I love making this butternut squash soup when squash are in season, and it's cold outside. It takes under an hour to make and leftovers store well in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. (Hint: Make ahead to serve for Thanksgiving lunch or dinner!) And sometimes, I take some of this leftover soup to make a fast "healthier" mac and cheese. Kids have no idea squash is hidden in there with the cheese.
The hardest part of this recipe is peeling the butternut squash. My trick, as with peeling kabocha, is to steam the whole butternut squash for 5 minutes, and then peel it with a vegetable peeler. The 5 minutes of steaming softens the outside just enough to easily peel the squash.
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| Wash squash and peel off any labels |
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| Steam whole for 5 min |
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| Peel with vegetable peeler |
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| Cut squash in half and scoop out seeds |
After peeling and dicing, everything goes into a large pot for simmering until all the veggies are tender. Then puree and the soup is done!
Add all ingredients to a large pot 
Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 30 minutess
Of course, if you are serving this for Thanksgiving, and want things to be more luxurious, go ahead and indulge and add the cream-- it's Thanksgiving 2020 after all...
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Yields 6 servings
Ingredients:
- 1 medium butternut squash (about 3 to 3.5 lbs)
- 2 ½ c water, low sodium vegetable broth, or low sodium chicken broth*
- 1 apple, peeled, cored, and roughly chopped
- 1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, lightly smashed
- 1 sprig of fresh sage
- 2 T dried chopped onions
- ½ t salt
- ¼ t ground black pepper
- ½ t cinnamon
- ¼ t nutmeg
- optional: 1/3 c heavy cream (or half & half is fine)
*Obviously not vegetarian if you opt to use chicken broth...
Procedures:
1. Wash butternut squash and steam whole for 5 minutes. Remove from steamer and peel skin with a vegetable peeler. Cut squash in half, and remove seeds. Dice squash and add to a large pot.
2. Add remainder of the ingredients (EXCEPT the heavy cream) into the pot, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer, and simmer with the lid of the pot on, for 30 minutes until all the vegetables are soft and tender. Turn off the heat.
3. Remove the sprig of sage and discard. At this point, if you are opting to add cream, add in 1/3 c of heavy cream.
4. Using an immersion blender, blend until smooth.
5. Taste and add more salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm.