Delicious Kabocha Soup with just a few simple ingredients. Enjoy this rich and creamy soup by dipping with your favorite bread.
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.
Watch How to Make Kabocha Soup かぼちゃスープの作り方
Delicious fall season soup with just a few simple ingredients. Enjoy this rich and smooth Kabocha Soup dipping with your favorite bread.
What’s Kabocha?
Kabocha is an Asian variety of winter squash. 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 a 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 has great health benefits!
Kabocha doesn’t just look pretty and tastes 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
Ingredients
- ½ onion
- 1.4 lb kabocha squash
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 cups chicken stock/broth
- 1½ cups milk (I use whole milk)
- ½ cup heavy (whipping) cream
- 2 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- ⅛ tsp freshly ground black pepper
Topping
- parsley
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.
- Remove the skin and cut into small equal-size cubes.
- Heat 1 Tbsp unsalted butter over medium heat in a pot and cook the onion until soft and brown.
- Add the kabocha and sauté to coat with the butter.
- Add 2 cups chicken stock/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.
- Puree the soup in batches in a blender or puree with an immersion blender until smooth.
- Add 1½ cups milk and ½ cup heavy (whipping) cream and stir till combined and do not let the soup boil.
- Season with 2 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt and ⅛ tsp freshly ground black pepper and stir over moderately low heat until it is hot.
To Serve
- Ladle the squash soup into bowls, garnish with the 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.
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!
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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!
I have made this twice and it has come out perfectly every time. Last time I made this, I followed the recipe to a T but last night, I made it with veggie broth and oat milk (instead of chicken broth and milk) as that is what I had at home. Easy, simple yet lots of flavor – definitely a fall staple!
Thank you for such a great recipe, Nami-san!
Hi Arlene! Awesome! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and sharing your cooking experience with us!
Nami and JOC team are glad to hear you enjoyed the Kabocha soup.🙂