Making a healthful soup from scratch is a lot easier than you might think. Not only is it easy to make, but it uses just a handful of wholesome ingredients that come together easily in this luscious, rich and creamy soup.
Cook up a rich and creamy batch of this lovely soup the next time you are stuck indoors because it’s cold and dreadful outside. It will take a couple hours of time, but most of that time is not hands on time. Get the squash in the oven to bake. The oven will do most of the work for you. It couldn’t be much easier than this.
Bake up a fresh loaf of bread to round out this meal for a real comfort food treat on a cold winter evening! Is there anything better than curling up in front of a crackling fire with a steaming, velvety smooth, rich bowl of soup with a slice of freshly baked bread, slathered with soft creamy butter?
This soft loaf of bread bakes at the same temperature as the butternut squash so you can cook them up at the same time in the oven. It’s perfect for dipping into a hot bowl of this soup!
I don’t know about you, but I’m craving a bowl of this soup now!!! Lets make some already!
Start by preheating the oven to 400°.
Cut butternut squash in half, lengthwise.
Use a spoon and scoop out the seeds.
Set the squash halves on a baking sheet, cut sides up. Pierce sweet potato several times with a fork and place on the baking sheet with the butternut squash. Adding the sweet potato adds body to the soup and results in a smooth velvety texture that is utterly delectable.
Place a pat of butter in the scooped out hollow of each butternut squash half. Season squash halves generously with salt and pepper.
Drape bacon strips over each of the butternut squash halves.
Bake squash and sweet potato for 45-60 minutes or until soft.
The addition off the sweet potato gives this soup more body and an extra creamy richness that you won’t get with just using butternut squash.
Keep an eye on the bacon and when it looks cooked through, remove it with a pair of tongs and place on paper towels to drain.
Crumble or chop bacon and set aside.
Squash is done when a fork easily pierces the flesh and feels soft, and no longer firm.
Remove cooked squash and sweet potato from the oven and allow to cool until safe to handle.
Use a large spoon to scoop the flesh out of the squash skins into a bowl. Do the same with the sweet potato.
In a large Dutch oven pot, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat.
Cook diced onion in the olive oil and season with salt and pepper until soft and onions turn translucent, about 5 minutes.
Stir in the squash pulp, sweet potato pulp and chicken broth.
Add thyme and bay leaf to the pot.
Increase heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Once the soup comes to a boil, reduce heat and simmer over low heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently.
Remove stockpot from heat. Fish out and discard any large thyme sprigs and bay leaf.
Using an immersion blender, carefully purée soup until it is smooth and creamy.
Return stockpot to the stove, turn the heat to low and stir in the heavy cream.
Add some freshly grated nutmeg to the soup.
Stir to combine and heat soup through. Thin soup with additional chicken broth or water if it seems too thick.
Taste and season soup with additional salt and pepper if needed.
Serve each bowl of soup topped with some of the reserved crumbled bacon, freshly ground pepper and a drizzle of olive oil if desired.
Thank you to my favorite foodie friend, Veronica who shared this recipe with me. One taste and I wanted slurp down a couple quarts of this yummy soup, it’s that good!!! Even my teenager who says he doesn’t like soup, loved this soup! It will definitely be showing up on my regular rotation all winter long.
Healthy, easy to make, and delicious…a win-win-win all around!
Butternut Squash Soup
Equipment
- immersion blender
Ingredients
- 4 medium butternut squash, about 6 pounds
- 1 medium sweet potato
- 8 tbsp butter
- salt & pepper
- 4-5 strips bacon, cut in half
- 2 tbsp olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- 1 large onion, diced
- 3 sprigs thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 quarts chicken broth
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- nutmeg, freshly grated
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°.
- Cut butternut squash in half, lengthwise. Use a spoon and scoop out the seeds. Set the squash halves on a baking sheet, cut sides up.
- Pierce sweet potato several times with a fork and place on the baking sheet with the butternut squash.
- Place a pat of butter in the scopped out hollow of each butternut squash half.
- Season squash halves generously with salt and pepper.
- Drape two or three half strips of bacon over each of the butternut squash halves.
- Bake squash and sweet potato for 45-60 minutes or until soft.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool until safe to handle.
- Remove the bacon and place on paper towels to drain. Crumble and set aside.
- Use a large spoon to scoop the squash out of the squash skins into a bowl. Do the same with the sweet potato.
- In a large Dutch oven pot, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat.
- Cook onion in the olive oil and season with salt and pepper until soft and onions turn translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Add thyme and bay leaf to the pot.
- Stir in the squash pulp, sweet potato pulp and chicken broth.
- Increase heat and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently.
- Once the soup comes to a boil, reduce heat and simmer over low heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Remove stockpot from heat. Fish out and discard the bay leaf.
- Using an immersion blender, carefully purée soup until it is smooth and creamy.
- Return stockpot to the stove, turn the heat to low and stir in the heavy cream.
- Add freshly grated nutmeg.
- Cook until heated through. Thin soup with additional chicken broth or water if it seems too thick.
- Taste and season soup with additional salt and pepper if needed.
- Serve each bowl of soup topped with some of the reserved crumbled bacon and a drizzle of olive oil if desired.
Did You Make This?
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