A delicious, quick and easy winter warming vegan style roasted chestnut pumpkin soup for a more intense flavour and flare. Great to snuggle next to the fire place and drink on a cold day.

Ever wondered what roasted pumpkin and chestnut would taste like when pureed into a bowl of soup? Well the answer is right here in this chestnut pumpkin soup.

Nothing but a soup of winter warming goodness for the soul, that's right! With only a handful of ingredients.

This is a great Christmas dairy free appetiser or an ingenuous way to use up some leftover pumpkin/chestnuts.

What are chestnuts?

Chestnuts aka sweet chestnuts are a type of edible nut that comes from the beech tree family.

They typically grow in a green spiky shell and tend to be in season from as early as September and can extend up until January.

Sweet chestnuts are associated with the holiday season, so you know when you see them that means Christmas is around the corner.

Some people often mistake chestnuts for conkers which are actually inedible and come from the Horse Chestnut tree.

Chestnuts are slightly lower in fat and protein in comparison to other nuts but slightly higher in Carbohydrates.

Do keep in mind that these fats are High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) which are the "good saturated fats" which the body needs.

The taste and texture of chestnuts

Raw chestnuts are crunchy and quite bitter in taste. However, you can either boil, steam or the more popular choice is to roast them.

When cooking they are much more palatable with a soft, pillowy texture similar to a sweet potato.

The flavour is relatively mild making chestnuts suitable for sweet and/or savoury dishes.

The easiest and most efficient way to make this soup recipe is to roast both the chestnuts and pieces of pumpkin at the same time.

When I first made this recipe I foolishly did this separately but now I simply do them at the same time with no issues.

You can put the chestnuts and pumpkin on the same sheet pan (tray) which is an added bonus.

Speaking of pumpkin feel free to try some of my pumpkin recipes ;

The steps

Preheat the oven to 180C/356F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Bring a medium sized saucepan to a boil.
Place a chestnut on a chopping board and use a serrated knife to slice length ways across the shell to expose the nut. Repeat this step with each of the chestnuts and set aside.
Once all of the chestnuts have been sliced, place them in the saucepan of boiling water.
Boil the chestnuts for 5 minutes
Then use a sieve or slotted spoon to remove and drain off the excess water
Place the chestnuts on one side of the baking sheets and on the other side, place the pumpkin pieces and liberally coat them with oil.
Roast in the oven for 15- 20 minutes or until the pumpkin is slightly golden
De-shell the chestnuts while they are hot (if you can manage to) as the peel will be much harder to remove as they cool down and set aside with the pumpkin

On medium heat, add the oil ( I used my casserole dish).
Proceed to saute the onion and garlic until translucent and soft.
Add the chestnuts, pumpkin, coconut milk and vegetable stock and simmer for 3-4 minutes while stirring.

Use an immersion stick or high speed blender to puree the contents into a smooth consistency.
Stir in the thyme, nutmeg, cinnamon and black pepper and pink salt to taste.

Instant pot version

When the inner pot is hot add the coconut oil then proceed to saute the onion and garlic until translucent.
Add the chestnuts and pumpkin continue to cook for 1-2 minutes.
Pour in the coconut milk and vegetable stock then stir.
Cancel the “saute” setting.
Place the lid on the pressure cooker and set the steam release knob to the “sealing” position.
Press the “pressure cook” button and adjust the +/- to 5 minutes (it will take a few minutes to reach maximum pressure).
Once cooked leave the lid on and allow to pressure to release for 5 minutes before turning the knob to “venting” to rid any excess build up of pressure.
Use and immersion stick blender, food processor or blender to puree the chestnuts and pumpkin into soup
Season with nutmeg, cinnamon, thyme, black pepper and pink salt.

Notes and tips

Feel free to use peeled chestnuts if you don't want to boil and peel the shell off.
Use butternut squash if you don't have pumpkin.
This soup is freezer friendly, so feel free to freeze any leftovers.
If you don't want to use coconut milk then another plant based milk works just fine.
You can add other vegetables such as bell peppers, carrots, potatoes as well.

Other soup recipes you may like

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