Easy Butternut Squash Soup– 3 Ways

What could be easier or more nourishing than a butternut squash soup recipe? With 3 flavor variations, you are bound to find delicious fall soups that please even those who think they dislike squash. Frugal and satisfying, this soup can be rich or light, and adapts to different special dietary needs, like gluten free, dairy free, GAPS, and more!

Jump to Recipe - Print Recipe

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. When you click on these links or use them to make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. These links help me offer this site. I recommend only products I have used and liked.

Are you a squash enthusiast?

I am not. I don’t generally like squash at all.

I will eat it. Squash is nourishing, affordable, and simple to prepare. It just isn’t delicious, in my opinion.

Prior to our GAPS diet jaunt, I occasionally sliced a butternut squash in half and roasted it in the oven, then served it with a little butter and cinnamon. Most of my family didn’t like it, including me! Still, the ones who liked it benefited, and there is no question that a roasted butternut squash is a wonderful fall dish in many ways.

The one way I actually liked butternut squash was soup. The store bought kinds are often fairly clean and inexpensive, and handy to have on hand when I wanted a quick lunch option. None of them are GAPS compliant, though.

I knew I could easily make butternut squash soup, so I did. We ate it a lot that fall when we were starting the GAPS diet, and more of us liked it than the roasted squashes.

Health disclaimer The Site offers health and nutritional information and is designed for educational purposes only. You should not rely on this information as a substitute for, nor does it replace, professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Click here for more information.

Some Benefits of Butternut Squash

Some of the benefits of butternut squash revolve around convenience:

• they are readily available in grocery stores year ’round
• they are inexpensive
• they can be prepared simply
• they look homey and rather cute sitting around the kitchen (OK, some people don’t care about that!)

The humble butternut squash is also good for us! Here are some of the things in squash that may convince you to get yourself to eat squash, even if you aren’t crazy about it:

• minerals– many benefits, and most of us are deficient
• vitamin E– helps with immune health, among other benefits
• soluble and insoluble fiber- good for digestive health
• helps balance blood sugar
• vitamin C
• carotenoids– Vitamin A– can help eye health
• several B vitamins
• prebiotics– feed the good bacteria in the gut, thereby improving our health
• polyphenols– phytonutrients that support our health in many ways
• carbohydrates– the good kind

Read more here.

How Butternut Squash Soup Makes Squash Better

Some people love squash! For those of us who don’t, the problem comes down to two main reasons: the taste and the texture.

The slightly slimy, sometimes stringy texture problem is simple to resolve in this soup– purée the squash. Easy!

The rather bland flavor of butternut squash is also fairly easy to address. Use the squash as a base for other flavors that complement it. Butternut squash is slightly sweet; maybe that is why it is so often paired with cinnamon. Just adding cinnamon isn’t enough, though. We need to round out the gaps in the sweet-cinnamon flavor! Maybe mask the squashy flavor…

Happily, there are a lot of ways to develop the mild flavor of squash into entirely different flavor profiles. Use cinnamon or don’t. Make it sweet or savory. Or combine sweet and some savory. Make it light or rich.

How to Make Butternut Squash Soup

The first thing you will need to do is to chop and cook all the vegetables and fruits. One way to do this is to cook everything in your soup pot, then use a blender to purée it smooth. This is a great way to do it if you have a large blender or food processor or a very effective immersion blender.

What if you don’t? My immersion blender is great for some things, but it doesn’t get soups all that smooth. My blender and food processor are plastic, so I avoid putting anything hot in them. They also aren’t big enough to handle a large batch of soup. I want leftovers!

So, you can make the soup and then purée the whole thing. Or, cook all the veggies, then purée them, then make the soup.

I usually sauté the onion, apple, ginger, and garlic in the soup pot or a skillet, then cool it down before putting it in my (plastic) food processor.

The squash is a different story. Here are some ways to prepare your squash:

Roast it in the oven

Well ahead of time, roast the squash in the oven. Roasting gives the best flavor, as the squash caramelizes a bit and you achieve extra flavor that way. You can either slice it in half lengthwise, remove the seeds, rub with oil, and roast with the cut sides down, or you can peel, seed, and cube the squash, toss the cubes with oil, and roast them. The cubes will give you the richest flavor, as more surface area will caramelize.

