Canned Pumpkin Camp Soup
Pumpkin, spice, and powdered milk in one pot. A hot bowl that does not need a blender.
- calories
- 210
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 47
- protein
- 5 g
- serves
- 5, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 25 min
- water
- 700 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Lunch
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Winter / snow
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Canned pumpkin puree | 15 oz can | the heaviest thing you carry, so keep this one to short trips |
|---|---|---|
| Dried minced onion | 2 tbsp | replaces half a fresh onion |
| Butter | 3 tbsp | olive oil works and travels better in heat |
| Baking mix | 1 tbsp | any pancake or biscuit mix; it is the thickener |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Light brown sugar | 1 tbsp | |
| Ground cinnamon | 1/2 tsp | |
| White pepper | 1/4 tsp | |
| Ground nutmeg | 1/4 tsp | |
| Salt | 1 tsp | |
| Powdered whole milk | 1/4 cup | stands in for the half cup of fresh milk |
| Water | 3 cups |
Method
- Melt the butter in the pot over low heat. Add the dried onion and a splash of water and let it soften for two minutes.
- Stir in the baking mix and cook it for thirty seconds so it stops tasting raw.
- Add the garlic powder, brown sugar, cinnamon, white pepper, nutmeg, and salt. Stir until the onions are coated.
- Scrape in the whole can of pumpkin and work it into the spices.
- Pour in 3 cups of water, bring to a boil, then drop to a low simmer for 20 minutes. Stir often; pumpkin scorches on a hot spot.
- Take the pot off the flame. Slurry the milk powder with a few tablespoons of the hot soup in a mug, then stir that back in.
- Beat it hard with a spoon for a minute. It will not be blender-smooth and does not need to be.
This is a home soup with the fridge taken out of it. Fresh onion becomes dried minced onion, fresh milk becomes milk powder mixed into a slurry off the heat, and the immersion blender goes away entirely — canned pumpkin is already smooth, so the only lumps come from the onion, and those are fine.
The baking mix earns its tablespoon. Without cream, that starch is what keeps the soup from separating into water and pumpkin sludge halfway through the bowl. Note the can weight before you commit: 15 ounces of wet puree is car-camping and short-paddle territory, not something you carry uphill.
Packing
Combine the onion, baking mix, spices, sugar, salt, and milk powder in one small bag at home. In camp that bag plus the can plus the butter is the whole recipe.
Variations
- Swap the water for bouillon and cut the salt in half.
- A cup of instant potato flakes stirred in at the end turns five thin servings into three thick ones.
https://mealswithmaria.site/pumpkin-soup-with-canned-pumpkin