Today’s recipe feels rather appropriate as it just dipped below 50 degrees here in Chicago. Since I refuse to turn on the heat just yet, Milly and I are both snuggled under a blanket cuddling. Brrrrr.
Chilly weather means it’s soup season. Are you ready?
P.S. Feel free to check out all of our delicious soup recipes right here!
Today’s recipe was inspired by traditional African peanut stew, a delicious dish my mom used to always rave about that her friend Ana would make. Peanut stew is usually made with chicken, peanut butter, tomatoes or tomato sauce, sweet potatoes, onion, ginger and something spicy like cayenne or chili peppers. Each version is different, rich and delicious when soaked up with naan bread or served over rice.
Today’s pumpkin peanut butter chicken soup recipe is a twist on traditional peanut stew and it just so happens to be made in the slow cooker, making it a breeze to whip up!
Want more slow cooker recipes?
Enter your email to get one of our BEST slow cooker dinner recipes straight to your inbox each day for 7 days. Totally FREE!
Ingredients in pumpkin peanut butter chicken soup
This peanut butter pumpkin chicken soup is made with just a few ingredients you likely have in you pantry and makes for the creamiest, coziest soup recipe perfect for cool fall or winter nights. Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make the soup:
- Chicken: I like to use boneless skinless chicken breast, but you can also use boneless skinless chicken thighs if you’d like.
- Light coconut milk: creamy light coconut milk gives the soup an amazing texture and subtle sweetness while keeping it dairy free.
- Pumpkin puree: the star of the show to give this peanut butter chicken soup a wonderful fall flavor. Feel free to use canned pumpkin puree or make your own with this tutorial!
- Low sodium chicken broth: adding chicken broth gives the soup the right consistency and amount of liquid.
- Peanut butter: I like to use a natural, creamy peanut butter, but you can also use crunchy for some texture!
- Onion: for some more savory flavor.
- Fresh grated ginger: there’s nothing better than freshly grated ginger for a delicious flavor boost.
- Garlic: gotta have garlic to pair with the sweetness of the coconut milk & peanut butter.
- Spices: you’ll add a pinch of cayenne for some heat (or skip it if you’re sensitive to spice) plus salt & pepper.
My favorite ways to serve this soup
I love to serve this soup with brown rice, similar to how you would serve curry. It’s also delicious with a side of naan bread to soak up that delicious peanut butter pumpkin flavor. To garnish, I recommend topping it with chopped roasted peanuts (or spicy roasted cashews!) and fresh cilantro. Yum.
Customize this soup
There are tons of different ways to truly make this peanut butter chicken stew you’re own! Here’s what I can recommend:
- To make vegan: use vegetarian broth and two cans of drained chickpeas instead of chicken.
- Add veggies: I like to stir in 1 cup frozen peas, a few cups of spinach or julienned bell peppers at the end and allow the soup to cook in the slow cooker for 10-15 more minutes.
- Spice it up: make it a little spicy with an extra shake of cayenne pepper or serve with some crushed red pepper flakes.
What does peanut butter chicken soup taste like?
This soup has flavors of traditional pumpkin soup with a hint of peanut butter flavor, creamy sweet coconut and a hint of spice thanks to cayenne. It’s unique and delicious at the same time!
Make it on the stovetop
If you’d like to make this soup on the stovetop, you absolutely can. Here’s how to do it:
- In a large pot, saute onions with a bit of olive oil for 3-5 minutes, then add in ginger, garlic and cayenne and stir.
- Next add in 2 cups chicken broth (yes you are using 1/2 cup more broth), coconut milk, pumpkin puree, peanut butter and salt and pepper and stir together until well combined. Add in chicken breasts to the pot and bring soup to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat to low and cook covered for 20-25 minutes.
- After 20-25 minutes, remove chicken with a slotted spoon and shred with two forks. Add chicken back to the pot and stir. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. Serve as directed in recipe.
Storing tips
Store these creamy peanut butter pumpkin chicken soup in the fridge for 3-5 days in an airtight container. Simply reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop.
More soups & stews you’ll love
- Slow Cooker White Wine Chicken Stew
- Healing Ginger Coconut Chicken Brown Rice Soup
- Vegan Curried Pumpkin Lentil Soup
- The Best Dal Ever
- Golden Coconut Chicken Lentil Soup
Get all of my soup recipes here, and all of my pumpkin recipes here!
Want more slow cooker recipes?
