumpkins on other savory pumpkin recipes, feel free to swap in butternut, acorn, Hubbard, or other winter squash. If they're good for cooking, they will work in this soup!
- Turkey and pumpkin soup: Drowning in leftover turkey from Thanksgiving? Swap in leftover shredded turkey + turkey or chicken stock for this soup.
- Rotisserie chicken: Need a quicker meal for a busy weeknight? This is one of my favorite uses for rotisserie chicken! Shred one up and use frozen homemade bone broth or store-bought stock in place of the water.
🥣 How to Make Chicken and Pumpkin Soup
Step 1: Boil the chicken in plain water. It should only take about half an hour, and this single step provides the cooked chicken and the broth! You'll know it is done when the chicken is practically falling off the bone.
Step 2: Remove the chicken from the pot. When it is cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones and shred. Save the bones for making homemade bone broth!
Step 3: Add the chopped pumpkin, onion, quinoa, celery, carrots, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and sage to the stock and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes-you'll know it is ready when the pumpkin is tender.
Step 4: Stir in the chicken, spinach, half and half, and pumpkin puree. Simmer for another 5-7 minutes, or until everything is heated through.
🙋🏻♀️ Chicken and Pumpkin Soup FAQs
Listen, I love a savory use of pumpkin, and this soup is no exception! The chicken has a mild enough flavor that it doesn't overpower the pumpkin and spinach, but can still stand up to all the herbs. Everybody gets a chance to shine in this soup!
I've never met a bowl of soup that can't be improved by a big hunk of bread (even this pumpkin chicken soup), so serve it up with roasted garlic bread, quick gluten-free bread, easy drop biscuits, or even this simple Irish soda bread recipe.
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👩🏻🍳 My Expert Tips & Tricks
- Whole chicken is queen: This whole chicken serves double-duty as the meat + the stock. This one ingredient gives the soup so much flavor!
- Stick with the little pumpkins: Skip the jack-o-lantern pumpkins...they aren't as flavorful and are more stringy than the little pie pumpkins.
- Party-sized: This recipe makes a big 'ole pot of soup, making it perfect for serving a crowd. No crowd to feed? The leftovers also freeze great!
🎃 More Savory Pumpkin Recipes
If you tried this chicken and pumpkin soup or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments!
📖 Recipe
Chicken and Pumpkin Soup
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken
- 12 cups water
- 1 medium pie pumpkin peeled, seeds removed, and cut into bite-sized chunks
- 1 onion diced
- 1 cup quinoa
- 3 stalks celery diced
- 2 carrots diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried sage
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cups spinach
- 1 ½ cups half and half
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
Instructions
- Place the chicken in a large Dutch oven or soup pot, cover with water, bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and boil until chicken is cooked through, about 25 minutes.
- Remove chicken from the water, and let cool to touch. Once cool, remove meat from the bones and shred.
- Meanwhile, add the pumpkin, onion, quinoa, celery, carrots, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and sage to the stockpot and bring back to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer until the pumpkin is tender, about 20 -25 minutes.
- Add the chicken, spinach, half and half, and pumpkin puree to the soup, simmering until everything is heated through, about 5 -7 minutes.
Notes
- The little pie pumpkins will make a much tastier soup than the big ones you get for carving. If you don't have one, try butternut squash, acorn squash, or any other winter squash that is good for eating.
- This makes a very large pot of soup, but leftovers freeze well. Freeze in 1-2 serving portions for easy dinners down the line.
I love this delicious Chicken Pumpkin Quinoa Chowder, seems amazing . Thanks for sharing this recipe with us, will love to try this one. Thanks for sharing with us.
Could you make this in an instant pot?
Hi, Michele! You could definitely make this in an Instant Pot—although we've never tried it, so you'll have to experiment on the cooking times. Let us know how it turns out if you try it!
I cheated to save time and used chicken broth and a rotisserie chicken. No pumpkins around so I used cubed butternut squash and the canned pumpkin. It turned out great but made a giant pot of it. I have to recalculate the calories now. I’m not sure where I went wrong. Instead of the 12 cups of water I used 8 cups of broth in my biggest stock pot and by the time I added everything else in it was crazy full.
