With Halloween looming around the corner, you may be starting your preparations to celebrate this spooktacular time of year, at home of course! Maybe you’re throwing a full-on fancy dress party for a small group of friends, or perhaps you’re getting together with your family for a candlelit dinner? Even if 2020 won’t let us have big plans to celebrate this Halloween, there’s still plenty that you can do to mark the occasion.
Here at Campbell’s, everything starts with soup. Halloween is no exception! We’ve put together some fantastically freaky Halloween soup ideas for you to enjoy regardless of what your plans are. A bowl of scary soup may make the perfect starter on your menu, or a cauldron of soup could be the ideal centrepiece at your dinner party.
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Spooky Soup Ideas
The Classic Pumpkin Soup
You Will Need:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 onions, chopped finely
- 1kg pumpkin (or squash), peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks
- 700ml vegetable stock
- 150ml double cream
Method:
‘Tis the season for homemade pumpkin soup! You simply cannot beat it – that creamy texture accompanied by that sweet flavour. Pumpkin soup is a seasonal favourite that is easy to make and is a great comfort food for this time of year.
- In a large saucepan, heat up 2 tbsp of olive oil and add the chopped onions. Cook until soft but not golden in colour.
- To the saucepan, add the chopped pumpkin (or squash) and continue to cook for around 8-10 minutes. Stir gently until the vegetable starts to soften and turn golden.
- Into the saucepan, pour all 700ml of stock. Add seasoning to desired taste. Bring the contents of the pan to a boil and then turn down the heat to allow it to simmer for around 10 minutes, or until the vegetable is very soft.
- Gently pour into the saucepan 150ml double cream. Bring the mixture back up to the boil and then puree it with a hand blender. If desired, pour the soup through a fine sieve to create a velvety texture.
- Serve hot in bowls and enjoy!
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Mugs of Soup
If you’ve got a few friends coming over and you fancied making them a few light bites for the evening, try serving Halloween soup in mugs! The best bit about this is you can prepare and cook the soup in advance, reheating it just before your guests come over and then ladling it into mugs to serve – perfect and super easy to prep!
Or if you’ve got kids, serving scary soup in spooky mugs is a great way to get them involved! Get a set of Halloween mugs and, instead of making them a hot chocolate, give them a few spoons full of tasty soup.
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Eyeball Soup
If you really want to make the kids (and maybe adults) scream this Halloween, then give eyeball soup a try! This soup isn’t dependent on the ingredients, but it’s about the effect! Easily made with some edible eyeball–looking ingredients.
You Will Need:
- Soup (we’d recommend Campbell’s Cream of Tomato)
- Bite-sized Mozzarella balls
- 1 small jar pimiento-stuffed olives
Method:
- To make the eyeballs, gently scoop out a hold in the centre of each Mozzarella ball
- Cut each olive in half and then stuff into the Mozzarella ball so the curved side is staring up at you
- Drop onto the balls of soup
- Serve and wait for the screams!
Spiderweb Soup
This soup is surprisingly simple but is sure to impress! The spiderweb effect works best on a dark-coloured soup, such as tomato or pumpkin, easily done using sour cream. If you’re looking to create a photogenic spread, this soup will certainly make the cut.
You Will Need:
- Soup (we’d recommend Campbell’s Cream of Tomato)
- 3 tbsp sour cream
- 1 tbsp milk
Method:
- Mix together the sour cream and the milk. Pour this into an empty squeezy condiment bottle.
- Gently squeeze this in circles on the surface of the soup and then drag the nozzle of the bottle from the centre to the outside to create the web effect.
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Batwing Croutons
If you want to keep the soup simple this Halloween but still fancy adding a touch of the creepy to your meal, look no further than these batwing croutons! All you need to do is simply cook up your favourite soup (we recommend Campbell’s very own Cream of Tomato for the blood-red colour). Then, cut some slices of bread into simple batwing shapes and toast them gently under the grill until they hold their shape.
Cheesy Ghost Croutons
These cheesy ghost croutons will change your life this Halloween! This recipe only requires three ingredients and is very easy to make. Using French bread, cheese, and olives recreate this fun snack to enjoy alongside your tomato flavoured soup this Halloween. Dice the olives into little faces to create funny looking ghosts.
You will need
- French bread
- Cheese
- Black olives
Method
- Bake bread with cheese on top to create toasted slices
- Slice up your black olives to create faces (being extremely careful as they’re very small)
- Place them onto the cheese toast and serve on top of your choice of tomato soup (we recommend Campbell’s 😉)
Saucy Spider Bread for Dipping
This is another tasty soup side dish that is very fitting for Halloween. Using dough and your creative skills, craft these spider legs easily for a spooky dipping masterpiece.
You will need
- 2 balls pizza dough (thawed if frozen)
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 c. grated Parmesan (1 oz)
- 2 tbsp. grated Parmesan (1 oz)
- 1 large pitted black olive
- 2 c. marinara sauce
Method
- Cut one ball of dough in half.
- Shape one half into a 5-inch ball to make the spider body.
- Cut a 1.5-inch strip from the remaining half and shape into a 2.5-inch ball to make the head.
- Cut the remaining dough into 8 strips and roll each strip into a 6-inches. Rope to make the legs.
- Arrange the body, legs, and head on one of the prepared baking sheets to resemble a spider, gently pressing all the pieces of dough together.
- Sprinkle the legs with 2 tbsp of parmesan. Place 2 of the olive slices on the top of the head for eyes and 2 on the bottom for pincers. Bake until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes (covering the legs with foil if browning too quickly).
- Once spider is assembled, add in your own choice of tomato soup.
Time to Get Creative!
These are just a few simple Halloween soup ideas to get your taste buds tingling and your heart racing! There’s plenty more than can be done to make soup as spooky as possible, no matter how you choose to celebrate Halloween this year!
Let us know what scary soup you create and share all your best Halloween soup ideas!
Happy Halloween!