Frozen squash

You can buy butternut squash that is frozen and requires very little preparation. If it is already puréed, you are ahead of the game! If it is in cubes, you could roast them or steam them until they are soft enough to purée.

Pre-cut squash

Sometimes you can buy bags of fresh squash cubes in the grocery store. These would be easy to roast, and very convenient. They will cost more that way most of the time, unless you hit a clearance price or something.

Slow cooker method

This is the lazy girl’s choice! I usually do it this way, actually… Wash the squash, taking off the sticker, and stick it in the slow cooker on high for a couple of hours. When all of the squash is soft, then take it out and let it cool at least enough to slice, peel, and remove the seeds.

While this method requires minimal effort, you sacrifice the richer flavor of the roasted version. You also need to plan in advance! I often prepare a squash in the slow cooker before fully deciding what I will make with it or exactly when. If it is in the refrigerator for a day or two, I can use it whenever I choose.

I do the exact same thing in the oven at times– while dinner or something else is in the oven, I put the whole clean squash in the top rack on a baking dish, then it goes int the refrigerator until later in the week.

Finishing the Soup

Once the produce is all cooked, the work is nearly done!

Purée everything all together or in batches, as needed. Use a little broth, stock, or water if you need to.

Add all the purée to a soup pot with more broth, meat stock, or water. Bring it to a simmer, add whatever seasonings you have chosen, and plenty of them, and add any dairy or dairy substitute you want.

Regarding Milk in Butternut Squash Soup

• you don’t need it– leave it out for a dairy free, light soup
• coconut milk works beautifully for a dairy free version
• other milks could also work
• cow milk, either straight or thickened with a little arrowroot or cornstarch, works well
• heavy cream is delightful
• GAPS cultured cream is great– so is regular sour cream
• You could probably even use kefir or yogurt, though somehow I have never tried those

I usually stir the dairy option into the pot, but you could swirl it in or dollop it on top at the table instead.

Is Butternut Squash Soup GAPS friendly?

It depends on how you make it!

On early GAPS stages, you need to boil, not roast, the squash.

Leave out the apple until you have added fruit into your routine.

Leave out the dairy until you are ready, and then use either kefir or cultured cream you have made the GAPS way. Or coconut milk that you have made yourself according to GAPS specifications.

I have not tried it, but I think you could whisk egg yolks into the soup, either instead of the cream or in addition to it. If you can’t do dairy yet, egg yolks will make the soup creamier and add wonderful nourishment.

Avoid any starch or uncultured dairy for GAPS!

Also, check your spices to be sure they are GAPS compliant. Many are, especially as you advance through the GAPS stages and can add more herbs and spices. In early stages, garlic, onion, and ginger are allowed and they alone will give your soup a good flavor even if you aren’t ready for anything more.

Butternut squash soup is an excellent way to get your meat stock into a meal! The squash itself is a healing food, and if you can use the cultured dairy, that is also a healing food. To keep the full benefit, cool the soup a bit before adding the cultured dairy.

Scarborough Fair Version of Butternut Squash Soup

Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme… this evokes a turkey stuffing, and would be a good soup to serve at Thanksgiving. Leave out the apple, ginger, and pumpkin pie spices. Instead, add:

• 1 T dried parsley
• 1 tsp dried sage
• 1 tsp dried rosemary (or 1 T fresh rosemary, chopped)
• 1 tsp dried thyme

Garnish with a sprig of fresh rosemary.

Southwest Version of Butternut Squash Soup

This is my favorite version of butternut squash soup! Not what you expect, since most squash recipes lean toward either cinnamon or sage. The sweetness of the squash is less apparent, and the gently spiced soup is warming and zesty. Leave out the apple, ginger and pumpkin pie spice of the original recipe. Add:

• 1 tsp smoked paprika (or regular)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder

Add more if you prefer. If want it a bit spicy, add Tabasco sauce, red pepper flakes, or extra cumin and black pepper to your taste.

Ways to Serve Butternut Squash Soup

• as a soup course before the main meal
• as a vegetable along with meat and other sides
• as a light meal, perhaps with salad or some sort of bread or crackers, cheese, etc.
• as a snack
• with toppings– roasted pumpkin seeds, toasted nuts, shredded cheese, crumbled bacon, green onions, sour cream, croutons, etc.

Looking for more squash recipes? Try squash pancakes without eggs or bacon squash casserole.