The Perfect Butternut Squash Soup ~ this fragrant, silky soup is the best I’ve found, and it’s so easy to make. Fall doesn’t officially begin until we’ve made a batch of this wonderful soup!
Butternut squash soup strikes the perfect balance
This soup avoids all the pitfalls that pureed vegetable soups occasionally fall into. It’s not bland, it has good strong flavor, but the flavors don’t overpower the squash either. The Indian inspired spices are evident, but they stay in the background. It’s got a hint of sweetness from the apple, but it’s not so sweet that it tastes like dessert. There’s no cream in it, so it’s neither heavy nor a billion calories. It’s lovely, really.
This is my sister’s butternut squash soup recipe
She serves huge vats of it at her annual neighborhood Halloween open house and gets rave reviews. I fiddled just a tiny bit with her recipe, because, well, that’s what sisters do. She uses celery and nutmeg, I left them out. I add in mustard seed and coriander seed. Nothing major. I’m sure you’ll make your own special tweaks as well. But as far as I’m concerned, I don’t ever need to look for another butternut squash soup recipe.
Love winter squash?
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The Perfect Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp butter, (use olive oil for paleo)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, peeled and chopped
- 1 shallot, peeled and minced
- 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and coarsely chopped
- 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
- 1 tsp yellow mustard seed
- 1 tsp coriander seed
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and rough chopped
- 26 oz box chicken stock
- 2 bay leaves
- salt and fresh pepper
- juice of 1/2 lemon
Instructions
- Heat the butter and oil in a heavy bottomed soup pot. Sauté the onion, shallot, apple, and ginger for a couple of minutes.
- Add in the spices, and continue to cook for a few more minutes, stirring so nothing burns.
- Add the squash to the pot, give it all a good stir, and then the stock and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper.
- Simmer, covered, until the squash is completely tender.
- Remove the bay leaves and puree the soup either with an immersion blender, a regular blender, or in a food processor (in batches)
- Reheat the soup, add the lemon juice, and check the seasonings. If it seems too thick at this point, add more stock or water. Garnish with sour cream and toasted pepitas.
- The soup will taste even better after a day in the fridge. I always make mine the day before.
Cook's notes
- I think this would work well with any winter squash, try pumpkin, or kabocha.
- If you'd like to enrich this soup with a little cream, stir it in at the end and heat through.
Nutrition
19 Comments
Monika Davis
April 5, 2022 at 9:14 pmOmg! Yum! I recreated this recipe I first tasted on a date a few weeks ago. It was a high end restaurant. Delicious. I followed the recipe to the letter. I added the sour cream and pepitas for garnish. I wish I could upload the photo.
Cindy
September 15, 2021 at 5:42 pmHi Sue
Can I use frozen butternut chunks in this soup recipe?
Thanks, Cindy
Sue Moran
September 15, 2021 at 5:44 pmYes that will work fine Cindy.
LAllen
November 12, 2020 at 9:19 amI made this recipes as written, except for these small changes: I used hot curry powder because I was out of the sweet curry, I made my own chicken stock and I roasted my squash because I think it was easier and better tasting. Otherwise it’s exactly as written. I think it has an exquisite taste. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Sue
November 12, 2020 at 9:24 amLove your tweaks, yum!