There is nothing like a delicious and warming bowl of Butternut Squash Soup to comfort and nourish the body. This family favorite recipe is simple to make and packed full with nourishing ingredients to get YOUR body ready for the cooler season.
First of all, lets give a BIG shout out to soup season that is officially here!
I honestly feel like I am just a big ball of excitement with all the changes that this season brings. By no means I am suggesting that I’m ’round’ or anything, although the few extra pounds I gained this summer would suggest otherwise haha… I am just overly excited and looking forward to a fun season of eating, experimenting with fall flavors, creating new recipes and re-creating a few ol’ favorites, apple picking, hay rides, pumpkin carving and the whole shebang!
Of all the recipes I’ve contemplated to be the started up of the season, I decided to go with this delicious Butternut Squash and Turmeric Soup, aside from being a tasty recipe that screams fall, this soup also has a deeper and more personal meaning to me.
When raising my children, especially my first born who spent part of her baby years in a foreign country, I heavily relied on this recipe, as well as other homemade {baby food like} soups to feed her. Jump to my Curried Carrot Soup recipe to get the whole story, than jump back to be delighted with the most tasty, nourishing and comforting Butternut Squash Soup you’ll taste all season!
The most important suggestion I can give you when making this recipe or any variation of butternut squash soup, is to keep it simple and only add few ingredient to complement it’s flavor.
Add Coconut Milk or Not?
I personally like this best without coconut milk, as I said it’s best to keep it simple but honestly that’s a personal choice. When adding coconut milk the soup becomes richer, creamier and more filling. I’ve done both and would recommend that you split this recipe in half, add a small amount of coconut milk to half the batch and try them both to see which you like best.
News and Announcements!
Instant Pot Sunday Series, starting on 10/22/17 CLICK HERE to join in!
Topping or No Topping ?
Definitely topping! as it adds a bit of texture, contrast of flavors and more nutrition to your plate. Here are my favorite toppings for you to try:
- Nuts! crush them up and add to your delicious soup
- Seeds such as chia, raw pumpkin seeds or sesame seeds, toasted with a tiny pinch of salt and cumin taste fantastic!
- Croutons, especially a fresh homemade garlic crouton, YUM!
- Apple or pear slices
- Chocolate crumbs, because why not? everything tastes better with chocolate anyway 🙂
Enough with the bra-bla-bla, let’s get right to the recipe…
- 1 lg butternut squash
- 6 cups water
- 1 tbsp vegetable base
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 small turmeric knob
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 small white or yellow onion
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- Peel the squash and cut into large chunks.
- In a medium size pot, add the squash, water and remaining ingredients. Cook for about 20 minutes or until the squash is fork tender.
- Using a serving size spoon or scoop, collect all the squash chunks as well as the other ingredients and add to a blender cup. Don't collect any of the liquid, only what comes in the scoop along with the ingredients. Reserve the broth for another soup base, or chicken base. Because the butternut squash contains a lot of liquid, you will not need to add any extra from the broth, although the broth is a tasty base for other recipes.
- Blend in high speed for about 45 seconds. I used a Vitamix. Depending on your machine you may need to blend for a little longer, until smooth.
- Serve hot with your choice of topping. Refrigerate for up to 4 days.
Nutritional Values:
Other delicious Fall recipes to try…
SaveSave
Butternut Squash Turmeric Soup
Can you add Lavender to the soup? Where do you get Turmeric Knob? or how may tsps? if I can’t find a know? Rhonda
You can find turmeric knob (root) at Whole Foods or at your local health store, otherwise you can use 1/2 tbsp or turmeric powder, which you can find in most stores. I haven’t tried with lavender… not sure if the combination of flavors would work well, but that might just be a personal preference. Your best bet is to substitute for turmeric powder, which is easier to find.
How many cups of squash is “1 large butternut squash”? Or, what is the weight of such a squash? There is a huge variation in butternut squashes in my area (Pacific Northwest) and size is just too subjective.
Hi Linda. My large butternut squash yield about 6 cups of squash cut into chunks. However, if yours come out a little more or less, it won’t affect the result. Hope this helps!
Can someone tell me what “vegetable base” is? Vegetable broth? Can I use store bought?
Hi Kathy! Yes, you can use vegetable broth. I use the vegetable base “paste” from the brand Better Then Bouillon which is organic and Vegan. Mix in water to create the vegetable broth. I also like this vegetable base for it’s convenient size.
Thank you! I ended up finding the Better than Bouillon at my local store. Making it tonight!
I didn’t see any nutritional info for this recipe. Could you share that, please?
Hi Susie! I’ve added a nutritional label to the recipe (on the bottom). Thanks for stopping by 🙂
How much coconut milk do you recommend? And how much turmeric powder instead of the knob?
Hi Heidi – you can add 1 tsp of turmeric instead. As for the coconut milk, I wouldn’t add more then a 1/2 cup. Sometimes just 1/4 or 1/3 of is all you need, but depending on your preference you can add more, off course.
In one comment you mention 1 tsp of numeric and in another, you mention 1/2 tbsp numeric. Which is it? Also, using vegetable broth, how much would you add?
My spell check changed my comment from tumeric to numeric. Sorry
Hi MaryAnn, sorry about the tumeric confusion, either measurement won’t affect the recipe but 1/2 tbsp is the best amount for this recipe. However some people find the taste of tumeric repulsive, so use less if that’s the case for you. I love tumeric and because it is so good for inflammation, I tend to go heavier. As for the Vegetable broth use 6 cups instead of water. The reason why I used water it’s because my vegetable base is in solid (paste) form, so it get’s dissolved into the 6 cups of water. I use the brand in which I recommended via Amazon links in the body of the post, because it’s more compact for storage purposes and I find that I get more use out of it. Hope this helps but if you have more questions, don’t be afraid to ask! 🙂
Boil a roasted duck carcass with onion carrot and celery and use 6 cups of resulting duck stock instead of just water. Add bits of roasted duck meat if there is any left, picked off the duck before making the stock and add at the end. Squash dishes do NOT have to be vegan…add chopped fried bacon as well…bacon….yum.
I agree Rick, and you can most certainly add in the flavors of your choice. Duck stock sounds pretty amazing!!
I made a variation of this. Measurements weren’t exact. Came together in he vitamix in 5 mins. No turmeric, subbed ginger. I used way to much ginger! Woah spicy and palate cleansing! Anyway. Saved it by mixing in leftover coconut milk vegetable curry. Sweetened it up a bit. And mellowed out the ginger. Was yummy.
Oh nooo, lol. I LOVE ginger but yeah, too much is hard to eat! Glad you saved it and enjoyed and thanks for sharing your story! Makes me wanna have this soup WITH GINGER right now!! 🙂