Five Spice Pumpkin and Sausage Soup

Are you pumpkin-ed out yet? If so, do you think you’ve got room for just one more?  Like, this five spice pumpkin and sausage soup? 

Don’t worry- it’s a good one. And different from the PSLs, the bread, muffins and rolls that you’ve (I’ve) been indulging in since last month. This one I’ve been wanting to post for a year, a YEAR!, but it came to be last fall after Thanksgiving, when pumpkin overload from all angles demanded that I want until this year to tell you all about it. 

Remember last fall when I was obsessed about putting five spice powder on everything? You saw it in the waffles and granola, but it happened so much more behind the scenes. Now, soup. I made this post-Thanksgiving in an attempt to use up any leftover fall ingredients that were lingering in the pantry and the freezer and couldn’t believe how delicious it was! I’m not exaggerating!

The combination of the five spice powder with the sweet Italian sausage was a pleasant surprise, the sausage adding a little bit of heat, and the crushed red peppers adding a little more. I will say that the one thing that really made this extraordinary is, not surprising, homemade turkey stock. And not just any homemade turkey stock but the one that comes from Thanksgiving turkey bones, aka, the best soup that you make all year.  Store bought works as well, but you know I’m in Ina’s camp on this one when a “good, homemade” one is just better.  Trust in Ina, and in this case, trust in me.

This soup is a good one for that particular long weekend, too, when everyone is food-ed out and looking for something substantial but not heavy.  Don’t worry- you’ll definitely still have room for a piece of leftover pie. As if you could be too full for a piece of pie, right?

Five Spice Pumpkin and Sausage Soup

October 25, 2018

Servings: 4

Total: 45 min

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Pumpkin soup gets a unique twist with Italian sausage and Chinese Five Spice powder in this Five Spice Pumpkin and Sausage Soup.

By: Chrissy

Ingredients

• ¾ lb. fresh sweet Italian turkey sausage links, removed from casing (about 2 large links)
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced (about 1 cup)
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• ½ Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 heaping Tbsp. Chinese five-spice powder
• 1 (14 oz.) can pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
• ½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• 5 cups unsalted turkey or chicken stock (homemade is best!)
• 1 cup fresh spinach, to serve
• ¼ cup heavy cream, to garnish

Directions

• Step 1 To a medium-sized stock pot over medium-high heat, add the sausage. Using a wooden spoon, break it up into bite-sized pieces and stir occasionally until browned thoroughly. Remove the cooked sausage from the pot and return the pot to the heat, keeping any sausage renderings and bits in the pan.
• Step 2 To the same pan, reduce heat to medium and add the butter and the onion and sauté until tender and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper and five-spice powder, and let everything toast up another 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Step 3 Add the sausage back into the pot, add the pumpkin puree and the turkey stock and stir thoroughly until all is well mixed. Increase heat to medium-high again and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce heat again to a simmer until ready to serve. Add more salt and pepper to taste.
• Step 4 To serve, add ¼ of the spinach to each bowl, and pour the soup over the spinach and let it wilt. Garnish each bowl with 1 tablespoon of heavy cream.