I made this last week and the white chicken chili this week. Both were incredibly delicious. Today my 4- and 6-year olds separately asked if there was any left that they could have. Now that's a telling sign of how good this was!
This is fabulous!! My whole family loved it, and my children have requested me to make it again already. I used pre-chopped butternut squash from Costco rather than the pumpkin chunks, but that's the only change I made. I cooked it in my 13 1/4 quart Dutch oven. The water didn't quite cover the chicken all the way, but with the lid on the chicken cooked beautifully. I think next time I would either use a little less water or add more quinoa. It was a tiny bit more liquidy than "chowder-y," but still fabulous. Soooo homey and comforting, and I love how super nutritious it is. I love that you're essentially making the stock for the chowder by cooking the whole chicken; there's nothing better than homemade stock. I also used sprouted quinoa, so that may be why it didn't absorb as much of the stock. My experience has been that sprouted foods don't absorb as much water or need as much water to cook. I also appreciate that it makes a vast quantity, and it's even better as leftovers. We made multiple meals off of it, and I still froze a quart. Thanks for a keeper recipe!
It really is a great freezer meal!
This looks incredible! I'm thinking of using chicken breasts and adapting it to be crock-potted;) Butternut squash sounds just as yummy as the pumpkin!
This. Is. Amazing!! My son gobbled it all up, and so did I. Just absolutely scrumptious. I adapted the recipe some ... I used boneless skinless chicken breasts because I just don't like dealing with whole boned poultry. I added a large carton of chicken broth plus around 4 cups of water. I precooked the quinoa in my Instant Pot, so the soup itself didn't need as much liquid; then I added everything else into the pot with it. I also caramelized the onions first because it's the only way I can eat onions 🙂 ... and I omitted the pumpkin chunks and sub'd butternut squash puree for the pumpkin puree. Thank you for a wonderful recipe!!
On my list of recipes to try this weekend!
This soup is a fall staple at our house! it is so, so good!
After the chicken is cooked I'd take it from the pot, then put the pot into the frig overnight so I could scrape off a lot of the solidified chicken fat, then I'd reheat the liquid, and continue with the recipe.
So I don't see any pumpkins in the store now (in January). Could I substitute canned pumpkin? I want to make this so bad! Thank you 🙂
So I wonder how many cans of pumpkin would equal a medium sized pumpkin? Thank you.
I substituted sweet potatoes for the pumpkin, but still used the pumpkin puree, and marjoram for sage (only because I didn't have sage) & it came out great. I'd use a little more spice the next time because I like stronger flavors.
Wanted to make this all week with one of the smaller pumpkins from Halloween. Well, tonight was the night and it is DELICIOUS! I added a little rosemary too only because I love rosemary and thyme together. Only a hint of it though. Thought you might like to know that my 9 year old son said this is the best soup I ever made and he can be a picky eater sometimes. Thanks for the fantastic and healthy recipe! Will definitely be making this again. Maybe for Thanksgiving dinner as an appetizer ?
So glad you enjoyed it!!
When do you add the chicken back to the soup??.
Whoops, in Step 4. Fixed! Thanks for the heads up!
Also all I could find was pumpkin pie mix. I’m thinking that is not the same as the purée...
Nope, that has spices and sweetener added. The pumpkin puree is usually in the baking aisle, or you can make your own: https://wholefully.com/how-to-make-pumpkin-puree/
12 cups of water does not cover the chicken...not even close. Do I just add more water?
Yes!
Cook a whole chicken in 25 minutes??? Is this a typo? Please verify. Thanks!
Nope, not a typo! Boiling a chicken goes pretty quickly, although it will obviously depend on the size of your chicken. A three-pounder will cook more quickly than a five-pounder. Your best bet is to check for doneness by cooking until the meat is falling off the bone.
Thanks!
I overcame my fear of the whole chicken and made this today. Super tasty! It came out pretty thin though. I wish I had drained off some of the liquid before adding the veggies.
Found this fab recipe via Twitter and so glad I did! Can't wait to try this unique soup! Pinned, and thanks! --Ginger
Love the sound of this! Yum! Loving Pumpkin Week! Thanks for sharing!
YUM! This looks incredible! I'm kind of scared of whole chickens, but maybe I'll give this a try!
Don't be afraid! They add SO much flavor, and they are so much more cost-effective. You'll love it. 🙂