This delicious and satisfying Kabocha Soup comes together with sweet Japanese squash (pumpkin) and just a few simple ingredients. Enjoy this rich and creamy soup by dipping with your favorite crusty bread. {vegetarian adaptable}

The weather is getting cooler and the leaves are starting to fall. Fall has arrived and that means pumpkin and squash season upon us! Fall is my favorite season and I especially love all kinds of seasonal ingredients only available this time of the year in Japan. Kabocha, Matsutake mushrooms, chestnuts, Sanma (pacific saury), just to mention a few.
What’s Kabocha?

Kabocha is an Asian variety of winter squash. The Japanese simply call it Kabocha (南瓜、かぼちゃ、カボチャ) and the word kabocha refers to all kinds of pumpkins in Japan. In Australia and New Zealand, kabocha is commonly called Japanese pumpkin and here in North America, we refer to it as Kabocha Squash or Kabocha.

Kabocha has dull-finished deep green skin (it’s edible!) and really bright yellow-orange color flesh on the inside. It has a naturally sweet flavor, even sweeter than butternut squash, and it’s often used for desserts and baked goods in Japan.
Be forewarned, even though it doesn’t look it, kabocha is really hard. If you are going to cut it for the first time, please be careful with the knife. Keep your fingers away from the knife’s sharp edge.

Kabocha’s Health Benefits
Kabocha doesn’t just look pretty and taste good, it is also an excellent source of beta-carotene which can be converted to vitamin A in the human body. Vitamin A is important for healthy white blood cells and good immunity. Kabocha is also a good source of iron, vitamin C, and some B vitamins and it has lots of fiber!
Over the past few years, I’ve seen kabocha available not just in Asian grocery stores, but they are also available at my local grocery stores during this season. If you love butternut squash and other vegetables similar to pumpkins, definitely try and make this easy soup recipe or other kabocha recipes.
For this recipe, I removed the peel to get the nice intense yellow-orange color for the soup, but you could include the (totally edible) skin as well so you don’t waste the food AND extra nutrition!

