Lightly Spiced Roasted Butternut Squash Soup Recipe (gluten-free)

You better get ready, because I’m going full-Fall right now. Yesterday it was finally cold enough for us to flip from AC to heat and I made soup (oh the heavens were shining down on me that day)! I’m celebrating while I can though because tomorrow it’s back up to 80°F…but I already broke out the scarves so it looks like our AC bill is about to go up! Did I mention that this soup is the one I made yesterday? This recipe is the most quintessential cold-weather recipe I can think of. It’s delicate and light but still has a beautiful velvety texture. The soup is a bit sweet and overall lightly spiced for a bit of warmth on the tongue. Just click through already, you know you want to make the darn thing!

Just interested in the recipe? Skip straight to it.

Now, soup can be a little difficult sometimes. It takes a bit for all the flavors to meld together, there’s usually several ingredients and even more steps. But, for a soup recipe, this one is pretty easy. And I know you’re probably rolling your eyes thinking, “‘roasted‘ and ‘simple‘? Yeah right.” But you’re wrong. Yeah, I said it. You are wrong. The roasting in this recipe is actually what makes it easier. Picture this, you are told to take that weird nose looking vegetable we call butternut squash, peel it somehow (good luck with that), and then cube it into ‘even pieces’ (how does that even work when the whole thing isn’t an even piece). Then, you can finally start actually making soup. Which since it’s raw will take a bit.

Sounds like a… well, I can’t say that word here or they’ll take my advertisement money away. Now, if you’re roasting, you’ll take that elongated pear looking thing, slice the sucker right in half, coat with a little olive oil and season it, toss it onto a sheet pan, and pop it in the oven for an hour while you go find other things to do (see you even get a break in the middle of this whole thing, how many recipes do you get to do that with?). When those things are done, you’ll let them cool and then just scoop out all the meat tossing it into a pan and it’s ready to start being soup (and after 15 minutes it will be soup). I think it’s pretty easy to see which option is infinitely better.

Now that we’re on the same page, let’s talk spice and garnish. This soup is great because it is well seasoned and that lets the butternut squash shine. There’s a bit of curry powder that brings a lot of flavor and that warmth I was talking about. It also has some nutmeg and bay leaves in it, which are just essential Fall soup spices. Now, if that’s not convincing you, let’s talk garnish. First, you can add a bit of coconut milk for a bit of flavor and creaminess. Then you can add bacon, and who doesn’t want some of that with their soup? But y’know bacon isn’t even the star garnish here. For me, cilantro really brings everything together, it pairs well with the curry powder and just brings a little brightness to the dish. Alright, are you drooling yet? Let’s get to the recipe!

Recipe

Lightly Spiced Roasted Butternut Squash Soup Recipe (gluten-free)

Servings: 4-6
Time: 90 minutes
Difficulty: moderate
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A velvety, spiced soup that warms you up and is best eaten on a cold and dreary night.

Ingredients

1 large butternut squash (I used one that was 4 pounds raw with rind and 3 pounds cooked)
2 tablespoon olive oil (divided)
1/3 cup mild onion (yellow or Vidalia, about half a medium onion) or 1/3 cup shallots
2 tablespoon butter
1 large granny smith apple (about 7-8 ounces prepared), peeled, cored, and diced
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
2 cloves of garlic
4 cups vegetable stock
2 bay leaves
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste

– Optional Garnishes-

Coconut Milk
Cilantro
Pancetta or Bacon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.

2. Prepare Squash. While the oven preheats, cut the butternut squash vertically in half (meaning that you will cut it from the bottom bulbous part up to the stem/thin part). Using a spoon, scrape out and discard the seeds and stringy bits.

3. Roast the squash. Place the prepared halves of the squash onto a sheet pan lined with foil with the inside face up. Rub the inside of the squash halves generously with oil (I used about 1/2 a tablespoon of olive oil for each half, 1 tablespoon total). Sprinkle the halves generously with salt and pepper, and then flip the squash over (inside of the squash is touching the sheet pan) and make sure it is lying flat. You are not oiling or seasoning the rind/outside.

4. Cook squash. Cook the squash for 45-60 minutes, or until it is tender.

5. Cool squash. Once the squash has finished cooking, remove from the oven and set aside to cool for 15-20 minutes or until it is cool enough to handle.

6. Prepare the apple, onion, and garlic. While the squash cools, dice the onion/shallot and apple, and mince or crush the garlic. Place a large saucepan over medium heat and add in 1 tablespoon olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter. Once the butter is melted, add in the onion to saute, stir often. After about 3-4 minutes, add in the diced apple and saute, stirring often. After about 10 minutes add in 1 teaspoon curry powder so the spices can toast. Let everything cook for 3 more minutes before placing in the garlic and allowing it to cook for a minute more. Pour in the vegetable stock and add in the bay leaves. Bring to a boil.

7. Scoop the squash. While the stock comes to a boil, begin scooping out the roasted squash with a spoon. I placed my squash into the stock as I scooped.

8. Cook. Once the stock/soup mixture begins boiling, drop the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes to let the flavors meld. Stir occasionally.

9. Blend. Once the soup has simmered, remove the bay leaves. Next, either blend the soup using a blender or use an immersion blender to get the soup smooth. I find that a blender produces a silkier soup, but you do you. If you are using a blender, remove the plastic piece that sits in the lid and hold a towel over the hole while you blend (if you don’t the lid of the blender may pop off due to the steam/heat building pressure as it blends). Blend until smooth and creamy, and then probably blend for a bit longer (you want a really silky soup don’t ya?).

If blending in batches, get a bowl that is big enough to hold all the soup or place into another saucepan, then dump the blended soup into the bowl/saucepan as you move through all the batches.

10. Taste and season. After you finish blending the soup, taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary (if you aren’t blending in batches, taste and season the soup while it is still in the blender so you can quickly incorporate anything you add). At this point, I added more salt and pepper, the 1/4 teaspoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/4 teaspoon more of curry powder (I strongly recommend adding a bit of nutmeg and sugar at this point, but besides that, season to your tastes). Make sure any additional seasonings are thoroughly incorporated.

11. Serve and Enjoy! Serve the soup directly from the blender if it is still warm enough (mine definitely was), or place in a pan and reheat on the stove. Garnish the soup with cilantro (highly recommended), coconut milk, and pancetta/bacon if you so desire. Enjoy! Recipe Plug 1