
Ingredients
- 1 whole pie pumpkin, cooked and peeled (cut in half, stab a few times and stuff it in the microwave for 7 to 8 minutes)
- 2 cups chicken bone broth
- 2 medium potatoes, chunked
- 1 pound ham, chunked into bite-sized pieces
- 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 2 cups frozen broccoli, thawed
- 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Add cooked pumpkin and broth to blender, process for 30 seconds, or until a soupy puree with no chunks. You may need more broth. Set aside.
- In medium-sized pot, boil potatoes until tender (able to stab them with a fork). Strain and set aside.
- Add ham to same pot as potatoes and let cook a bit until slightly crisp.
- Pour the pumpkin/broth mixture over ham. Add cheese, stir, and let melt.
- Drain any excess water from broccoli and add to soup. Salt and pepper to taste, and toss in red pepper flakes. Add potatoes back to the pot.
- Let soup sit on low for 1 to 2 minutes, then dish up and enjoy!
Learn how to make pumpkin puree at home for this warming pumpkin potato soup recipe with broccoli and cheese.
Pumpkins (along with apples) are like the trumpet blowers of the fall season. First you see them turning from green to orange in your garden. Then you see a bunch of those happy little gourds sitting on the hill of a farmer’s barn on your way to town. The next thing you know, the leaves are turning and you are craving pumpkin spice lattes, hot cider and a slice of yummy warm fresh pie.
While you are busting out the flannel and getting cozy with that hunk of pumpkin pie, pie pumpkins everywhere are wiping away a goopy tear because they know the truth. Unless you grow your own pie pumpkins or buy them from a local farmer, that stuff you are scooping out of the can is not pumpkin. It’s actually more along the lines of a butternut squash, and companies like Libby have developed their own breeds of squash over the years to maximize yield, sugar content, and consistency in their final product. It tastes good and technically the squash in the can is a cousin to pumpkin. (The USDA’s definition of pumpkin is rather loose, encompassing a range of fleshy and flavorful squash, including what what most people think of as a traditional pumpkin.)
How to Make Pumpkin Puree at Home
Types of Pumpkins to Use
You can make your own pumpkin puree! But first, a note about pie pumpkins: Don’t drag in that pumpkin off your porch that your children carved a face into to hack up and puree. It will be gross. Put it back. What you want is a small round pumpkin called a pie pumpkin. Pie pumpkins have a higher sugar content than jack-o-lantern types, and they are less stringy, too.

Preparation
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Now get a big sturdy knife and cut them in half and scoop out the guts and seeds and bust off the stem. The best tool I have found for scooping pumpkin guts is a plain old ice cream scoop. (Save the seeds to roast or make pumpkin seed brittle! Or just give the seeds and skins to your chickens — they will thank you for it!)
Flop the pumpkins, skin side up, into a 9-by-13-inch pan or onto a large cookie sheet. Then add some water to another pan and put it on the rack beneath the pumpkins. Roast the pumpkins until you can poke them with a fork and you can pull the skin off easily. Let the pumpkin cool and pull off the skin. Take the bright yellow flesh in chunks and either put them in your stand mixer and beat them into glop or use a Squeezo-Matic with the pumpkin screen and crank away. You can also use a blender if you have a strong one.

Tips
The Squeezo-Matic Strainer and blender will yield a less stringy puree than the stand mixer option. However if your main concern is pie, the stand mixer option works just fine — and it’s a heck of a lot easier to clean.

Freezing
Take your finished pumpkin glop (as we affectionately call it), scoop it into freezer bags, and stuff them in your already full-to-capacity freezer. If you have a favorite pumpkin recipe, then freeze glop in the appropriate size for your recipe. I always package in 2-cup portions for my homemade pumpkin pie.
No Canning!
This is a great time to mention that you cannot can pureed pumpkin. Not even pressure can. The puree is too dense and can harbor bacteria that can lead to botulism.
Health Benefits of Pumpkin Puree
Pumpkin is high in Vitamin C and beta-carotene, and it is a great source of fiber. Cook with it and bake with it. You can sneak a little pumpkin into almost every recipe and give your family a little extra kick of nutrients to power them through their day.
About My Pumpkin Potato Soup Recipe
Here is a soup recipe that I made up really quick the other night for dinner. With 8-month-old twins, I often have trouble remembering what time it is. It took a whole 30 minutes from start to finish and was done before my husband got home from work.
This is going to be a fall staple at our house from now on!
Rachel is a gardener, beekeeper, wife, and mother of three.