Easily made vegan or vegetarian, it contains only 6 ingredients and most of the preparation time is “passive” — meaning, you put the squash in the oven and walk away! You can even make this a day ahead or so, as it reheats very nicely.
Rich and creamy, this Roasted Butternut Squash Soup is subtly sweetened with pear, flavoured with {vegan} brown butter, and garnished with a swirl of brown sugar.
Prepping the Squash
You’ll start the soup by cutting your butternut squash in half from top to bottom. Then just grab a spoon and scrape out the seeds.
Next, brush a little melted butter or margarine on the squash and pop it into the oven at 350F. The larger the squash the longer the cook time, but start with about 35 minutes and then check it. You want the squash to be fork tender throughout. Since squash is not uniformly shaped, some parts will be done faster than others. Don’t worry too much about that, just get the whole thing fully cooked.
Once the squash is cooked, let it cool before scooping out the flesh. Optionally, you can put the cooked squash into a container and leave it in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. The cold squash will be easier to work with.
Next, you’ll make the brown butter which gives this soup its luscious-buttery taste. If you’re vegan, make my vegan brown butter. Either recipe takes less than 20 minutes and you can make the butter ahead and store it in the fridge until you’re ready to use it. You can also use the brown butter for my Roasted Rainbow Carrot Recipe and I’ve got more brown butter recipes in the queue so consider making a double batch!
Once you’ve got the squash cooked, and the brown butter made, you’re on easy street! You are literally throwing everything in the blender and blending until nice and creamy.
Now, we’re at the final step and it’s fun: Pour the soup into your serving bowl, sprinkle some brown sugar about, swirl a toothpick around to make a pretty design, and say: Soup’s on!
P.S. If you want a visual of that toothpick swirling action, check out the video after the recipe!
EATING TOGETHER MADE EASY
This recipe is just 6 ingredients: squash, pear, milk, brown butter, salt, and brown sugar. For the vegan version I use vegan brown butter and cashew milk, but feel free to use any kind of unsweetened milk you like.
If you want to make both a vegan and a vegetarian version, get your squash roasted and all your ingredients lined up and then run the batches through the blender separately.
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients
- 1 butternut squash (about 3 cups) (or substitute acorn or Kabocha, or Red Kuri)
- 1 tablespoon melted butter, margarine, or oil
- 2 cups milk of choice
- 1/4 cup brown butter, vegan brown butter, or butter (See recipe notes for brown butter and vegan brown butter recipes)
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 small pear (about 2/3rds of a cup)
- 1/4 teaspoon hot chili powder, optional
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- brown sugar, to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Prepare the squash:Slice the squash from top to bottom and remove the seeds.Place cut side up on a baking sheet and brush with a little bit of melted butter or margarine. Roast for about 35 minutes until tender. Tip: You can prep the recipe up to this point and then store the squash in a sealed container in the fridge until you are ready to carry on. Once the squash is cool enough to handle, remove the flesh from the skin. You will need 3 cups of squash.
- Make the brown butter or vegan brown butter.
- Make the soup:In a blender, combine milk, squash, brown sugar, brown butter/vegan brown butter, pear, salt, and hot chili powder if desired. Blend until well-combined. Thin as desired with extra milk. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired. Transfer to saucepan to heat thoroughly if necessary. {Some blenders have a “soup” mode that will heat the soup so it’s warm enough to eat.}
- Garnish with sprinkles of brown sugar, using a toothpick to make a fancy design, if desired.
Video
Notes
Make Ahead
You can roast the squash earlier in the day, or the day before, then store it in a sealed container in the fridge. It will be easier to separate the squash from its skin when it is cold.Substitutions for Butternut Squash
You can replace the butternut squash with acorn squash or Kuri squash, also known as red Kuri squash, or orange Hokkaido pumpkin.Nutrition Information
Nutrition count is an estimate, based on using Becel margarine and cashew milk, and without the brown sugar garnish.Nutrition
Courses, Cuisines, and Keywords
More soup!
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