The first time I ever had butternut squash soup was at my grandparent’s house in Idaho. I was shocked by the creaminess, the warmth, and the flavor. I got the recipe from my grandma, and immediately upon returning home to Utah, I made the soup for my family.

Since that day, I’ve had butternut squash soup every single year for my birthday dinner. Because my birthday is in October (and I absolutely LOVE the season of fall), the soup will often be followed by a pumpkin cake for dessert. If you can’t tell, I can never get enough squash :)

Over the years (and it’s been a lot of years), I’ve tried MANY different recipes for butternut squash soup. I’ve tried making it with and without heavy whipping cream, with and without potatoes, with and without carrots, with and without apples. I’ve even tried different varieties of apples. I’ve tried boiling the squash, roasting the squash, and sauteeing the squash. I’ve tried adding curry powder. I’ve tried milk vs. water vs. coconut milk.

You get the picture… I’m obsessed with butternut squash.

The general consensus after 8+ years of making this soup is that you really can’t go wrong. Butternut squash is simply the most delectable blend of sweetness, nuttiness, and creaminess. It will leave you dreaming of autumn leaves, cool evenings, porch swings, jack-o-lanterns, and all those other lovely October-esque things.

Despite the fact that butternut squash will pretty much always taste AMAZING, I have grown to have preferences about how I make my butternut squash soup. You probably could have guessed this… but roasting the veggies is a MUST.

Also, carrots are yummy… but if you truly want to taste the deliciousness of the butternut squash flavor, I think you’ll find that you prefer to keep things simple. Along those lines, this recipe is simple. Every seasoning is intended to enhance the flavor of the squash and to complement it in beautiful ways. At its core, this recipe isn’t fancy. It’s just squash.

I hope you enjoy your squash :)

WHAT YOU’LL LOVE ABOUT THIS RECIPE

♡ The GREEN APPLE! I just can’t say enough good about roasted green apple in butternut squash soup. It is SO good. It adds the perfect element of tangy, caramelized sweetness. On top of that, what says autumn better than apples?

♡ It’s SO SMOOTH! And SO CREAMY!!

♡ It tastes pure :) I love that this soup has such a simple yet exquisite flavor. It’s incredibly comforting to just taste the squash. Pure squash. There’s no clashing flavors or textures or colors… It's just smooth, creamy, delicious squash.

TIPS FOR MAKING THE BEST BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

1) ROAST THE VEGGIES. Need I say more?

2) Blend until super CREAMY!

SERVING IDEAS

There’s an option to make this recipe a completely vegan butternut squash soup simply by using a vegan milk, such as almond milk, oat milk, coconut milk, etc. Any of these options will be delicious. Coconut milk will result in a SUPER creamy soup, whereas almond milk will be a lower-calorie (but still delicious) option.

I also really recommend serving this soup with fresh bread. It’s just so satisfying to dip a slice of warm bread into this incredible soup.

STORAGE

This soup freezes really well… so if you’re looking for some great freezer meal ideas, this is a great recipe to turn to! Simply make the soup and divide it among a few plastic bags or airtight containers. How much you freeze in each container depends on the amount of soup you want at each meal. Freeze the containers of soup until you’re ready to serve it.

Thaw the soup by holding the container (or bag) of frozen soup under running water. Once the soup can be removed from its container, you may transfer it to a microwave safe container to re-heat.

HOW TO…

Begin by peeling the butternut squash… a task that isn’t as simple as it sounds. Unfortunately, I really don’t have any tricks to make it easier, other than to keep trying and it will eventually get peeled. Once it's peeled, remove the seeds with a spoon, resulting in a half-sphere shape taken from the largest part of the squash.

You’ll also want to peel the green apple.

Once the squash and apple are peeled, chop them into bite-sized cubes. It doesn’t actually matter how big or how small you cube these because they’ll all be blended up in the end. That being said, if you cut them smaller then they’ll cook faster. If you cut them larger, then I’d recommend NOT cooking the onion on the same pan as the squash and apple because the onion will burn! You might want to, instead, cook the onion on a separate pan, and then take it out when it’s starting to look golden.

Once you have the squash, onion, and green apple chopped, toss them with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Spread the chopped and seasoned squash, onion, and green apple over a pan.

Roast the squash in the oven at 400 for 35-45 minutes. You may want to check it around 30 minutes to make sure the onion isn’t burning. If the squash is sufficiently soft before the timer rings, feel free to take it out and start blending!

Once the squash, apples, and onion are roasted, add them all to a blender with 1 cup of water, 1 teaspoon of bullion, ¾ cup of milk, and a dash of nutmeg.

Blend until the soup is SUPER creamy - it will be delicious! Serve as a side dish or a main dish, and enjoy!

Ingredients:

Directions: