Fall’s Favorite Soup
Subtly sweet and creamy, the flavors in this beautiful butternut squash soup pair so eloquently. This is a unique and satisfying soup that was truly made for fall weather!
4 things to know about this recipe:
Incredible flavor: roasting the squash and sweet potatoes really develops their flavor and enhances their natural sweetness for a more complex dish. So, SO simple: most of the time spent in this recipe is just waiting for the squash and sweet potatoes to finish roasting. After that, you’re nearly done! Can easily be made vegan by using vegetable broth and plant-based butter. Perfect for fall! We’ll use fall veggies, warm spices, and garnish with pumpkin seeds. You can even keep the fall theme going by serving my brussels sprouts salad on the side!
My inspiration for this soup came from a dinner at Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian steakhouse chain. It’s not quite as savory as some my other soup recipes, though I was tempted to make it this way at first. I initially planned to make this soup similar to my potato soup, with a bacon base and a more filling and hearty consistency. But I ultimately leaned toward the silky, somewhat sweeter version, and I think you’ll be glad I did. Because of the gentle sweetness of the squash and sweet potato, I find it to be equally as appetizing as a summer soup as it is in the winter (though it’s inspired by fall veggies). I can’t wait for you to try it!
What You Need
Prepare yourself–things are about to get real cozy! I love how these ingredients work together to create this exquisitely flavored soup.
Squash + sweet potato. Using a combination of butternut squash and sweet potatoes rounds out the flavor of this soup and (!) gives it such a pretty color. Broth. Chicken or vegetable broth would work here. Stick with vegetable broth if you prefer to keep this soup vegetarian or vegan. Spices. Like thyme, ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon. This adds quite a different, lighter flavor dimension to the soup, a bit different from the heartier, more hearty/savory versions I’ve shared in the past (like my creamy chicken noodle), but it works so well with the veggies. Feel free to the adjust sweeter spices to your liking; I kept them mild, but you can always increase them for more intense flavor. Also, if you have fresh nutmeg, I highly recommend using that! Coconut milk. Coconut milk is great for a creamy texture and natural sweetness. Make sure you use culinary coconut milk, which is usually sold in the baking aisle (not the kind sold in the chilled dairy section). I typically add just 1 cup to the soup, then reserve additional for thinning the soup the next day as needed. Roasted pepitas. A type of pumpkin seed (and no, they aren’t the same thing has hulled pumpkin seeds), these add a lovely texture and color to the soup when sprinkled on top before serving.
You may notice that there are no apples in this recipe. Some recipes will toss in a tart apple, but neither I nor my taste testers preferred the soup that way (we’re a picky bunch!). SAM’S TIP: An immersion blender is so helpful for creating a smooth and creamy soup (it’s also great for making apple butter!). You could alternatively puree it in a blender in batches if you don’t have a blender. I link to the exact one I use in the recipe card. Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make It
We’ll start by roasting our veggies… SAM’S TIP: If you’d like, you can garnish your bowls of soup with an extra swirl of coconut milk. It looks so pretty and gourmet–see below! If you love soups, be sure to check out my cozy soup recipes email series! Sign up, and I’ll walk you through five of my favorite cozy soup recipes. Enjoy! Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
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