What to Eat in Autumn: Seasonal Foods and Easy Autumn Recipe Ideas
In autumn, eat seasonal foods like pumpkin, apples, pears, root vegetables, beetroot, mushrooms and cabbage, plus warming pulses. Roast them, add them to curries and soups, or pair them with young jackfruit and beans for filling meals.
Pumpkins on every corner, apples by the kilo, and courgettes your neighbour has been trying to give away for three weeks. Autumn has lots to offer in the kitchen. And it would be a shame to stop at pumpkin soup. This is the season for beetroot, mushrooms, pears, cabbage and root vegetables. You can easily turn them into breakfasts, dinners and hearty main meals. So what should go in your basket this autumn, and what can you cook with it?
Why should you eat seasonal food in autumn?
Today, you can buy strawberries in December or asparagus in October. Supermarkets have blurred the seasons, and we can get most foods at almost any time. But that doesn’t mean we should forget about seasons completely.
When you choose what is ripe right now, your food often didn’t have to travel far or sit in storage for weeks. There’s another, very practical reason too. Seasonal fruit and vegetables are easier to find at their peak, and often cheaper. You don’t need to study a harvest calendar before every shopping trip. Just remember a few foods that shine in autumn.
Pumpkin: an autumn classic that can do more than soup
As soon as it gets cold, pumpkins show up everywhere. But Hokkaido, butternut, spaghetti and Muscat squash differ in taste and in how you can use them. Hokkaido has one big plus: you don’t have to peel it. Just wash it, scoop out the seeds and cut it up. Butternut squash is milder and sweeter, and it gets lovely and creamy when roasted.
Before you reach for the blender, try something new. You can:
roast it with olive oil, garlic and herbs,
add it to a curry or risotto,
mash it into a purée,
add it to an autumn bowl,
use it in a pasta sauce,
or bake a sweet loaf or pancakes with it.
And sometimes you just want soup. For those days, we’ve put together 10 autumn soup ideas to warm you up and give you energy. You’ll find the pumpkin classic, plus lentil soup, potato soup and jackfruit and pulse soup.
What can you make with apples and pears?
A bowl full of apples on the table may be the surest sign that summer is over. We love strudel, but apples and pears can be used in many more ways:
In the morning, slice them into your porridge and add cinnamon and nuts.
Bake a pear and serve it with yoghurt or quark.
Add apple to a salad with cabbage, carrot or beetroot.
When your apples start to look a bit tired, don’t throw them away. Cook them with cinnamon, and you have a base for porridge, yoghurt, pancakes or a simple dessert.
Can you use apples in savoury dishes?
Yes. Apple goes with bold flavours better than you might think. Try apple + red cabbage, apple + mustard or apple + walnuts. The sweet and sour taste can wake up a plain autumn salad.
How do you cook root vegetables?
Carrots, parsley root, celeriac and parsnips don’t look like stars next to exotic fruit. But just cut them up, add a little oil and put them in the oven. Roasting makes their taste stronger, and their natural sugars start to caramelise. Suddenly, a plain carrot or parsnip becomes a side dish you keep picking at straight from the tray.
Use roasted root vegetables as the base for a bowl with chickpeas or lentils. Serve them with potatoes, blend them into a creamy soup, or eat them with tahini or a yoghurt dip. Don’t want to chop vegetables every evening? Roast a whole tray at once. Then you’ll have a base in the fridge for the next day’s salad, tortilla or quick dinner.
Should you give beetroot a second chance?
Yes! If beetroot still makes you think of sweet and sour cubes from the school canteen, it’s time to try again. Roasted beetroot tastes totally different. It’s sweeter and earthy, and it works with both tangy and bold foods. It’s great with goat’s cheese, feta, walnuts, rocket or horseradish.
You can also blend it with chickpeas into a pink hummus. Or add it to an autumn bowl with grains, pulses and roasted vegetables. A small tip: so your kitchen doesn’t look like a crime scene, roast the beetroot in its skin and peel it afterwards.
Mushrooms: free autumn flavour from the forest
For some people, picking mushrooms is relaxing. For others, it’s hours of walking in the woods with just one mushroom in the basket. Whether you pick them yourself or buy them, mushrooms belong in the autumn kitchen. Their big strength is their savoury umami taste, which adds depth even to fully plant-based dishes. And you don’t have to stop at fried mushrooms.
Mushrooms are great in:
risotto,
sauces and goulashes,
pasta,
creamy soups,
savoury tarts,
mixes with pulses or jackfruit.
Mushrooms and young jackfruit work really well together. The mushrooms bring a bolder taste, and the jackfruit adds a stringy texture. All you need is onion, garlic and a little smoked paprika. Then you have the base for an autumn goulash or a topping for potatoes.
