Pumpkin Pear Soup (Spiderweb Optional)
Flavors of pumpkin and pear, with hints of caramel and cardamom, make this Pumpkin Pear Soup a special treat. You might even embellish it with a spider web if you’re dining near Halloween!
Who’s with me that pears don’t get their due? So when I was offered a side of Pumpkin Pear Soup while dining out, I jumped at the chance.
And it was so good.
So, blessed with a big bag of pears from my niece’s pear tree, I then set out to make a Pumpkin Pear Soup of my own. While not identical, I love the pairing of the pumpkin and pear, boosted by a light kick of spice and maple.
Happy fall!
Why You’ll Love This!
Tasty. With a delicate fruitiness and pumpkin-y richness, plus overtones of cinnamon and cardamom, this soup is fresh and delicious.
Easy. You simply cut the pears and pumpkin, caramelize in the oven, then blend with the remaining ingredients. Easy-peasy!
Healthy. With healthy pears, pumpkin and vegetable broth and just a hint of maple syrup, Pumpkin Pear Soup is healthy and low calorie!
Unique. Pumpkin and/or squash soups with curry and coconut milk are everywhere! But you don’t see a lot of pear soup!
What You’ll Need
Ingredient Notes (Details Below)
- Pumpkin. This provides a lot of nutrition and flavor. You could also use a richly flavored squash like butternut instead of the pumpkin for a Butternut Pear Soup.
- Pears. This adds a lightness and sweetness to the soup. I core my pears, but I don’t peel them.
- Vegetable broth. This adds light flavor and thins the soup. I purposely didn’t use chicken broth, since that can add a meaty flavor to soup. If you need to substitute a meat broth, thin it out so that the flavor is weak.
- Cinnamon, Cardamom. These spices add flavor and enhance the “pear-ness” of the soup.
- Maple Syrup. This adds flavor and sweetness and enhances the pear flavor. I give a range so you can sweeten to taste.
- Half & Half or Cream. This adds richness.
- Salt. Enhances flavor. May not be needed if broth is salty.
- Yogurt or Sour Cream, Milk (optional, for spiderweb). This is used to make the spiderweb. You can also use cream
Special Tools
- A high speed blender or immersion blender will be needed to puree the soup.
Step by Step Overview
Cut the pumpkin and pear into approximately 1-inch pieces. Toss with a Tablespoon of olive oil and roast at 450 (convection if you have it) until turning golden around the edges, about 25-30 minutes.
Place the pear and pumpkin along with the remaining ingredients into a blender. Puree until smooth.
Taste and adjust salt and maple syrup to your tastes.
To make the spiderweb (optional): Mix ¼ cup yogurt or sour cream with 1-2 Tablespoons milk to a “squirtable” consistency. Put into a squirt bottle with a small nozzle, a piping bag with a small tip or a zip loc bag with the corner cut out.
Pour soup into a soup bowl. Starting from the center of the bowl, draw a spiral with the yogurt mixture.
Next using a small tipped tool like a thin knife or end of a spoon, draw a line in the soup through the spiral starting at the center and moving toward the bowl edge.
Continue around the spiral making more lines until you have a web-like design.
You can use black olives to make little spiders to garnish the soup, if you really want to get into it!
Tips & FAQs
Pears regularly grace the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list of most contaminated fruits and vegetables. So go organic if you can.
If you do end up with a lot of imperfect organic pears that have insect or other damage, soup can be a great way to use them.
As you cut up the pear, check for damage like puckers or holes. Then simply cut out and discard any bad sections and use the healthy parts of the pear.
Welcome to 2024’s #HalloweenTreatsWeek event!
If you’re new here, Welcome! If you’re a returning haunt, welcome back!
#HalloweenTreatsWeek is a yearly Halloween blogging event that is hosted by Angie from Big Bear’s Wife . This spooky event is an online, week-long event that is filled with some frightfully fun Halloween treats and recipes from some fantastic Halloween loving bloggers!
For this year’s 7th annual #HalloweenTreatsWeek event we have 12 hauntingly talented bloggers who are sharing their favorite Halloween recipes throughout the week! You can follow the hashtag #HalloweenTreatsWeek on social media to collect all of these frightful recipes to use at your own Halloween parties and events!
- Halloween Pillsbury Ghost Sugar Cookie Brookie Cups from BigBearsWife
- Cherry Pie Murdered Cinnamon Rolls from Semi-Homemade Recipes
- Mummy Jalapeno Poppers from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
- Ouija Board Planchette Cookies from Savory Moments
- Skull Sloppy Joe Bombs from The Spiffy Cookie
- Pumpkin Spice Blondies from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
- Antipasto Eyeballs from Cheese Curd In Paradise
- Count Chocula Pop Tarts from Sweet ReciPEAs
- Pumpkin Pear Soup (Spiderweb Soup) from Art of Natural Living
- Jalapeno Ranch Skeleton Cheeseball from Jen Around the World
- Melted Witch Bark from For the Love of Food
- Biscoff No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake from A Day in the Life on the Farm
Pumpkin Pear Soup
Ingredients
- 2 cups pear chunks unpeeled is fine.
- 2 cups pumpkin chunks peeled (about half a small pie pumpkin, or squash like Butternut
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- ¼ cup cream
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon cardamom
- 2-3 T maple syrup
For Spiderweb (optional)
- ¼ cup (optional) Greek yogurt or sour cream or heavy cream
- 1-2 Tablespoons (optional) milk omit if using heavy cream
Instructions
- Cut the pumpkin and pear into approximately 1-inch pieces. Toss with a Tablespoon of olive oil and roast at 450 (convection if you have it) until turning golden around the edges, about 25-30 minutes.
- Place the pear and pumpkin along with the remaining ingredients into a blender. Puree until smooth.
- Taste and adjust salt and maple syrup to your tastes.
To make the spiderweb (optional):
- Mix ¼ cup yogurt or sour cream with 1-2 Tablespoons milk to a “squirtable” consistency. Put into a squirt bottle with a small nozzle, a piping bag with a small tip or a zip loc bag with the corner cut out.
- Pour soup into a soup bowl. Starting from the center of the bowl, draw a spiral with the yogurt mixture.
- Next using a small tipped tool like a thin knife or end of a spoon, draw a line in the soup through the spiral starting at the center and moving toward the bowl edge. Continue around the spiral making more lines until you have a web-like design.
This sounds like such an interesting soup. I never thought to put pear in soup, but I bet it’s delicious. And you could make ahead by roasting the pumpkin and pear and then blending and heat when you’re ready to serve it.
Pears definitely deserve more love, and pairing them with pumpkin in this soup sounds like a deliciously unexpected combo! The light sweetness of the pears mixed with the richness of the pumpkin, and then topped with cinnamon and cardamom? That’s autumn in a bowl.
This will may a great starter for Thanksgiving…sans spiderweb.
I’m totally #TeamPear and love that you matched them up with pumpkin! Great tutorial on how to do the web decoration too.
Ahem. The spider web is NOT optional! -; This looks and sounds wonderful!
This is great because you can use this recipe for fall and Halloween.