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Kabocha Soup
Video
Ingredients
- ½ onion
- 1.4 lb kabocha squash
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 cups chicken stock/broth (use vegetable broth for vegetarian)
- 1½ cups milk (I use whole milk)
- ½ cup heavy (whipping) cream
- 2 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- ⅛ tsp freshly ground black pepper
For the Garnish
- parsley (chopped)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Thinly slice ½ onion.
- Using a spoon, discard the seeds from 1.4 lb kabocha squash and cut into 6 thin wedges. Tip: For step-by-step instructions and a video tutorial on how to cut and peel it, see my post How to Cut a Kabocha Squash.
- Remove the skin. Then, cut into small, equal-size cubes.
To Cook the Soup
- In a pot, heat 1 Tbsp unsalted butter over medium heat and cook the onion until soft and brown.
- Add the kabocha and sauté to coat with the butter.
- Add 2 cups chicken stock/broth (or vegetable broth) and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat and simmer for 12–15 minutes.
- Using a skewer, insert into kabocha and check if it’s fully cooked.
- Pureé the soup in batches in a blender or with an immersion blender until smooth.
- Add 1½ cups milk and ½ cup heavy (whipping) cream and stir until combined. Do not let the soup boil.
- Season with 2 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt and ⅛ tsp freshly ground black pepper. Stir over moderately low heat until it is hot.
To Serve
- Ladle the Kabocha Soup into bowls, garnish with chopped parsley, and serve.
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and in the freezer for a month.
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: Original post was published on Oct 1, 2014.
Should I bake or microwave the squash before sautéing it with the onions?
Hi, Alexandra! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe.
You don’t have to bake or microwave the squash. The squash will cook while you simmer them. We hope this helps!
Made the soup last night with my dinner the only thing I changed was I use 0 sugar oat milk instead of full fat milk!!! Outstanding! We love ❤️ I will definitely make it again 🙏
Hello, Marie-France! We are delighted to hear you enjoyed the soup!
Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe and sharing your experiences with us.
I made this for a dinner party. I paired it with a nori crème fraîche (just some creme fraîche loosened with milk, + a teaspoon of very a Korean soy sauce and a handful of pulverized nori) and a swirl of perilla leaf oil. It really elevated it to be something luxe, despite the rather minimal effort of those two extra components !
Hello, Sandra! Wow! It sounds wonderful!
Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe and sharing your ideas with us.
Happy Cooking!
I always have a hard time for my sons to eat their vegetables, but when I saw your kabocha squash soup and cook it, they instantly liked it. So thank you very much for all your delicious and healthy meals.
Hello there! We are so happy to hear your sons enjoyed this soup.🥰
Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback.
This looks interesting.
Using sweet potato with butternut squash is helpful.
I wonder about the quantity, though.
Your knife is fascinating.
Hello, Mike! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe.
We haven’t tried this recipe with other vegetables yet, so we’re not sure how much will provide a good balance.
Here’s a recipe for potato leek soup that you may use as a guide. We hope this was helpful!
https://www.justonecookbook.com/potato-leek-soup/
So tasty! I used a pumpkin I had leftover from Halloween. The soup was surprisingly sweet, I’ve never eaten pumpkin before so I didn’t expect it! It was lovely though. Caramelizing the onions and pumpkin chunks did wonders for the flavour. I’ve also saved my pumpkin seeds and plan to do something with them, like fry them with soy sauce, I’m not sure yet. Thank you for the recipe!
Hello, Axis. We’re delighted you enjoyed the pumpkin soup!
It sounds delicious to fry the seeds and season them with soy sauce. If you attempt it, please let us know how it goes!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read Nami’s post.🙂
WOW, this was so good, and relatively quick to make! I had a little leftover pumpkin puree from making muffins, so I added that to the kabocha after it was soft and simmered. I found that the immersion blender still left a little more texture than I wanted, but it was silky smooth after I pureed it in my Vitamix. I used about 1/2 the amount of milk and cream called for, and topped with chives. Yum!
Hi Lexi! We are glad to hear you enjoyed Kabocha Soup!
Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipe and sharing your cooking experience with us.
Happy Cooking!
Hi there Nami,
could I substitute with Hokkaido? It’s orange outside and inside and the skin is edible too and it’s really sweet. This is everywhere buyable in organic quality in germany. The green outside and orange inside kabocha is not that available here.
Thank you.
Hello, Anna! Yes, you can use Hokkaido pumpkin if you like. The flavor would be different, but it would be delicious as well!
Happy Cooking!
Can I double this recipe by just doing everything x2? That’s what I did but it seems to be very milky/creamy even though it still has a good taste. Also, did you use only half of the pumpkin for the original recipe or the whole thing? I feel like this should have been specified. Otherwise good recipe. Thanks.
Hello, Danielle. Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipe.
When doubling the recipe, we recommend reducing the chicken stock amount so that the estimated evaporated liquid volume does not result in a watery soup.
Regarding the amount of pumpkin, we recommend using the scale to measure it because pumpkin size varies, and you might need more than half of the pumpkin.🙂
We hope this helps!
I steamed the whole thing and the skin practically fell off. Also, instead of parsley we added roasted seaweed. So good! Thanks so much!
Hi Karen! Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipe and for sharing your cooking tips.
Roasted seaweed sound so delicious! Happy Cooking!
I have not made this yet and will rate it when I do… but I encourage you to just cut your squash in half and roast it. 1 – this will deepen the flavour of the soup if you get a bit of caramelization on the squash, 2. the squash typically separates from the skin during baking/roasting and you won’t have to go through the hassle of cutting the insanely difficult squash OR peeling the crazy hard skin.
Hi Trish! Thank you for reading Nami’s post and for your suggestions! 😊
おいいし! Once I got through the battle of chopping down the kabocha, everything else was so easy. A delicious and filling soup. Thank you for your post on kabocha too. I didn’t know what to look for in picking a kabocha and caution on slicing through the tough skin. ありがとう!
Hi Jean! We are so happy to hear you enjoyed Nami’s post and recipes!
Thank you very much for your kind feedback. Happy Cooking! 🤗
This was so easy and SO GOOD! Thank you!
Hi Leisa! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
We are so happy to hear this recipe was easy and so good!🥰
Happy Cooking!
My favorite squash ….
My favorite soup …
My favorite recipe!
I usually have too many apples around when I make this in the Fall, so I peel one or two (depending on size) and add them in with the squash.
Hi Jiyo! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post and sharing your tip with us!🙂
We are happy to hear you enjoyed the Kabocha Soup!