Instant Pot Pumpkin Soup (Video)

My Instant Pot Pumpkin Soup has sausage, onion, green pepper, pumpkin, cauliflower rice, cream, and just the right spices, and this soup is so, so good! We loved this low-carb pumpkin soup, and we were glad it made a big pot of soup so we had leftovers.

PIN Instant Pot Pumpkin Soup to try it later!

If you’re a regular reader of this blog you probably know I’ve repeatedly said that my niece (and cooking assistant) Kara and I are not big pumpkin fans. But the last few years we’ve made a few pumpkin recipes that we both enjoyed, and recently I became intrigued with the idea of creamy pumpkin soup.

Our first attempt at Instant Pot Pumpkin Soup was not a keeper, but we persevered! And we both absolutely SWOONED over the soup recipe I’m sharing with you here! And it has ended up being a bit hit on the blog, and pumpkin season is here so today I’m making this my Friday Favorites pick and urging you to try it if you’re even the slightest bit of a fan of pumpkin!

My Instant Pot Pumpkin Soup has amazing flavor from ground turkey sausage, green pepper, canned pumpkin, chicken broth, and heavy cream. It’s seasoned with onion, garlic, ground fennel, ground thyme, Spike Seasoning, and just a touch of white balsamic vinegar, and thickened with some frozen cauliflower rice.

And this recipe makes a big pot of soup, and I happily ate my leftovers two nights in a row and thoroughly enjoyed it each time!

What ingredients do you need for this recipe?

(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

• butter
• onion
• green pepper
• minced garlic (affiliate link)
• ground Fennel (affiliate link)
• ground Thyme (affiliate link)
• Spike Seasoning (affiliate link)
• ground turkey breakfast sausage
• canned Pumpkin Puree (affiliate link), NOT pumpkin pie filling
• canned chicken broth (affiliate link)
• frozen cauliflower rice
• white balsamic vinegar (affiliate link)
• heavy cream
• salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
• grated Parmesan cheese for serving, optional

Do you need White Balsamic Vinegar for the pumpkin soup?

We used white balsamic vinegar to keep the lovely color of the soup from darkening. But if you only have regular balsamic vinegar it will be fine, just realize the color will be a little darker.

Is this a low-carb pumpkin soup?

Pumpkin is a winter squash and it has some carbs. But this recipe makes a huge pot of soup and it’s a rich soup that you might serve as a first course. And after Kara and I both devoured a bowl when we tested the recipe we still had lots left, so I’m calculating the nutritional information at 10 servings, which comes out to 9.5 net carbs. If you have a larger servings and make it eight servings, each serving will have 11.6 net carbs.

What size Instant Pot did I use?

I use a 6 Quart Instant Pot for all my Instant Pot Recipes. You can use Instant Pot Recipes to see my growing collection of Instant Pot Recipes. You’ll find more Instant Pot Recipes on my other site, Slow Cooker or Pressure Cooker.

Want more ideas with pumpkin?

Check out My Favorite Pumpkin Recipes if you’re a fan who never gets too much pumpkin!

How to make Instant Pot Pumpkin Soup:

(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

1. Chop onion and green pepper.
2. Turn Instant Pot to SAUTE, MEDIUM, and add butter. Add onion and green pepper and cook 2-3 minutes. Then add minced garlic, ground fennel, ground thyme, and Spike Seasoning, and cook a few minutes more.
3. Turn Instant Pot to SAUTE, HIGH. Crumble ground turkey sausage into the pot and cook until sausage is all nicely browned, about 10 minutes. 
4. We used this package of frozen cauliflower rice, just over two cups.
5. Add cauliflower rice, canned pumpkin, and chicken stock to the Instant Pot.
6. Lock the lid and set to MANUAL, LOW (or use Soup Setting), 10 minutes. 
7. Let pressure NATURAL RELEASE for 10 minutes, then release the rest.
8. Stir in white balsamic vinegar and heavy cream. Taste to see if you want more balsamic vinegar.
9. Season to taste with salt and fresh-ground black pepper.
10. Serve hot, with grated Parmesan if desired.
11. I don’t think soups with cream freezes all that well, but this will keep in the fridge for several days.