Enter your email to get one of our BEST slow cooker dinner recipes straight to your inbox each day for 7 days. Totally FREE!
I hope you love this slow cooker pumpkin peanut butter chicken soup! If you make it be sure to leave a comment & a rating so I know how you liked it. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Slow Cooker Pumpkin Peanut Butter Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- 1 (15 ounce) can light coconut milk
- 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
- 1 ½ cups low-sodium chicken broth
- ½ cup natural creamy peanut butter (just peanuts + salt as the ingredients)
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon cayenne (use only ¼ teaspoon if you don’t like things as spicy)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- For serving:
- Fresh chopped cilantro
- Roasted chopped peanuts
- Cooked brown rice
Instructions
- Add light coconut milk, chicken broth, pumpkin puree, peanut butter, ginger, garlic, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper to the bowl of a slow cooker. Whisk together until smooth and well combined. Next add in boneless skinless chicken breast and diced onion. Cover and cook for 3-4 hours on high or 6-7 hours on low.
- Once done cooking, remove chicken with a slotted spoon and transfer to a cutting board. Shred chicken with two forks, then add back to the slow cooker. Ladle into bowls, then garnish with cilantro and chopped peanuts. Optional to serve the soup over brown rice or quinoa. Serves 6.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
pumpkin peanut butter chicken soup is good for health. we get protein and nutritious from this recipe.
Sounds so yummy. To make it vegetarian / vegan, could you swap out the chicken broth for vegetable broth and chicken for chickpeas? ❤️
Hi Erin! Yes — check the notes section and you’ll find my recommendations on how to make it vegan/vegetarian!
Ah! I read through it a handful of times and missed that section. Great minds think alike! I can’t wait to try it! Thanks again 🙂
I have made this soup 5 or 6 times in the last month — it is unbelievably easy to make and SO delicious. I do use thighs instead of breasts, just because I prefer the flavor. I also cook it stovetop and brown the chicken in the pot first, remove it, chop it, and throw it back in at the end.
Amazing! So glad you love this one, Mandy 🙂 and great idea with the chicken. Sounds perfect!
Wow 🤤😍 seriously can’t thank you enough for your recipes!
You are so welcome, Danielle!
Unsure if I overlooked this but I noticed that the chicken broth isn’t included in the instructional steps! I assumed you add it in with the pumpkin puree and such. But Delicious and would definitely recommend. I’ll be keeping this as a favorite and will probably add some chopped red peppers next time to give it some more texture!
Hi Keara! This has been updated — thank you for the catch! I’m also so happy you liked the soup 🙂 in the note section I’ve also added some suggestions for adding extra veggies if you’d like for next time. xo!
Love it – perfect fall recipe! I added cauliflower florets, spinach, and peppers for a little color, and served over quinoa. Next time I may add some chopped sweet potato too 🙂
Love that!!
Good morning. I haven’t tried this yet. We’re making it today. Have you ever frozen it? If so does it freeze well? Thanks & be blessed. Jenny
Hi Jenny! I have, and yes it does! 🙂 Freezes well for up to 3 months.
Hi! Can you put this in the Instant Pot? If so, how long? Thanks!
Hi Kristin! I actually don’t cook with an Instant Pot so I’m no 100% sure. Let me know if you try it!
Love all of your recipes! How would you twist this to include the tomatoes/tomato sauce like the traditional version? Would you swap out the pumpkin? Both versions sound delicious. Thank you!
Great question! It would be a very different ratio of ingredients and I’d have to experiment before feeling confident to give you an ingredient swap suggestion!
Will definitely be making this again! Super easy to throw together and tasty. If you like spice, I would recommend upping the cayene. Next time I want to try adding some red peppers and/or kale! Thanks for this recipe, Monique.
Great idea with the cayenne! Let me know how those veggies are, too 🙂 Glad you enjoyed!
I’m so happy I made this recipe. It was pretty quick (I made it on the stove top) and delicious. I made it with chicken but next time I might want to try it with chickpeas! The flavors are great and especially love the coconut milk, pumpkin, peanut butter, ginger, garlic, and cayenne. I’ll definitely have to make this again.
So happy you made this one, too! Let me know how it goes with chickpeas next time 🙂 Thanks for your note Keri!
I love chicken recipe..Thanks for sharing.
This soup is so good! It tastes even better day 2. My boyfriend loved it too and said “I’m definitely not mad about having this 3 days in a row.” We had it over cauliflower rice which gave it a nice texture and garnished with lots of cilantro. I will absolutely be making this again.
