Our Best Butternut Squash Soup

This classic vegan butternut squash soup recipe has just the right fall flavor! Creamy and cozy, serve it with crusty bread for an easy meal.

Vegan butternut squash soup

When the air gets that certain chill, it’s like a flip switches. Suddenly the name of that pale orange, oblong squash is on everyone’s lips. It’s butternut squash season! Here’s a recipe that morphs this tough-to-cut squash into a silky orange puree. Meet our go-to Butternut Squash Soup recipe! To put a modern spin on the classic, it’s a plant based and vegan butternut squash soup. You’ll find the flavor is so lusciously creamy, it makes all your fall dreams come true.

All about butternut squash

The squash that everyone’s talking about is more than just a trendy craze. Butternut squash is a pear-shaped winter squash with pale orange skin. Its flavor is sweet and subtly nutty, almost like a mild sweet potato. Popular ways to eat it are in soup recipes, as a pasta sauce, or in risotto. Is butternut squash healthy? Here’s a little breakdown on the nutrition info of butternut squash:

  • Butternut squash is a good source of fiber. It’s got 7 grams per 1 cup diced, or about 28% of your daily need (source). You’ll get that in one serving of this butternut squash soup, along with more from the other ingredients.
  • Butternut squash is also high in Vitamin A and Vitamin C. The same serving size also provides 457% of your daily Vitamin A and 52% of your daily Vitamin C. (Source)
  • Butternut squash is a low calorie food. 1 cup has 82 calories.
Butternut squash soup

Ingredients in this butternut squash soup recipe

Our go-to butternut squash recipe happens to be vegan and plant-based: which is fitting as a modern spin! Instead of rich and heavy butters and creams of the past, butternut squash soup of today can feature beautiful flavors that are fully made of plants. Here’s what we included in this vegan butternut squash soup recipe:

  • Yellow onion
  • Garlic
  • Fresh ginger: this is key to the nuanced fall flavor profile!
  • Carrot
  • Butternut squash
  • Olive oil
  • Vegetable broth
  • Cumin
  • Chickpeas: this trick adds protein to the vegan soup, making it more filling than most!
  • Coconut milk
How to Cut Butternut Squash

What’s the best way to cut butternut squash?

The longest lead time item in this soup? Cutting the butternut squash! This squash is notoriously difficult to peel and chop. We recommend using a fresh butternut squash in this recipe for best results (though you can use frozen in a pinch). Here are some tips for best way to cut butternut squash:

  • Slice off the neck first. Peeling and chopping the base and neck separately makes its oblong shape easier to handle.
  • Peel with a serrated peeler. It’s easier to peel tough-skinned vegetables with a squash peeler because the serrated edges grip the skin. (Here’s the serrated peeler we use.)
  • Slice into planks, then chop. Cut the base and neck into planks, then dice them. Here’s a video to show the process.

How to make butternut squash soup

This butternut squash soup recipe is easy to make, once you’ve gotten past the cutting part! Here are the basic steps to a butternut squash soup:

  • Prep the ingredients. Chop your onion, ginger, carrot and garlic. Specific instructions are in the recipe below!
  • Saute the onion. Cook until it’s translucent, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and stir until it’s just fragrant.
  • Add the remaining ingredients and simmer. Simmer until the veggies are tender.
  • Blend! Add the chickpeas and coconut milk and blend until pureed. We used a large high speed blender, so the entire soup fit. If you have a standard blender, you’ll have to do it in batches.
Butternut squash soup

Chickpeas add body, protein and fiber to a vegan soup

A unique ingredient in this vegan butternut squash soup helps it stay filling by giving it a boost of protein and fiber: chickpeas! Don’t worry if you’re not a chickpea fan. You’ll puree them right into the body of the soup, so the flavor is barely perceptible and the texture is non-existent. You can omit the chickpeas if you like, but we love adding a boost of nutrients and keeping the soup as filling as possible.

What to serve with butternut squash soup

Once you’ve simmered and blended, let’s get to eating this tasty soup! There are lots of ways to serve a butternut squash soup recipe, but remember: you’ve got to add something to make it filling! Here are some options we love:

Vegan butternut squash soup

What else to do with butternut squash?

There are so many ways to use this tasty squash! Here are a few more ideas for fall:

This butternut squash soup recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free.

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Vegan butternut squash soup

Best Butternut Squash Soup Recipe

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

  • Author: Sonja Overhiser
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 4 to 6
  • Diet: Vegan
Print Recipe

Description

This classic vegan butternut squash soup recipe has just the right fall flavor! Creamy and cozy, serve it with crusty bread for an easy meal.

Ingredients

  • 1 medium yellow onion
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1 tablespoon peeled and finely grated ginger
  • 1 cup peeled and chopped carrots (about 2 medium or 1 very large)
  • 1 medium butternut squash (4 cups chopped)*
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 quart vegetable broth
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 15-ounce can chickpeas
  • 1 cup full fat coconut milk, plus more to garnish
  • Optional garnishes: fresh chopped parsley, pepitas

Instructions

  1. Dice the onion. Mince the garlic. Peel and cut the ginger. Peel and chop the carrots. Peel and dice the butternut squash.
  2. In a medium stockpot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until translucent, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and cook 1 minute until lightly browned and fragrant.
  3. Add the carrots, squash, vegetable broth, cumin, and kosher salt and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook until carrots and squash are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.
  4. Add the chickpeas and coconut milk. Use a liquid measuring cup to carefully transfer the soup to a blender and blend until smooth (puree it in batches if it’s a standard size blender). Taste and add a little more salt if necessary. If desired, drizzle with a bit of coconut milk before serving. 

Notes

*To speed up prep, substitute frozen butternut squash. 

  • Category: Soup
  • Method: Stovetop
  • Cuisine: American

Keywords: Butternut squash soup recipe, vegan butternut squash soup

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Sonja Overhiser
October 28, 2020 at 08:00AM

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