Roasted Pumpkin Potato Soup

It’s the middle of the week in the middle of October and you know what that means? It’s the PERFECT time for a quick Fall soup recipe. This Roasted Pumpkin Soup is so easy it shocking but there are a couple of key steps to make this a simple mid-week staple.

#1 Keep Your Pantry Stocked

What’s in my pantry?

• I always keep a few bags of frozen hash browns on hand for the purpose of making potato soup quickly. The O’Brien style is particularly handy because it also includes diced onions and peppers.
• Smoked sausage is a MUST. Whether it’s a quick pre-cooked protein to add into casseroles or the stand alone star of the show, having smoked sausage on hand has saved my dinnertime more times than I can count.
• Chicken stock, either homemade or store-bought adds a depth of flavor unmatched, turning recipes from bland to delicious with truly no effort.

#2 Always Be Ready

I think one of the biggest barriers to home-cooking is just how overwhelming starting from scratch “scratch-cooking” can be. Shopping for the ingredients — dicing potatoes — peeling onions — grating carrots — roasting peppers — making the stock = and even with all those steps, dinner isn’t even assembled yet.

So, in order to avoid that pitfall, (in addition to a stocked pantry) I also break down vegetables and freeze them in portions.

• Buy carrots in BULK, grate and dice and then freeze in 1 or 2 cup portions
• Do the same with onions. I dice or slice onions, then portion and freeze.
• Another ingredient I like to prepare in advance is roasted peppers. Roast, chop, divide into 1/4 cup portions and freeze. (SOOOO GOOD in queso or roast BTW)
• HERBS – I LOVE chopping up leftover parsley, rosemary or thyme, then freeze and use as needed.
• Last, I roast several heads of garlic, smash, remove skins and freeze in 2 tablespoon increments. This is so good for garlic bread, soups and pasta sauces.

These preparatory steps take very little additional time when done in bulk but save multitudes of time in dinner-making and clean-up.

#3 Pumpkin Potato Soup in Super Speed

So now for this Roasted Pumpkin Potato Soup. You’ll need ::

• frozen hash browns
• frozen grated carrots
• frozen roasted pumpkin
• roasted peppers for a bit of heat (optional)
• chicken stock
• cream
• cornstarch
• smoked sausage

Combine, simmer and serve it’s just that simple. And the result? It’s the perfect combination of Fall and comfort, savory and creamy with just a hint of pumpkin (oh, and the addition of smoked sausage gives a smoky flavor that’s especially delicious with the potatoes and pumpkin). I’m thinking this just might be my new favorite way to enjoy potato soup. Happy Fall in a bowl.

Roasted Pumpkin Potato Soup

Serving Size:

2 cups

Time:

35 minutes

Difficulty:

Easy

Ingredients

• 28 ounces O’Brien hash brown style frozen potatoes
• 12 ounces roasted pumpkin or plain pumpkin puree
• 8 ounces grated carrots
• 36 ounces chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon roasted chilies (optional)
• 2 teaspoons fine salt
• 1/2 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
• 16 ounces heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 pound cheddar smoked sausage, sliced and browned (or your favorite smoked sausage flavor)

Directions

1. in a 4-quart soup pot, combine the first seven ingredients. Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes over medium flame, stirring occasionally.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together cream and cornstarch (this creates a slurry mixture that will be used for thickening the soup).
3. Once the potatoes are tender, pour the slurry into the soup and continue simmering until thickened.
4. Add in the browned smoked sausage.
5. Taste and add additional salt and pepper as needed.