Amazing! So happy to hear that Molly 🙂
Would I be able to use almond butter instead? My son has peanut allergies
Yes absolutely, although I would probably recommend cashew butter for a better flavor.
Hubby said that this is now one of his new favorite recipes! Thank you!
Amazing! So happy to hear that.
I made this for dinner instead of doing it in a slow cooker, I put the ingredients in a medium sauce pan and used cooked rotisserie chicken. It was delicious.
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
Loved this recipe! Fast, easy and yummy. The house smelled great making it. All i was missing was the roasted peanuts on top which would have made it perfect. I also added the peas and red peppers as suggested. Your recipes never disappoint Monique!
YUM love the addition of extra veggies. Glad you enjoyed, Stephanie!
Is the pumpkin flavor prominent? I’m dying to make this but my husband worries it will have a strong pumpkin flavor.
I find the peanut butter flavor to be more prominent than the pumpkin, but it does still have a pumpkin flavor to it!
So good! Eliminated spice bc I served it to my toddlers, big hit! Doing lots of Monique’s stews and slow cooker recipes this winter and this Was great.
Love that! Hope you keep finding new favorites 🙂
Good flavor and easy to make. I added a couple of carrots and large chopped red pepper so it wasn’t just peanut butter chicken. It was great! This makes a big batch!
Delicious! Great idea with the extra veggies.
Hi Monique!! Making this today- would you recommenced salted or unsalted peanut butter for this recipe? I’m guessing salted because of how you list the ingredients but wanted r to double check!! Thank you!!
Hi Kristen! I usually use an all natural peanut butter that has a bit of salt, but either will work fine 🙂
Made it with what I had – salted pb tasted AMAZING! Loved this, threw some cauli rice with it one day and quinoa with it the next, I have no idea what I would meal prep for dinners without your website if I’m being honest! THANK YOOOU
Delicious! I’m so glad you’re finding dinners here that you love!
Made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious! Added all the extra veggies like you suggested and I can’t wait to take this for lunches this week. Thank you!
Perfect! So glad you enjoyed 🙂
This recipe was absolutely delicious. As much as I love PB, I wanted to scale back on the amount of PB in the recipe and only used 1/4C. It was perfect, and a family favorite.
Perfect! Glad everyone loved it!
great soup!! very flavorful and easy to make and quite a different take on pumpkin soup. loved it! however i do wish the serving size was listed:) is it one cup? thank you again for such a great recipe!!!
So glad you enjoyed! It should be about 1.5 cups 🙂
What size slow cooker did you make this in?
8 quart, I believe!
Very easy and fun to come home after work and have dinner ready.
Delicious! We served this over rice with peanuts and scallions on top and it was perfection. I also subbed chicken thighs for breasts.
Amazing! So happy you enjoyed 🙂
I sang your praises and tagged you on Instagram – I chose to try this recipe because of the unique combo of ingredients. Loved it! Thank you!
Thank you so much! Glad you loved this one 🙂
Totally yummy, everyone loved it, thank you! I ran out of light coconut milk so I used regular and added a little water to thin it out a bit. I used chicken bone broth and one large chicken breast and a can of chickpeas. Adding a small red pepper and peas at the end gives it more interest. Next time I think I’ll also add green beans. We served it with white jasmine rice. What a soothing, filling meal!
Perfect! This one’s great for adding your favorite mix-ins 🙂 glad it was a hit!
SOOO GOOD!! who do i have to talk to so that we can have #AKPumpkinPEANUTBUTTERWeek 2021 this year lmk
Adding it to the calendar!!!
Absolutely gorgeous recipe, added some lime and a tad more peanut butter. Perfect on its own or with rice.
Love it! Glad you enjoyed!
I’ve never met an AK soup or stew I didn’t like but this one made my taste buds DANCE. So creamy and satisfying. Our slow cooker just broke and for some reason I got a burn notice on my instant pot so I threw it in a soup pot and cooked on medium low for a couple hours and it turned out great! Added spinach and celery I had on hand but would be delicious with peas like you suggested! Thanks for the great recipe.
Perfect! I’m glad that quick swap worked out well. Such a great dinner!
My bf and I loveee this recipe! It’s super easy to throw together and tastes wonderful!
So happy to hear that!
You are the best, cook double batch put some freezer and how good that your Artisan bread so delicious, cooking follow your recipe saving time, money, easy, healthy than buy from shop…Thank you
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you’re enjoying it 🙂
I subbed the spices with Panang Curry spice mix which I had on hand, and added some broccoli, peppers, and cauliflower just before serving. Delicious, simple, healthy, and easy!
