Kabocha squash soup is one of the residual effects of my September squash obsession. It started with making massive amounts of kabocha squash pie… and with the inevitable leftover squash, I had a new toy to play with. 

Kabocha Squash

You’ve probably seen kabocha squash around farmers’ markets in the fall (though they have a sporadic growing season) along with pumpkins. For many years, I mistook them for decorative gourds and didn’t give them much thought. But it turns out that they’re edible and amazing. 

Kabocha squash are also known as Japanese pumpkin and for good reason—they look like pumpkins only cuter. They’re usually green or orange with white flecks and stripes. And the shape—a sort of squashed sphere—is pretty consistent. That means they actually work really well as decorative gourds! 

I’ve been bouncing around the country a little bit in the last year. I brought my kabocha obsession with me. In September in Northern California, they were everywhere. In Alabama, they didn’t appear until late October. By the end of November in California, they’d disappeared. But they reappeared just in time for the holidays.

Where to Buy Kabocha

Farmers’ markets are great for finding hard-to-find produce, but I’ve seen kabocha at mainstream grocery stores. Asian markets like Ranch 99 are also pretty reliable for kabocha if you can’t find them at Publix or Food Lion.

Kabocha Squash Soup

ATM, I’m obsessed with my kabocha squash pie—I dreamed about bedazzling the Thanksgiving table with it for MONTHS—but you can eat it the same way you’d eat acorn squash or delicata. You can stuff it, add it to stuffing, toss it in stir-fry, braise, it curry, wrap it in pastry—it’s versatile, delicious and pretty cheap so there aren’t many reasons not to eat it more often.

Ambition told me to put that squash to work in a ravioli, but I’m out of energy and it’s soup season so…. Here it is: Kabocha Squash Soup. It’s a pretty simple soup similar to butternut squash soup—there are no special spices or ingredients and the only special equipment you need is an immersion blender to puree the soup (a regular blender works fine, too). Altogether, this soup can be ready in 30 minutes if your squash is already roasted—if not, add another 45 to an hour. 

Roasting Squash

Roasting kabocha squash brings out the natural sweetness of it—just like pumpkin. In fact, the texture is creamy like pumpkin (as opposed to zucchini or summer squash which are spongy). 

To roast kabocha, preheat your oven to 375. Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds and pulp. Brush the squash flesh with olive oil. Place on a sheet pan and roast for about 30 or until you can pierce the flesh with a fork fairly easily.

Broth 

This is not a vegetarian dish. I used chicken broth, but you can use vegetable broth or vegetable stock. I like the body that chicken broth gives the soup, but with veggie broth (or even water), this soup is still rich.

Half and Half

If you want to take this a step further and make it vegan by using olive oil in place of the butter and substituting the half and half with coconut milk (to keep it a creamy soup). 

Seasoning 

Some people are fine seasoning their fall soup with a pinch of salt, but I was going for something a little smokier so I added cumin. Sage and thyme are also herbs you can play with to get the seasoning just right. But there’s a lot you can do to change the flavors—it’s a bit of a blank canvas as far as soups go. You really like it simple, you can leave out all the seasonings, just don’t forget the red pepper flakes—they make all soups worth slurping.