More Low-Carb Instant Pot Soups:

• Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana Soup
• Instant Pot Loaded Cauliflower Soup
• Instant Pot Taco Soup
• Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Soup
• Instant Pot Cauliflower Mushroom Soup

Want more ideas for low-carb Instant Pot soup?

You can check out Low-Carb and Keto Instant Pot Soups for lots more ideas for low-carb soup.

Weekend Food Prep:

This recipe has been added to a category called Weekend Food Prep where you’ll find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!

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Yield: 10 servings

Instant Pot Pumpkin Soup

Prep Time 25 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Additional Time 25 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

My Instant Pot Pumpkin Soup has sausage, onion, green pepper, pumpkin, cauliflower rice, cream, and just the right spices, and this soup is so, so good!

Ingredients

• 2 T butter       
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 T minced garlic
• 2 tsp. ground fennel
• 1 tsp. ground thyme 
• 1 T  Spike Seasoning (or any all-purpose seasoning blend)
• 2 lbs. ground turkey breakfast sausage
• 2 15 oz. cans canned pumpkin puree (NOT Pumpkin Pie Filling which has sugar added)
• 4 cups chicken broth (see notes)
• 10 oz. package of frozen cauliflower rice
• 1 T  white balsamic vinegar (or more, to taste)
• 1 cup heavy cream (see notes)
• salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
• grated Parmesan cheese for serving, optional

Instructions

1. Chop up the onion and green bell pepper.
2. Turn Instant Pot to SAUTE, MEDIUM HEAT, and melt the butter. Add onion and green pepper and cook 2-3 minutes.
3. Then add minced garlic, ground fennel, ground thyme, and Spike Seasoning, and cook a few minutes more.
4. Turn Instant Pot to SAUTE, HIGH HEAT. Crumble the ground turkey sausage into the pot and cook until sausage is all nicely browned, about 10 minutes. Don't rush this step, browning adds flavor.
5. Add cauliflower rice, canned pumpkin, and chicken stock to the Instant Pot.
6. Lock the lid and set to MANUAL, LOW (or use Soup Setting), 10 minutes. 
7. Let pressure NATURAL RELEASE for 10 minutes, then release the rest of the pressure.
8. Stir in white balsamic vinegar and heavy cream. Taste soup to see if you want more balsamic vinegar.
9. Season to taste with salt and fresh-ground black pepper.
10. Serve hot, with grated Parmesan to add at the table if desired.
11. I don't think soups with cream freeze all that well, but this will keep in the fridge for several days. 

Notes

Use homemade chicken stock if you have some. You can use half and half or milk instead of heavy cream if you prefer, but the cream made this so good!

Nutritional information is based on 10 first-course servings. If you serve a larger bowl as a main course this soup will have 8 servings with 458 calories, 35 total fat, 13 saturated fat, 14.3 unsaturated fat, 225 total cholesterol, 1877 sodium, 16 carbs, 4.4 grams fiber, 6.7 sugar, and 21 protein. Nutritional information doesn't include optional Parmesan cheese.

Recipe created by Kalyn and Kara, with a few experiments to get this delicious final version!

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

10

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 369Total Fat: 28gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 181mgSodium: 1511mgCarbohydrates: 13gFiber: 3gSugar: 5gProtein: 17g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

Did you make this recipe?

Did you make this recipe? Please leave a star rating (under the PRINT button in the recipe) or share a photo of your results on Instagram! THANKS!

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
If you stick with a small serving size, this Instant Pot Pumpkin Soup is a good option for any low-carb diet, maybe even Keto, depending on how strict you are. Personally I’d eat this soup as a treat for the original South Beach Diet, but Pumpkin would be limited to Phase 2 or 3, and South Beach would definitely not recommend cream.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Instant Pot Recipes to find more Instant Pot Soups like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Danica's Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This creamy pumpkin soup made in the Instant Pot was first posted in 2021. The recipe was last updated with more information in 2023.

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