Alright, I’ve been making your recipes and I must say you always deliver 🙂 everything I’ve made so far was absolutely delicious, with a small exception of Greek yoghurt ranch dressing, it was meh kinda, but since I’m European I don’t really know how ranch should taste, since it’s not a thing here, so it may be the yoghurt I use or I messed up spicing, or I should have used lemon instead of apple cider vinegar;)
Will be making this soup, but I only have flavored/whey added peanut butters, so I was thinking that I will make it with Pb2 and bump the fat content with normal Coconut milk ( “light” one is kind of a fake product, since its just diluted regular one).
Have you ever made it with powdered peanut butter? From my calculations about 60g should make 1/2 cup reconstituted.
Hi! Sorry that you guys don’t have regular/unflavored peanut butter! I haven’t tried this recipe with powdered peanut butter but I think that’s a great idea to do that + coconut milk. Let me know how it goes!
Hello Monique!
Oh what I’ve meant I don’t have it in my apartment, the regular peanut butter 🙂 there’s plenty of those here.
I have like 4 different high fat nut spreads currently open in the fridge so I didn’t want to add a fifth in there 🙂
It does work perfectly well with PB2. Did some calculations and added 60g of the powder, and increased the amount of broth by 80ml. You can easily go with 80g if you want more peanuty flavor. Same with coconut milk, i used a 250ml can of full fat, and substituted lacking 175ml with broth. Like I said no need to buy light coconut milk for cooking, it’s just a diluted normal one. Kinda the same as with light butter (which is just hydrogenated normal) and baking.
Anyway, the soup came out absolutely delicious. Perfect blend of flavors, the fresh ginger works so damn well here. I’ll definitely put the soup in my slowcooking rotation 🙂
Gonna do it on low next time, as cooking pumpkin pure on high kinda destroys it’s texture, but sadly I had no time for low.
As always your recipe was amazing, your food is so up my alley. Thank you so much 🙂
Thanks for reporting back! So happy to hear the PB2 worked well in here and that you enjoyed it!
This was so delicious! Added peas and spinach as suggested. Whole family loved it! 🙂
Nice!! Happy you guys enjoyed it 🙂
I am puzzled by all the positive reviews here, I was excited about what seemed like an interesting combination of flavors, but we did not enjoy this at all. It was easy to make. but the peanut butter/chicken/pumpkin combo was kind of gross. We ended up throwing it out after digging in. Perhaps with the chick peas it would be better than with the chicken? Wasted some expensive good chicken breasts. My husband’s comment: “what were you thinking?”!!!!!!
So sorry you guys didn’t love it! I + lots of readers really enjoy the flavor in this one. What brand of PB did you use?
Sounds amazing, but I don’t own a slow cooker. Can you suggest an alternative way?
Yes, there are instructions in the blog post for making it on the stovetop!
Delicious!
Happy you enjoyed it, Jennifer!
I couldn’t believe how amazing this was. Kind of want to make it every week now.
What a unique and healthy soup. SO good. Our 2 year old ate more than my husband and I. SO good. Thank you for the wonderful and healthy recipes! You are our constant go-to!
Omg LOVE THAT! Happy you guys all enjoyed this one, Jessie!
I will definitely be making this again! Super easy to put together and tasty. I made it on the stove top. I added some paprika and in my bowl a splash of coconut aminos. I didn’t have peanuts to try. Next time I want to try adding some green peas and/or spinach.
I added cumin, smoked paprika, dash of cinnamon, and more garlic for a deeper flavor. ❤️
Really delicious recipe! It’s kind of like a Thai curry but with a little something different! Topped with a squeeze of lime 🙂
I made this tonight on the stovetop. Added fresh tumeric because I had it on hand and used less chicken than called for because I was short. It was super easy and not too pumpkiny. Turned out to be delicious, complex and comforting!
Just wanted to let you know this was excellent with the chickpeas. I added peas at the end. Served it over rice with a sprinkle of vinegar because I didn’t have cilantro on hand. I have worsening tremors in my hands that make cooking a challenge on really bad days and this was easy for me to make and very satisfying to eat.
I’m so glad to hear that! Sounds amazing. Happy it was easy to make and that you enjoyed it 🙂
I loved this soup. I just added pinch of cinnamon and 1/4 cup of half and half for thickness. So good.