New to jackfruit? Read our guide How to Prepare and Store Jackfruit: 5 Simple Tricks.
Cabbage: a quiet autumn treasure
Cabbage won’t win a contest for the prettiest vegetable, but it can do a lot in the kitchen. White, red and fermented cabbage (sauerkraut) can all be used in very different ways. It also keeps for a long time, so it’s worth having at least one head at home.
Shred raw cabbage into a salad with carrot and apple.
Braise red cabbage with apple and spices.
Fry white cabbage in a pan or add it to soup.
Serve a few forkfuls of sauerkraut as a side with your main meal.
Are sauerkraut and fresh cabbage the same?
No. Sauerkraut is made by lactic acid fermentation. So it is very different from cooked cabbage in a sweet and sour brine. If you buy it for the living cultures made during fermentation, check the label. Heat treatment or pasteurisation kills many of them.
Why are pulses perfect in autumn?
Lentils, beans and chickpeas don’t have a short autumn season like apples or pumpkins. But when the days get cooler, we start taking them out of the pantry again. And no wonder. They’re perfect for hearty soups, curries, chilli, goulashes and warm salads. They also add plant protein and fibre.
You don’t have to soak them overnight every time. When you need dinner in twenty minutes, canned chickpeas or beans are a handy shortcut. A can doesn’t mean the food is lower quality. It all depends on the product and its ingredients.
Good pairs are pumpkin + chickpeas, mushrooms + lentils or jackfruit + beans. The last pair is great in chilli, tacos or a hearty soup. Want a meal that really fills you up? Pair jackfruit with pulses. Jackfruit isn’t a big source of protein, and pulses fill that gap. We wrote more about this in our article Foods That Keep You Full the Longest.
Can you still eat exotic food in autumn?
Yes. Eating with the seasons doesn’t mean you lock away bananas, avocados or jackfruit from September until spring. It’s much more fun to mix local seasonal food with flavours from around the world. That’s often where the best autumn dishes come from.
Try these ideas:
pumpkin curry with jackfruit and chickpeas,
jackfruit goulash with mushrooms,
tacos with jackfruit and roasted root vegetables,
a warm bowl with pumpkin, beetroot, pulses and spiced jackfruit,
jackfruit and pulse soup with tomatoes and herbs.
Young jackfruit has a mild taste and a stringy texture, so it fits whatever you cook it with. In autumn, it goes really well with smoked paprika, garlic, chilli, cumin, curry or rosemary. Not sure which jackfruit to buy? Our article How to Spot Good-Quality Jackfruit explains the difference between young and ripe jackfruit and what to check on the label.
How do you turn autumn food into a full meal?
Buying a bag of vegetables is one thing. Knowing what to do with it on a Wednesday evening is another. But you don’t need a new recipe for every pumpkin or beetroot. It’s easier to learn a few combos you can change based on what’s in the fridge.
Traybake
Pumpkin + root vegetables + onion + chickpeas. Roast everything together and serve with tahini or a yoghurt dip. There’s very little washing-up, and lunch for the next day is sorted.
Autumn curry
Fry curry spices with onion until they smell good. Add pumpkin, jackfruit and chickpeas, pour in coconut milk and let it simmer. Serve with rice, and dinner is ready.
Warm bowl
Mix a grain, roasted beetroot or pumpkin, lentils or beans, something crunchy and a bold dressing. This is a great way to use leftover roasted vegetables.
A proper soup
Root vegetables, pulses, potatoes and a good stock turn soup into a full main meal. Add jackfruit, and you get a stringy texture that’s perfect in hearty autumn soups.
Is autumn shopping hard?
Not at all. Next time you shop, first look at what’s in season right now. Only then think about a recipe. A pumpkin can go into a curry one day and a soup the next. Roasted beetroot works for lunch and in an evening salad. Leftover root vegetables won’t go to waste on a baking tray or in a stock.
And feel free to add something from the other side of the world. Autumn cooking doesn’t have to be just brown sauce, potatoes and pumpkin soup. All you need is a few good foods, some spices and a little courage to try new things.
Author: Ing. Kateřina Jakešová, nutrition specialist and copywriter
Quick facts: autumn foods
What vegetables are in season in autumn?
Pumpkin, beetroot, carrots, parsnips, celeriac, parsley root, cabbage and mushrooms.
Do I have to peel Hokkaido pumpkin?
No. Just wash it, remove the seeds and cut it up.
What can I cook with jackfruit in autumn?
Try pumpkin curry with jackfruit and chickpeas, jackfruit goulash with mushrooms, or jackfruit and bean chilli.
Are canned pulses a good choice?
Yes. Good canned chickpeas or beans save time and make quick, filling meals.