It’s Fall! My favorite time of year! I get so excited when the stores and farmer’s markets start loading up on different kinds of beautiful squashes. Not only are they pretty to look at and decorate with, but they are an inexpensive and healthy staple to add to your everyday cooking. Read on to learn how to make and store my Easy Butternut Squash Soup.
Soups …. My Secret for Meal Prepping
If you follow my blog, which I encourage you to do, I talk a lot about easy and minimal meal prepping. Soup is one of my go-to’s in the colder seasons. I love to make a big batch, usually about once a week. Soup is great to pack for lunches or enjoy as a healthy after school snack. Since I always pack my soups full of veggies, it is an easy way to get my kids to load up on them!
Soups are Kid Friendly!
Butternut squash is a very kid friendly vegetable. It is soft, sweet, and full of color. It’s a great starter vegetable if you have picky eaters so I like to add it to a variety of dishes. Sometimes I simply dice it and roast it with a little honey drizzled over the top. Another trick for your kids is to add butternut squash puree into their macaroni and cheese. They will never even know it is in there. And don’t forget to roast a chicken on a cozy fall Sunday surrounded by butternut and sweet caramelized onions …. To die for.
How Do I Store My Soups?
I love my glass pyrex containers to store my soups in but I always freeze at least two or three pint-size mason jars full too. These become my rotating soups for quick lunches on the go. I will just throw one of the jars in my husband’s lunch bag and he will reheat it at work. After a few weeks, you will have a nice variety of soups to choose from stored away in your freezer. Just make sure you let your soups cool to room temp before storing them in the freezer.
I store a lot of things in these pint size mason jars. I always buy the freezer friendly variety and am so in love with the white plastic tops. They just make life so much easier. Here is the link below….. I always have at least two dozen pint size jars and lids on hand. Trust me – you will use them for everything from soups and stews to overnight oatmeal, salads in a jar, and even drink ware.
Get your mason jars and lids here
Easy Butternut Squash Soup Ingredients
The great thing is you only need a few simple ingredients! I always tend to point out when I use organic. I love to use the Clean 15 and Dirty Dozen as my guidelines.
Butternut Squash – To make this simple soup you need about 3 pounds of butternut squash. That is one large or two smaller size ones. You can always weigh it at the farmer’s market or grocery store. We always forget to use the scale!
Yellow Onions – one large or two small yellow onions diced.
Celery – 2 large organic stalks diced
Carrots – 4 mediums carrots peeled and diced
Vegetable Broth – I love the Better Than Bouillon organic vegetable base to make my broth. It is easy to use, healthy, and super convenient. If you have not tried it the chicken, beef, and roasted vegetable variety are all consistent staples in my pantry.
Sage – nothing says fall more then the savory flavor of sage leaves.
Organic Olive Oil – Always a staple in our kitchen
Salt and Pepper – Kosher salt or pink Himalayan salts with fresh cracked pepper are my go to’s !
Kitchen Tools You Will Need
Emersion Blender – If you don’t own an emersion blender buy one today! This small tool has transformed my cooking. Making soups and sauce is now so simple. No need to go for the expensive ones. The $10 I picked up at a thrift store has lasted me for years!
Enameled glazed cast iron pot or Instapot –
I love my Le Creuset pot. You only need one – take good care of it and it will last a lifetime. Worth every penny in the end. But there are other brands available to keep the cost down too!
Instapot. Yes, this soup can be made in 15 min in your instapot! Just sauté your onions, carrots, and celery first, add butternut squash and broth and set it on high for 8 minutes!
A Good steady Chefs Knife
Metal Vegetable Peeler
Let’s Get Cooking!
To prep your butternut squash you just need a sturdy metal peeler and a good heavy chef’s knife. Next, peel your squash, I like to remove a couple of layers deep until I hit the deep orange color of the flesh. Then remove the squash base, cut it in half, and remove the seeds with a spoon. Dice the base and set it aside. Then take the long top of the squash and halve it lengthwise so you can lay it on its side for stability when dicing.
Once the squash is prepped, dice your onion, celery, and carrots.
Bring your favorite heavy bottomed pot to a medium high heat and add your oil. Sauté your onion and carrots until they start to soften. Add your squash and 3 sage leaves. Cover with your vegetable stock and bring to a slight boil. Once you have a slight boil, turn down the heat and let simmer for 20 minutes or until squash is fully cooked through.
Next, we will turn off the heat and add our salt and fresh cracked pepper. Then carefully blend the soup with your emersion blender until creamy and smooth. Be careful working with hot liquid! Always have your heat turned off and keep the emersion blender fully emerged in the soup to avoid splashing.
My final step is adding some finely chopped fresh sage at the end.
Variations of Easy Butternut Squash Soup
I love this recipe because you can make so many variations of it think about trying some of the following:
- Try roasting the butternut squash and onions before adding them to the soup. It creates more depth of flavor.
- Add a half tsp of cinnamon and maple syrup at the end of cooking for a sweet warm cozy soup.
- Some diced apples will lighten up your soup and make it sweeter.
- For a Thai Flavor, add a can of light Coconut milk and 1 TBS of Thai red curry paste. Or better yet add a cup of red lentils as well for Thai red lentil butternut squash soup.
- If you like it a little spicy, chipotle goes very good with butternut squash, just add a chipotles in adobo for some kick before blending,
- Try some smoky bacon. Sauté some bacon before adding your onions, carrots, and celery. Also, top with crispy bacon to garnish!
Easy Butternut Squash Soup
Course: In The Kitchen, Recipes4
servings30
minutes40
minutes300
kcalIngredients
Three tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
3 pounds of butternut squash diced (1 large or 2 small squashes about 4-5 cups)
One medium yellow onion diced
Two stalks of organic celery diced
Two medium carrots diced
4-6 cups of vegetable broth or stock
1 tablespoon of finely chopped fresh sage
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
Directions
- Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add your diced onions, carrots, and celery and sautéed until softened. About 5 minutes. Next, add your butternut squash and stir in with vegetables. Add your kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper.
( if using an instapot – follow the same steps on sautéed method.) - Add vegetable stock making sure all the vegetables are fully emerged in the broth, lightly cover your pot, and bring to a slight boil. Once boiling, turn down your heat to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes or until squash is tender and falling apart.
(If using an Insta pot follow the steps above, and cook on high pressure for 8 minutes.) - Remove from heat, add your sage at this point. And let soup slightly cool.
- Once slightly cooled, carefully stick your immersion blender straight into the pot. Always make sure the tip is fully covered in the liquid to avoid splashing. Gently blend till you reach a smooth consistency. If at this point the soup seems too thick you can add more broth or even heavy cream for a richer taste.
- Taste and add more salt and black pepper if you like.