This is an absolutely delicious dish. We eat it once a month in our house and always have some in the freezer for when I need quick dinner. Love to add frozen peas, carrots, and cooked quinoa for a tasty dinner that is also nourishing, nutritious, and filling. Do yourself a favor and make this tonight!
I’m so happy you love this one, Jen! Those are great additions 🙂 Appreciate the review!
hi- could i make this in a dutch oven?
Yes! Check out the full blog post where I have instructions for cooking it on the stovetop.
Such a unique combination of ingredients that really worked. I served it with brown rice and naan bread. Hubby loved it too! Delish!
I made this for my meal prep this week and it was easy, stress free, and delicious! It definitely reminds me of the peanut stew that I’ve had at west African restaurants. I will definitely make it again this fall!
The flavor was not as punchy as I was expecting but I also didn’t have cilantro so I’m sure that would have made a difference.
I did add peas, a squeeze of lime, some raw cashews for crunch and a bit of pepper and siracha and it was yummy!
Loved how creamy it was! I’ll definitely make it again.
Hi! Thanks for the feedback 🙂 Those additions sound great! Do you think it needed more salt? Or more of a particular flavor?
Wanted to love this soup! I love pumpkin, love coconut, love curries, love peanut butter. Easy to make, but the flavors just fell flat for me. Tasted bland. Love all of Monique’s other recipes but this one did not do it for me
Hi! Thanks so much for your feedback. Sorry you didn’t love it. Do you think it needed more salt, or more of any particular flavors?
I made this soup exactly as directed, adding peas and spinach at the end. It was bland and completely flavorless. Would not make again.
So sorry to hear you did not enjoy this recipe, Jill. I am not sure what could have gone wrong, as this recipe is packed with spices.
I was excited to try this. I liked the idea, but it definitely needed acid of some sort. I would probably add lime to this and maybe coconut sugar. It just didn’t have a ton of flavor to me. Overall it was just okay.
I was excited to try this. I liked the idea, but it definitely needed acid of some sort. I would probably add lime to this and maybe coconut sugar. It just didn’t have a ton of flavor to me. Overall it was just okay.
Sorry this did not turn out how you would have hoped. Did you change anything about the recipe? I have never had a problem with this recipe lacking flavor.
I was so hopeful for this recipe but when it all came together I was pretty underwhelmed. I found the soup to be a pretty lacking in flavor and sort of bland. I added peas, cauliflower, and green beans but otherwise followed exactly as suggested. I did add extra cilantro and fresh peanuts in hopes of upping the flavor but it didn’t help much. The good news – my 8 month old liked it!
Made the stove-top version because I wanted to have it ready for lunch. Used the suggested sub of chick peas for chicken. It was a delicious hot treat on a cold snowy day.
yum! the best, I am so glad that this recipe is a hit ❤️🙂
If I sub chickpeas instead of chicken, do I put them in right at the beginning or will they be mushy after 6 hours in the slow cooker?
Hi! They should still hold up well in the slow cooker with the full amount of time, but to be safe feel free to stir them in with 1-2 hours left.
Hi! I’m so looking forward to making this, but my family does not like any nut flavors. Would this still work without any nut butter? Thank you!
Hi! If your family doesn’t like nut flavors I wouldn’t recommend this one for them as the peanut butter flavor is really what makes the dish.
I have been testing recipes claiming to be West African peanut stew for nearly two decades, trying to recreate the ones I ate while I spent a couple years living in a tiny village (Peace Corps). Monique, I’m thrilled to say that this one is the most authentic I’ve tried. I nearly swooned when I tasted your recipe because it brought me right back to the village. So delicious. Bookmarked!
Amazing! So happy you gave them one a try 🙂 it’s seriously one of our favorites!
Hi, I’m looking to make this stove top and wondering for this step if you meant to say bring soup to a boil instead of simmer?:
“Add in chicken breasts to the pot and bring soup to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat to low and cook covered for 20-25 minutes.”
Also, if I doubled up all ingredients , does that effect cooking time?
I think this would have been good but my onion may have been too big and extremely bitter. To remedy, next time I’ll sauté the onion first, and use it more sparingly.
Be sure to dice the onion small! And yes, feel free to sauté it a bit beforehand as well.
Can I use regular milk instead of coconut milk?
The coconut milk really adds the creaminess and slight sweetness in this soup, so I wouldn’t recommend substituting it!
Can you make this in a dutch over?
Yep! You’ll find the instructions in the blog post 🙂