TL/DR – Creamy Roasted Butternut Squash Soup. A picky eater favorite! Roasted butternut squash and carrots in veggie broth with onion, garlic, fresh sage and fresh thyme, simmered, blended and enhanced with heavy cream. –
Aside from the roasting time, which is entirely hands-off, this is a terrifically quick, easy and hearty fall soup that is great in small doses as an appetizer or in dinner-sized portions served alongside crusty buttered garlic toast.
Start by roasting a large butternut squash, halved, at 400 degrees F for about an hour. Also roast some carrots, which can be added to the oven about 20 to 25 minutes shy of the squash’s finishing time, depending on the size of the carrots.
In a stock pot, sauté diced onion in butter, then add minced garlic and tons of fresh sage and fresh thyme. Allow this to cook at medium heat, stirring constantly, for a few minutes. Deglaze the pot with white balsamic vinegar.
Add in vegetable broth, a touch of honey, the roasted vegetables and more white balsamic and simmer everything for a few minutes. Once the roasted vegetables are super soft, use an immersion blender to achieve your desired level of smoothness.
Each time I’ve made this, I have blended for about 3 to 4 minutes to get it nice and smooth. It will be thick. If you find it is too thick, use additional vegetable broth to thin it out as you blend. Remove it from the heat and add heavy cream. It tastes lovely without the cream if you prefer a vegan version, but let’s be honest… heavy cream + fall soup = heavenly comforting.
Serve it piping hot either in cups as an appetizer portion or in bowls accompanied by your favorite version of crusty buttered bread. Garnish with sage leaves fried in butter! If you’ve never fried sage leaves, you must, must, must try it! It takes only a minute. Cheers!
For another terribly easy vegetarian soup, try Easy Tomato Soup or Kale Garlic Miso Soup. In the mood for something different but equally comforting? Try Salsa Verde Posole.
Creamy Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
A picky eater favorite! Roasted butternut squash and carrots in veggie broth with onion, garlic, fresh sage and fresh thyme, simmered, blended and enhanced with heavy cream.
Ingredients
- 1 large butternut squash, halved and seeds removed
- 4 medium to large carrots, halved, OR 8 small carrots, whole
- 1 T extra virgin olive oil
- 1 T butter
- 1 small onion, diced, about 1 c
- 4 large cloves garlic, minced, about 2 T
- 5T minced fresh sage, plus a handful of whole sage leaves
- 4T minced fresh thyme
- 2 T white balsamic vinegar, divided
- 1 T honey
- 4 c vegetable broth, divided
- 1/2 c to 3/4 c heavy cream
- 1 t kosher salt, divided
- 1/2 t freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat an oven to 400 degrees, F. Rub the seeded butternut squash halves and the carrots with the olive oil and place them on two baking sheets with the squash cut side down.
- Step 2 Roast the squash for between 45 and 60 minutes. Roast the carrots for about 25 minutes. The squash and carrots should be fork tender.
- Step 3 Once the squash and carrots have roasted, heat a large stock pot over medium high heat with the butter. Add the onion to the pot and allow it to cook at medium heat for about 5 minutes.
- Step 4 Add the minced garlic, sage and thyme to the pot and cook at medium for an additional 2 minutes.
- Step 5 Deglaze the pot with 1 T white balsamic vinegar, allowing it to cook off.
- Step 6 Add 3 c vegetable broth, the honey and the remainder of the vinegar to the pot. Scoop the butternut squash in spoonfuls into the pot, careful to avoid the skin. Roughly chop the roasted carrots and add them to the pot. Bring everything to a simmer and allow to cook for about 10 minutes on low.
- Step 7 Using a hand immersion blender, blend the soup until you achieve your desired smoothness. For very smooth soup, it will be necessary to blend for about 3 or 4 minutes. It will be thick. If it seems too thick, add in the remainder of the vegetable broth as you blend, about 1/4 at a time.
- Step 8 Remove the soup from the heat and add in between 1/2 c and 3/4 c heavy cream along with 3/4 t kosher salt and the freshly ground pepper. Taste and add the remaining salt if necessary. Serve very hot with crusty bread on the side. Garnish with the sage leaves fried for a minute in butter just until they are crispy.
