VegNews
Halloween Pumpkin Soup With Crispy Chickpeas
This creamy, silky pumpkin soup topped with crispy chickpeas is a VegNews staff favorite, and we find ourselves making it again and again.
October 28, 2025
Whether you need a healthy meal on a chilly evening (pair with a salad and fresh bread) or want a crowd-friendly, seasonal addition to your Halloween get-together, you’re going to love this soup. It’s easy to make, supremely delicious, and the addition of spicy chickpeas is heavenly.
What you need:
For the crispy chickpeas:
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas
2 tablespoons pumpkin seed oil (we used Ellyndale Organic)
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon ground cayenne
For the pumpkin soup:
1 to 2 sugar pie pumpkins (5 pounds total)
4 tablespoons pumpkin seed oil (we used Ellyndale Organic)
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1½ teaspoons salt
1½ teaspoons black pepper, divided
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2½ cups vegetable stock
¼ cup raw cashews
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
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What you do:
- For the crispy chickpeas, preheat oven to 425 degrees. Drain chickpeas, and pat dry. Onto a large baking sheet, add chickpeas, pumpkin oil, salt, black pepper, paprika, and cayenne pepper. Toss until well coated. Bake 25 minutes, or until crispy. Set aside and keep oven on.
- For the soup, slice pumpkin in half, and scoop out and discard seeds and flesh (or reserve the seeds and roast with a touch of pumpkin oil). Slice pumpkin into large wedges.
- Onto a second baking sheet, add pumpkin, 2 tablespoons pumpkin oil, maple syrup, salt, and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Toss until well coated. Bake 40 minutes, flipping halfway through, until pumpkin is soft. Remove from oven, and let cool on baking sheet.
- Into a large pot over medium heat, warm remaining 2 tablespoons pumpkin oil. Add chopped onion and garlic, and sauté 5 minutes.
- Once pumpkin is cool enough to handle, remove and discard peel. To the pot, add pumpkin, vegetable stock, cashews, cinnamon, onion powder, garlic powder, 1 teaspoon black pepper, paprika, cumin, and coriander. Bring to a boil, and turn off heat.
- Using a hand-held blender (or transfer entire mixture to a blender), blend until smooth. Add more vegetable stock if necessary to achieve desired thickness. Ladle into four bowls (or pumpkins), and serve with crispy chickpeas.
For more plant-based recipes like this, read:
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